Berkley, Sep 2003
ISBN: 0425192113
The Brookstone Foundation provides a 2.5 million grant to movie director Jesse Spotted Horse to film a documentary on the “Stolen Children, Stolen Culture: The Story of the off-Reservation Schools”. To fulfill a promise he made to Grandma Boo to find what happened to her relative Tokalu Sapa at the DuBois Indian School, Jesse obtains permission to film at the now closed school, whose museum is part of the Dubois Academy.
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Jesse meets the museum curator Kathleen Prescott whose family goes back several generations to when the founder ran the school. She believes her ancestors were caring individuals trying to help while he feels that they destroyed families and individuals. When they begin filming, suddenly smoke breaks out. When it clears the two combatants find they somehow are back in 1886 where both will learn the truth about the salad days of the DuBois Indian School even as they fall in love with one another.
This engaging time travel romance is at its best during the squabbles over what happened as handed down by generation to generation by the lead protagonists' respective families. As Jesse and Kathleen observe the truth, their misconceptions seem foolish, adding to a historiographic feel to the plot. Though the time travel device remains shaky, the use provides the audience with a deep look at a questionable practice from a bygone era.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner
