In Amanda Skenandore’s provocative and profoundly moving debut, set in the tragic intersection between white and Native American culture, a young girl learns about friendship, betrayal, and the sacrifices made in the name of belonging. On a quiet Philadelphia morning in 1906, a newspaper headline catapults Alma Mitchell back to her past. A federal agent is dead, and the murder suspect is Alma’s … murder suspect is Alma’s childhood friend, Harry Muskrat. Harry—or Asku, as Alma knew him—was the most promising student at the “savage-taming” boarding school run by her father, where Alma was the only white pupil. Created in the wake of the Indian Wars, the Stover School was intended to assimilate the children of neighboring reservations. Instead, it robbed them of everything they’d known—language, customs, even their names—and left a heartbreaking legacy in its wake.
The bright, courageous boy Alma knew could never have murdered anyone. But she barely recognizes the man Asku has become, cold and embittered at being an outcast in the white world and a ghost in his own. Her lawyer husband, Stewart, reluctantly agrees to help defend Asku for Alma’s sake. To do so, Alma must revisit the painful secrets she has kept hidden from everyone—especially Stewart.
Told in compelling narratives that alternate between Alma’s childhood and her present life, Between Earth and Sky is a haunting and complex story of love and loss, as a quest for justice becomes a journey toward understanding and, ultimately, atonement.
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Amanda Skenandore’s debut novel, Between Earth and Sky, looks at those deplorable Indian residential schools established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and Canada. In these schools, children were forced to abandon their Native American identities and cultures, forbidden to speak their own languages. Many cases of physical, emotional and sexual abuse—atrocities performed in the guise of assimilating young Native Americans into “white” culture while committing cultural genocide of the Native American language and customs.
While Between Earth and Sky blends the “past” of the 1880s with the “present” of thhe 1900s, there is not sufficient a time difference to expect “white” cultural attitudes towards Manifest Destiny to change. So there is some projection of twenty-first century perspectives here onto the said Manifest Destiny prevailing at that time.
I would have liked to have seen a greater depth of response from Alma towards the two Native American deaths she experiences first hand. The level of her reaction seems less than warranted for the violent deaths of a lover and a dear friend. At the same time, Stewart, her husband’s reaction to learning that his wife was not the pristine woman he’d assumed, but that she’d had sexual intercourse with what he considered a sub-human male, was resolved overnight—again, a depth of emotion that seemed insufficient for the situation.
Such a well written novel, and based on true events that happened. Alma and her family came to the west side of Wisconsin where her father opened a school to teach Indian children how to live like a white man. They came from various tribes in the surrounding areas, and were stripped of everything that was Indian that could be for them to learn how to properly eat, speak, walk, dress and act as the white men to properly integrate them into the changing country.
Alma grew up right along side these Indian children. She ate with them, shared dorm rooms with them, and even learned their language and traditions. Although this was all in secret, as her mother was already against her even being a part of everything that was going on. But her father insisted it was for her to be looked upon as a role model. She did what she could to please her father, as she knew this was his mission and he wanted to succeed and she wanted to help.
Decades later, while reading a paper, Alma comes across a heading of an Indian that murdered a federal agent. She knows that Indian, and she also grew up with him and knew he would never be one to commit that sort of violence. It is some sort of mistake, so she convinces her husband that they must go to Wisconsin and he must prove the truth. Harry Muskrat (Asku) would never have done this. He is being blamed for someone else’s crime.
Alma and her husband venture off to Wisconsin and she has a lot of explaining to do, as she has kept quiet about her past and Stewart feels like he has no idea who his wife really is. Alma’s history comes crashing back as they venture to find out the truth, and as pieces of her history come back to her, she has to also explain herself to Stewart and what this Harry (Asku) Muskrat means to her. Why is she determined to prove his innocence?
This novel was told from Alma growing up in the school, and also now while her and her husband search for the truth of what happened and who murdered who and why. This was such a well written novel and I cannot believe that these schools existed and that this happened to those poor Indian children. I think the author did an amazing job in writing this novel with using Indian words, talking about their beliefs and what life was like. I cannot wait to read her next novel.
Wow. This book was an emotional rollercoaster. I was taken on a journey through time and through many emotions. I also felt like the book opened my eyes to something that isn’t spoken on enough – the injustices wrought upon an entire race of people. I’m so thankful to have read this book. Incredibly well-written.
I bought this book a couple of years ago and finally had the chance to read it. So glad that I did. My review is my honest opinion and isn’t influenced in any way.
This fictional story starts out slow but by the middle of the book you can’t put it down. We were not taught in school the injustice that was done to Indian children at that time. A heartbreaking story.
