Firekeeper’s Daughter is a groundbreaking YA thriller with a fresh perspective

Firekeeper’s Daughter is the rare piece of YA fiction that feels like its genre designation can’t possibly encompass everything that this story is, and will likely mean to those who read it. A powerful and thoughtful tale of an 18-year-old Native American woman who confronts the dangerous impact of the drug trade within her community, this book is honestly like nothing else you will read this year.

Author Angeline Boulley herself grew up with a Native father and a non-Native mother. And, much like her main character, her family also comes from Sugar Island, nestled between Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Canada, where some of the Firekeeper’s Daughter takes place.

Part crime thriller and part coming-of-age tale, the story follows Daunis Fontaine, a biracial, unenrolled member of the Ojibwe who finds herself torn between two worlds and at home in neither. Though she divides her time in both her Michigan hometown and the nearby reservation where her Native family and friends live, she’s often faced with prejudice on both sides, as various people question the truth of her identity.

Though Daunis dreams of becoming a doctor, she’s decided to enroll at the local Lake State University rather than the more prestigious University of Michigan after her Uncle David overdoses on meth and her grandmother has a stroke. An active part of her local community, staying home to help her family is an easy choice for Daunis, made even more so when she meets her Firekeeper half-brother Levi’s handsome new hockey teammate, Jamie.

But when a drug-related shooting occurs at a party she and Jamie attend together, she’s thrust into a potentially dangerous criminal investigation, one that will rock her beloved Native community to its core. As she is drawn deeper into the case, Firekeeper’s Daughter explores both the corrosive impact of meth and other opioids on the Native community, as well as the ways that wealth and privilege protect those with the least to lose. Daunis’ interest in chemistry, as well as her deep understanding of traditional plants and tribal medicine, gives her a unique understanding of how meth has infiltrated her people, and a particular desire to eradicate its presence.

As female leads go, Daunis is easily likable, a tomboy who loves hockey and science. Yet, she’s not a perfect character, often behaving rashly and jumping to conclusions about others. But it’s her complexity that makes her compelling, and even her worst decisions in this story are deeply understandable ones.

It’s important to note that while Firekeeper’s Daughter does not shy away from difficult topics like drugs, death, sexual assault, and prejudice both against and among Native tribes, the story is richly layered, consistently shot through with Ojibwe cultural texture, spiritual practices, language, and traditions. And its (sometimes brutal) honesty about the way we, as a country, have consistently failed this continent’s first inhabitants – through our political policies, our apathy, and our ignorance – feels simultaneously shocking and deeply necessary.

The twisty and propulsive mystery at the center of Firekeeper’s Daughter will keep you guessing right up until the very end – and don’t be surprised if you end up staying up late to finish it once you start reading. (I did.) But it’s the fascinating, often heartrending depiction of the culture at the center of this story that will stay with you long after you find out who’s selling meth to lost Native kids.

The world of YA fiction is currently working to include more #OwnVoices authors, but even so, Native stories are few and far between. Fire Keeper’s Daughter is a powerful testament to why we need more of them, and soon.

Firekeeper’s Daughter is available now. Let us know if you’ll be giving it a look this month!