Native American Fiction
National Native American Heritage Month, observed in November, honors the histories, cultures, and contributions – historical and ongoing – of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Here are a few suggestions of novels published in the last five years to read. (Updated October 2022.)
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A Minor Chorus
In Northern Alberta, a queer Indigenous doctoral student steps away from his dissertation to write a novel. He is adrift, caught between his childhood on the reservation and this new life of the urban intelligentsia. A debut novel from a rising literary star that brings the modern queer and Indigenous experience into sharp relief.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Probably Ruby
An Indigenous woman adopted by white parents goes in search of her identity in this unforgettable debut novel about family, race, and history.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Mg̉ḍiz
In this novel of Indigenous futurism, Two-Spirit, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, and disabled characters – survivors of a devasting war – fight to save what’s left of their world.
Format: Book
Availability: No Longer Available
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Even as We Breathe
When a summer job at Asheville's luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings young Cowney Sequoyah one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as an opportunity, one that forces him to navigate difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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Empire of Wild
Inspired by the Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou, a U.S. debut finds a woman reconnecting with her heritage when her missing husband reappears in the form of a charismatic preacher who does not recognize her.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Shutter
A forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force, Rita Todacheene is caught in the crosshairs of one of Albuquerque's most dangerous cartels when a furious ghost sets her on a path of vengeance.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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The Sentence
The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author presents this unusual novel in which a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store's most annoying customer.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Crooked Hallelujah
A first collection by an award-winning Cherokee writer traces four generations of Native American women as they navigate cultural dynamics, religious beliefs, the 1980s oil bust, devastating storms and unreliable men to connect with their ideas about home.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Bone Black
Wren is devastated when her twin sister Raven mysteriously disappears after the two spend an evening visiting at a local pub. When the police dismiss her missing persons report, something within Wren snaps and she decides to take justice into her own hands.
Format: Book
Availability: Available
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Five Little Indians
Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to Vancouver, where they cling together, searching for a place of safety and belonging.
Format: Book
Availability: All copies in use
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