Fascinating look into the hardships and indignities our native Americans endured from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Elegantly written.
Mesmerizing beautiful! I listened to the audio which adds layers to this beautiful story. And yes, I did have book hangover after reading! The characters and story remain etched in my heart.
Wow….this beautifully written book left me in tatters, tears flowing. This book tugged at my heartstrings, my emotions all over the place, overwhelmed by love, dismay, shame, grief, courage. This book is a breathtaking story that took me back in time from 1881-1906, a time of turmoil and despair, particularly among the Native American tribes whose homes, cultures…their entire way of life…were being taken away. The author did an outstanding job of putting us in that time and place not only physically, but also emotionally. Adding to the authenticity was the author’s use of native languages, which made me wish I was listening to the audiobook, to hear the words spoken. I could feel the uncertainty in the decision to assimilate the Indians into the white man’s world; I could feel the conflict from the native Americans who were torn between both worlds, and also from the main character, Alma. Alma—such a wonderfully-written character—is the only white pupil in a “savage-taming” boarding school for the children who live on the reservations. As she forges friendships with the other students, embracing their traditions and their language, she must also discover what it truly means to belong. This novel and its characters—especially Alma, Asku, and Tshikwa’set—have left permanent handprints on my heart.
This work of historical fiction is not my normal, or preferred genre. Having said that, this is the most powerful, thought provoking and honest book I’ve read in several years.
A story that begins with a young girl, without any understanding of the world her father helps create with an Indian school in Wisconsin. The story follows this girl to womanhood, details her experiences, friendships, loves, and stark and shocking learning about what these schools really meant, and did, to the Indian children, their families, and the place that held in America’s historical culture.
It took a mastery of history, research, and sensitivity to the Indian and white worlds to get this right. And it does. You will love reading, hate turning the page, be mad, laugh out loud, and shed tears while reading this book. Your person and soul will be better for reading this book.
“After something or someone enters our circle, they travel with us forever, influencing us even if they are not physically present.”
A wonderfully written novel of historical fiction alternating in chapters from 1881, when Indian children are brought to a new “white” community and school. The goal of “banishing their wickedness from their souls and guiding them toward lives of industry and righteousness” is to be learned.
In 1906, one of the classmates from the past is accused of murder. This is an indian man who excelled and graduated with honors at this new school and town.
Alma, the daughter of the man who was in charge of this school and is now grown and married, has never forgotten her school friends and feels the need to help her this young man. Can she and will he allow the help?
The story is well done and woven beautifully between the time periods.
Author Amanda Skenandore has written an amazing novel that portrays the beginning of a school for the Native Americans and the prejudicial years that follow. Alma Mitchell’s father firmly believes that educating the Native Americans is the best thing that can happen to them. Taken away from their family and tribes, the children are angry and fearful. Alma is excited to have the children attending school with her but soon discovers how wide the divide is between being white and Native American. As the years progress, Alma soon becomes friends with the Indians, especially Harry Muskrat, aka, Asku, and feels like they are on equal footing but her mother does not want her to associate with the children other than attending class with them. She continues to push the white high society members Alma’s way, but it serves to only make Alma want to be closer to her friends, especially George. A handsome young native American boy, George, was a thorn in Alma’s side throughout the earlier years but now that Alma has become a young woman, she finds herself attracted to him. George has fallen in love with Alma and wants to do whatever it takes to make her his wife, but tragedy will strike and drive Alma away from her father and friends. Years later, Alma discovers that Asku has been charged with murdering a federal agent. Persuading her husband to take Asku’s case, Alma has to relive all of the past hurts and see those that used to be her friends. Will Alma finally leave the past where it belongs or will all of the secrets she has kept from her husband come out in the open? Is Asku guilty of murder or will he be found guilty because of the color of his skin? This is a heartfelt novel that shows the struggles of the Native Americans and how one young girl was persecuted for having a loving heart. Never one to disappoint, Author Amanda Skenandore writes with emotion and depicts her novels to make the reader feel as if they were in the pages themselves! I hope to read more of this brilliant author’s works!
While slow in places, this book ultimately surprised me with its poignance. This is the story of Alma, a white girl, told in alternating chapters of her life from ages 7 to 32. She spent 7-17 (1881-91) growing up in her missionary father’s off-reservation boarding school for Indian children. It’s a story of friendships and first love, of heartache/heartbreak, and of damage and loss caused by “assimilation.” The significance of the title is especially affecting as one of the Indian boys describes the white and Indian worlds as “like the sky and earth,…They get very close, but never touch.” There will be tears. Highly recommend.