The Missing Morningstar

Description

Across a series of gritty, wildly imaginative stories, this debut collection traces the long-reaching effects of settler-colonialism on Native lives—where grief, survival, and wonder coexist. From a young Navajo man who rides home with a casket he believes holds his grandfather, to a gas station clerk who witnesses the kidnapping of a newly crowned beauty queen, to a young couple navigating the search for a sperm donor and the weight of blood quantum, each narrative turns on intimate stakes and unsettling questions of belonging. With themes of family, identity, sovereignty, and the enduring power of ceremony and storytelling, these characters confront histories that refuse to stay in the past. Written in a vivid, emotionally direct style, the author blends realism with imaginative leaps to honor both the pain of inheritance and the beauty that persists.

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