went out of business, no reprints were made. Besides, the book was banned in Montana schools due to its focus on colonial consequences for native Indian children forced into cultural adaptation in boarding schools in the 1940s. But unlike other banned books that people read secretly because they are banned, hers were just hidden away in dusty closets until a school teacher found a copy and circulated it. She asked her students to read the novel and brought it back into conversation. Another Missoulian author published by Milkweed Press, Chris Dombrowski, recommended her “banned” book for consideration to the CEO/editor of Milkweed Press. He read it, and the Press reissued the novel in 2023 after its two decades of dormancy.
It is a remarkable story of this book by a Native American woman writer which languished because she didn’t have access to larger publishing houses for her first novel. It is also a story of a wonderful Minnesota small literary publisher finding it worthy of re-publication. Stories do take on a life of their own. Some might even be destined to be heard. And Earling’s prose as well as storytelling are both original and powerful. The two books by Debra Magpie Earling I want to draw attention to are Perma Red (reissued, 2022) and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea (Milkweed Press, 2023), memorializing the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806. Perma Red is a story about a young woman, Louise White Elk, determined to forge her own path as she comes of age in the harsh social and physical landscapes of 1940s Montana. As summer comes to a close on the Flathead Indian Reservation, Louise hopes to create an independent life and improved future for herself and her family—but three persistent and entangling men thwart her plans at every turn. The story evokes a number of themes about missing and lost women from Indian territories that have relevance today. Many such discussions continue across the US and Canada about these young missing and lost women. Poverty, misogyny, hunger, and cultural and spiritual disruptions all assert their power in Louise’s story. Earling’s stories are spare and tough, but the poetry of her prose is truly enchanting. Earling’s second book, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, started as poetry but was transformed into a novel. The editorial staff and the writer worked closely at Milkweed Press to ensure the successful development of the writing project. The novel is in the voice of the legendary Shoshone woman who had a powerful presence in American history as an important member of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 1800s. She has been elevated as a symbol of women’s abilities by the women's suffrage movement and has attained the status of a woman more myth than historical figure. Almost nothing is known about the real Sacajewea or her life. She has left no written accounts. But stories among the Shoshone and the Hidatsa with whom she is associated, Lewis and Clark’s very few words about her in their journals and some larger historical context have all become the basis of Earling’s powerful novel. She reimagines the story of her life in the voice of Sacajewea herself. The dream-like prose in the novel mimics the development of her consciousness as she grows from a child to a young woman and survives trauma and loss through adaptation, strong spiritual connection to her world, and her quiet resistance. In a manner, Earling pays tribute to this lost and missing woman ancestor. “Earling’s work reminds us that paradigm-shifting literature is revelatory and essential—and worth protecting at all costs.” (Milkweed.org) Stories once only needed audiences, but the written words need more than willing listeners. Good publishers, editors, and people who know how to usher the books into the world all have a hand in what we read. Hidden stories need birthing with some care. Comments are closed.
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