Crow Winter

 by Karen McBride

I recently tried to read the popular book Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson but had to give it away as I found it too violent so it was with some trepidation that I started reading this one as it seemed to have some similar story lines.

The story is about a young native woman who returns to her Ontario reservation after getting a degree in Ottawa.  She doesn't know what to do with her life and is still mourning the death of her father from a couple years previously.

The young woman is followed around by a crow and eventually she starts communicating with him.  Nanabush is a Shapeshifter, a Trickster.  She tries to ignore him but he won't leave her alone.  Through her mother's efforts the young woman gets a job sorting through files in the band office.  She finds some old documentation pertaining to a quarry, that is currently out of operation, that her father left her and her brother.  A group wants to develop it but the girl doesn't want it developed.

As the book goes on Nanabush helps her go back in time to see that her father was going to make a deal re the quarry.   On another occasion she is able to go back to see that an Indian Agent modified some land maps that changed the quarry land from reservation land to available land.

Hazel attends a sweat lodge and the invitation of a friend and is able to witness the seven gods talking about her.  Nanabush is trying to convince them to let him become human.  It seems if he helps Hazel he might get his wish.

Things get tense when a descendant of the land Indian Agent starts work to start up the quarry again.  Hazel has become convinced that re-opening the quarry will destroy a sacred doorway to the spirits.  She gets her brother who is working in Ottawa on Indian issues to try to prove that the documentation about the quarry was falsified.  She doesn't know what to do to stall for time so decides to thrown herself over the cliff at the quarry, eliciting Nanabush's help to keep her from getting too hurt.

He does help her land without too much injury.  Because of the incident works stops on the quarry and her brother is able to send the proof she needs.  So she gets what she wants, we don't know what happens with Nanabush.

The book was very interesting the characters and the relationships between the girl and her mother and the other people were all told in a very interesting and entertaining way.  I really enjoyed the story.