Amy Frykholm Supreme Falcon is an unusual novel depicting an environment foreign to many people: a Native American reservation. It is also unusual that it is a story set in the recent past. In the minds of Americans, Native Americans existed long ago and in far-flung places. (I have even found books on contemporary Native issues cataloged in the “Old West” sections of bookstores.) Supreme Falcon Although the story is set in the 1970s, it is filled with both the tension and nuance of what today would be my Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. This is a contemporary setting that Frykholm understands and a reservation community he expertly portrays.

The setting of the fictional Windy Creek Reservation is full of contrasts: environmental beauty and personal suffering, high hopes tipped into despair, a strong Native identity intertwined with the struggle for basic rights, and a deep desire to belong frustrated by a deep sense of belonging. personal abandonment. Because I grew up on a reservation and teach Native American studies in the city depicted in the story, the details and character development easily resonate with me. As someone who has worked as a psychologist, I find the tension and thoughts of Frykholm’s Lakota characters to be profound and consistent with Native people I know. The realism he creates imbues the Indigenous characters as real people.

The novel’s main character, Father Joe, is a White Roman Catholic priest on reservation. This also makes sense: the 1874 Quaker Plan designated the Episcopal Church as the official mission of the Lakota Nation, but Roman Catholic missionaries were later added. I was impressed by how deeply Frykholm understood Father Joe’s inner world. As he leads his congregation through crises and sharpens his own sense of calling, his thoughts and feelings are consistent with those of his Episcopal clergy colleagues and fellow Catholic clergy whom I have known with reservations over the years. Frykholm easily transcends barriers of gender and religion to explore the humanity of a Roman Catholic priest.

As you read briefly Supreme FalconI found myself turning the pages and saying to myself, “Yes, this character looks like someone I know.” The story reflects situations I have encountered with both former clients and former students. Many times Father Joe’s thoughts reminded me of the plight of a clergy friend. The genius of this novel lies in the originality of each character’s development. In their specificity I see characteristics of many people, so much so that the characters are almost universal.

In my 40 years of teaching Native American studies, my favorite classes have been those that use fiction as a means of teaching the student. Many Native American writers use their own experiences as the basis for their stories. Lesley Silko and Tomson Highway immediately come to mind. Some non-Native American writers have used fiction throughout their careers to teach about Native American ways. Dana Stabenow teaches Athabascan and Aleut culture and its connections to the Russian Orthodox Church. Tony Hillerman, whose fiction formed the basis of his latest television series Dark WindsIt explores the depths of the secret world of the Navajo and Hopi and their occasional contact with Roman Catholic missions on reservations.

In writing about the Windy Creek Reservation, Frykholm focuses on the relatively small percentage of Lakota living on the reservation and writes masterfully about them. But 85 percent of Native Americans live in urban environments due to economic needs and educational opportunities. I wonder if the future will follow any of these characters to the more diverse and urban locales they can find?

Currently, the justice arc in North America is moving toward reconciliation between Native nations and settler populations from Europe and elsewhere. The first step in this process is to tell the truth. In Canada, where I live, the destructive forces of the residential school era have been the focus of much truth-telling. Boarding schools in the United States are also now being studied to understand the harms these institutions inflict on Native people. Non-Indigenous people may refuse to renounce the pain and harm caused by these church-related institutions. Moreover, being an active participant in righting wrongs is a noble act for settler peoples.

Telling the truth and working for justice requires real contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. In the absence of such contact, reading can at least provide non-Indigenous people with a snapshot of Indigenous life. Supreme Falcon It goes a long way in giving an idea of ​​what reservation life might be like. The stories show readers the lives of Native Americans and Whites who interacted both on and off the reservation.

Frykholm creates a fascinating interplay between Indigenous and settler people whose lives are complicated by intergenerational trauma. Readers and residents familiar with a reservation will be entertained by the people they meet. Readers who have limited or no exposure to reservation life will be shown the nuances and familiarities of that life. Every reader with a sense of justice will want this book to be a part of their movement around justice and positive values.