PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Penina Spinka is the author of many award-winning historical novels. She has also written three novels for young adults, which received high review coverage and two awards in the US. She lives with her husband in Arizona, where she is at work on the sequel to Picture Maker.
Ten-year-old Garahstah sat down to draw a picture of the wolf she had seen in her dream, and discovered the talent that was to give her her adult name and help through her life. Set in 14th-century America, this is Garahstah's story, from her carefree childhood with her clan as the daughter of an Iroquois chief, through capture and slavery, escape, near starvation and her rescue by the Naskapi Indians. But this is only the beginning of her journey. Driven ever northward to avoid being punished for killing her master, she takes refuge with the Inuit and travels with them to a new home and her destiny - as decreed by her grandmother's spirit in a dream - as the wife of a Greenlander. In spite of the many cruelties Garahstah encounters, it is not until she lives with the mainly Christian farmers of Greenland that she encounters true hatred and racism. This is an epic-style novel, even though the events only cover about six years in Garahstah's life. It is superbly told and the customs, lifestyles, hardships and beliefs of the five tribes Garahstah lives with are told with great skill and in great detail. It makes for fascinating reading and throws light on a little-known time and people. (Kirkus UK)
