Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Length: 496 pages
Audiobook Length: 14 hours and 13 minutes
First Published: 2021
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Rachael’s Review
With one foot in both worlds, biracial teen Daunis Fontaine has never fully fit in with the wealthy white residents of her hometown or with the members of the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis’s eye gets caught by her brother’s new hockey teammate, who isn’t whom he seems. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she gets pulled into a drug investigation that could tear her community apart.
I went into Firekeeper’s Daughter without knowing much about the premise, so the shocking twist about a quarter of the way in really caught me off-guard. Suddenly, I went from being lukewarm about the book to enthralled by the story, though Boulley went a little over-the-top with the ending. This fast-paced young adult thriller had the perfect blend of love story and action while still showcasing the issues facing Native communities.
Publisher’s Description
Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.
Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.
Now, as the deceptions―and deaths―keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.
About Angeline Boulley
Angeline Boulley is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U. S. Department of Education and the author of the novels Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed. An enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Boulley currently lives in Michigan. Visit the author’s website →
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