The Girl With Braided Hair

by Margaret Coel Narrated by Andrea Bates

Overview

The skeleton of a young woman is discovered in a dry gully on the Wind River Reservation. Remnants of a long, black braid are mixed with the bones. There is a bullet hole in the skull. Forensics determine the woman was shot-to-death in 1973. 1973, the year of AIM. The American Indian Movement had occupied the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Afterward, Indians under federal indictment had gone into hiding on other reservations, including Wind River. A year of fear and violence, when no one could be trusted, when anyone might be an FBI snitch. Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley are determined to find the identity of the forgotten woman and see that she is laid to rest in the traditional Arapaho Way. Their search leads them into the 1970s and the dark underbelly of an organization that had spoken out on behalf of Indian rights. They soon run into a wall of silence. No one wants to talk about a time when many crimes, including murder, went unsolved. No one wants to admit the part they may have played, or the guilt they may still carry. No one wants to remember a young woman accused of being a snitch. As the life and death of the woman begin to come into view, Vicky and Father John realize that the killer who has gotten away with murder for more than thirty years is still on the reservation and that they are about to be his next victims.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

The bones of a woman found on the Wind River Reservation revive the turmoil of the past. Attorney Vicky Holden and her frequent sleuthing partner Father John O'Malley (The Drowning Man, 2006, etc.) can't find justice for the old Arapaho bones until they find out whose they are. Autopsy results reveal that she was beaten and shot in 1973, a time when the militant American Indian Movement's fight for Native-American rights was leading to pitched battles with the FBI. The women of the reservation want a proper burial and condign punishment, but no one's willing to talk, because under the lingering shadow of AIM, tribe members may not be what they seem. Vicky and Father John interview many people before they learn that the body is that of Liz Plenty Horses, a young mother AIM accused of snitching. Vicky and her partner and lover Adam are also handling a present-day case of discrimination when a series of threats warn her to back off. When Vicky witnesses a case of violence against an Indian woman during a trip to Denver, the moment vividly recalls beatings by her abusive husband. Frightened but undaunted, Vicky and Father John risk their lives to solve the murder. Another wonderfully evocative story of the struggles of the Arapaho to retain their heritage while living in a white man's world.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169639728
Publisher:	Books in Motion
Publication date:	05/15/2008
Series:	Father O'Malley , #13
Edition description:	Unabridged

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