Firekeeper’s Daughter
By Angeline Boulley
Genre: Young Adult/ New Adult
Available in: Hardcover, Kindle, Audible
Published: March 16, 2021
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Michigan author Angeline Boulley gives a peek into her own indigenous roots, located in Sault Ste. Marie (Soo-Saint-Mah-Ree), Michigan in her book “Firekeeper’s Daughter.”
She is an enrolled tribe member of the Chippewa Natives. Boulley writes in her author notes she wrote this for the Indigenous girls/women growing up in a world without many books that represent them without the attached Indigenous stereotypes. This story gives us a little perspective of what it is like to be a Native Woman and to appreciate some of their enriching culture. It includes their beautiful language, ceremonies and traditions.
Regarding the book itself, Daunis Fountaine is a recent high school graduate who thought she would be going to the University of Michigan to become a doctor. Those plans changed when her grandmother, referred to as GrandMary, had a stroke at her graduation party. With plans of staying in Sault Ste. Marie to help take care of GrandMary, she decides to attend the local college Lake State. She plans to attend with her best friend Lily, as they buy books together and pick the same classes; though Lily is struggling with an on and off boyfriend, Travis. She plans to move on with her life in the hopes he will get help. Fontaine soon meets Jamie Johnson, a new high school student who will be playing on the high school hockey team with Fontaine’s younger brother Levi.
Levi asks Fontaine to be Johnson’s ambassador, showing him around town, requiring her to be around Jamie more. The problem with that is Fontaine used to be a Hockey player and has a strict rule of not blending the hockey world with the regular world. As she spends more time with Johnson, he becomes more interested in her world and she begins to have feelings for Jamie. And so begins the blending of the two worlds.
Fontaine and Johnson attend a powwow together so that he can learn more about tribal culture. Afterwards, they attend a gathering called “Minor Forty Niners,” which is the after-party specifically for teens that happens after a powwow. Walking away from the party for a moment, Fontaine watches her world as it is ripped to shreds. She witnesses her best friend Lily, murdered by Lily’s drug-addicted boyfriend.
Unable to move as she watches Lily fall to the ground and Travis take his own life right before her eyes, Johnson casually walks to the bodies to check their pulses, not noticing her until she makes a noise. She is startled by how calm he remains.
Fontaine begins to piece together that he is at least a police officer. When she confronts Johnson, he admits he is an FBI agent investigating a new drug that has been circulating in nearby tribes. Jamie’s Uncle Ron, who is the new science teacher replacing her Uncle David who was believed to have died from an overdose. She learns her Uncle David was actually murdered because he was a CI for the FBI. Using the science skills that her Uncle taught her along with navigating her life as Native women, she works with Johnson and Ron to save her people from this powerful poison.
This beautifully written book is filled with twists, turns and secrets you never saw coming. Boulley does a wonderful job enticing you with just enough breadcrumbs that you may not notice till the very end: being delightfully surprised is something that can be hard to come by, which the “Firekeeper’s Daughter ‘’ does just that. The way Boulley grazes sensitive topics with grace leaves one less traumatized but able to sympathize with her characters.
The sensitive topics do serve a purpose to the storyline. Boulley has stated that the novel “Firekeeper’s Daughter” is based on her imaginative thoughts on a new guy at her friend’s school when she was younger.
“When I was in high school, a friend mentioned a new guy at her school who was just my type. Although I never met him, it was later revealed he was actually an undercover narcotics officer,” (Boulley authors note).
Boulley tells further that she grew up loving Nancy Drew: combining both ideas of mystery and a new guy in town she began the work of “Firekeeper’s Daughter.” This book touches on several sensitive subjects that should be considered before reading. This includes murder, suicide, racism, drug abuse and sexual assault. The point of reading is to enjoy, learn and possibly grow. Eyes are opened to racism and violence Indigenous women face even to this day but that isn’t the main focus of the story. Daunis is smart and deals with a lot as an 18 year old kid: she faces so much and she prevails. This is definitely a character that an Indigenous person can look up to, which was Boulley’s entire goal. This book is a must read for November, Indigenous Peoples month and is no doubt a 5 star read.
