The Hiawatha A Novel [Paperback]

Recently widowed, and encouraged by government relocation schemes to move Native Americans off their reservations, Betty takes her four young children from their Ojibwe roots to make a new life in Minneapolis. Her younger son Lester finds romance on the soon-to-be-demolished train, The Hiawatha, while his older brother Simon takes a dangerous job scaling skyscrapers. Their fates collide, and result in a tale of crime, punishment, and redemption.

An elegy to the American dream, and to the sometimes tragic experience of the Native Americans who helped to build it,The Hiawathais a powerful novel that confirms David Treuer's status as a young writer of rare talent.

Treuer is truly an original voice. The San Francisco Chronicle

The Hiawathais a work of secret vision . . . enlarging his narrative beyond mere human interaction and elevating it to the level of myth. David Ulin, Newsday

A story lyrical in its sadness, one demonstrating that most precious and rare of writerly gifts: the ability to reach equally well into both the heart and the mind of the reader. Kirkus Reviews

A remarkable novel . . . Treuer tells a story about an extended American Indian family, but it is really an American tale. St. Paul Pioneer Press

David Treuergrew up on an Ojibwe reservation in Northern Minnesota. A graduate of Princeton University, he lives in Bemidji, Minnesota