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Crow Mary : a novel
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2023
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ProloguePROLOGUE 1891 IT WAS DARK and hot at the back of the big barn as I rolled aside a heavy wagon wheel that leaned against the entry to the storage room. A slam behind me made me jump, heart hammering even more, but it was only a stall door caught by the wind. Careful of the bottle of whiskey that sat at my feet, I worked a key in the rusty lock. Finally, it clicked and the log door moaned open. This room had been built with one high, small window so none of the ranch hands, drunk or daring, would be tempted to break in, and I squinted into the dim light. A fine dust covered everything, though the air smelled clean enough. A wood floor had been put in to keep the pelts dry, and the chinking along the logs had kept out the wet ice of our brutal Montana winters and the worst of our hot sun. Leftover goods from our fur-trading post were scattered on the pine shelves. A comb, a few bars of soap, and even an old can of sardines lay next to a mouse-nibbled red blanket and the remainder of one last buffalo hide. But there--there in the corner on the second-highest shelf, two tiny blue bottles shone in the pale yellow light. Mice scurried when I pushed aside empty liquor barrels to get to the shelf, and as I reached up, my hand trembled. The tiny bottle was no heavier than a pinecone, but the enormity of what it held almost put me on the floor. With great care, I set it next to the liquor, unplugging first the whiskey bottle; then, before I could hesitate, I picked up the strychnine and held it to the light. How much did I need to kill a man? Just a small amount of this would take down any number of animals. I shrugged and tipped the entire contents of the blue bottle into the whiskey. "Dead is dead," I told myself. "You can't overkill him." As I was locking up again, I heard the horses circling the corral, answering a whinny that had come up from the direction of my tipi. Was he early? Was he already waiting? My legs went weak, and I leaned against the wall. I was no match for him. I was as good as dead. But then I remembered what he had done to Song Woman, and what would happen to Ella, and rage straightened me. I gave the whiskey bottle a last shake. " Awe alaxáashih ! Hold firm," I said to myself, and then I went out to greet him. Excerpted from Crow Mary: A Novel by Kathleen Grissom All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
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Library Journal Review
Grissom's (The Kitchen House) new novel highlights the true-life story of a remarkable woman who straddled two differing cultures during a pivotal and horrifying time for Indigenous peoples across North America. At 16, Goes First of the Crow Nation marries a white fur trader, Abe Farwell, who calls her Crow Mary. Known for being fair and honest with his Indigenous customers, Abe has his sights on a trading fort in the Cypress Hills of Canada. While the season goes well, the end brings tragedy when Abe and Crow Mary witness the slaughter of 40 Nakota people. When Crow Mary sees the murderers abduct five women, she sets off alone to save them, triggering events that will bring heartache and personal triumph. It is a bittersweet tale based around the true story of Crow Mary and the battles she fought individually for herself and both sides of her family. Readers will be drawn to Crow Mary, and Grissom treats her subject matter with the respect and cultural sensitivity she deserves. VERDICT Filled with beautifully written natural scenes and unforgettable characters, this is a novel that will span age and genre appeals alike.--Laura Hiatt
Publishers Weekly Review
Grissom (The Kitchen House) offers an ambitious account of bravery and initiative inspired by the true story of a Crow woman who married a white man in late-1800s Montana. Goes First is happy as a teenager, learning from her mother and grandmother how to pray, build a sweat lodge, and tan hides, and picking up English from her Métis grandfather. When Goes First is 16, the man she's meant to marry is killed in a buffalo stampede, and she agrees to marry 34-year-old white fur trader and whiskey seller Abe Farwell, who gives her people guns for protection against enemy Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. For their wedding ceremony, she's renamed Mary, and Abe brings her to Fort Benton, Mont., where she befriends a Métis woman who helps her deal with culture shock. Mary also shows cunning and strength when faced with violence and injustice, particularly with a drunken party of marauders while on a trading trip with Abe in Canada, qualities that drive the narrative toward a thrilling climax. With a flashback-heavy narrative, Grissom effectively conveys how Mary's Crow childhood stays with her over the course of her new life. This moving story of one woman's grit, survival, and resilience will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, Fletcher & Company. (June)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the protagonist's birth name.
Booklist Review
Through fiction, authors can grant little-known historical figures a deserved spotlight. In her third luminous novel, Grisson reveals the astonishing heroism of an Indigenous woman she's wanted to write about for years. In 1872, 16-year-old Goes First of the Crow people agrees to marry a Yellow Eyes (white) fur trader named Abe Farwell. The alliance benefits her tribe, and he needs a Native wife to help make his planned trading post successful. The story delves into the trying realities of their cross-cultural marriage, which begins so promisingly. They relocate from Montana to western Canada's Cypress Hills, where Crow Mary (her English name) single-handedly rescues five Nakoda women from a violent, drunken gang following a horrific massacre, an event with momentous repercussions. Via her eloquent first-person voice, readers experience her world intimately: family life, nature's changing seasons (early October is "the moon when the redwing blackbirds gather"), and the vast cultural differences she encounters. Through many trials and heartbreaking indignities, Goes First remains true to herself in this empathetic, indelible portrait of courage and integrity.
Summary
The New York Times bestselling author of the book club classics The Kitchen House and Glory Over Everything returns with a sweeping and "richly detailed story of a woman caught between two cultures" (Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author) inspired by the real life of Crow Mary--an Indigenous woman in 19th-century North America.

In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell's past, falls in love with her husband.

The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota--despite Farwell's efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point.

From "a tremendously gifted storyteller" (Jim Fergus, author of The Vengeance of Mothers ), Crow Mary is a "tender, compelling, and profoundly educational and satisfying read" (Sadeqa Johnson, author of The Yellow Wife ) that sweeps across decades, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman's heart.
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