Blonde Indian

September 1, 2006
Hayes, now an English professor and historian of her mother's Lingit tribe, poignantly relates the sad details of her youth and early adulthood, adroitly interspersing these often-sordid memories with stories of tribal history that have been passed on for generations. Living alternately with an aunt and her maternal grandmother due to her mother's stay in a tuberculosis sanitarium, and with no siblings or father for support, Hayes learns to fend for herself, combing the docks near the cannery where her grandmother works for discarded fish heads for their evening soup. In and out of detention homes as a teenager and failed relationships as an adult, she eventually returns to Juneau and her roots. There Hayes reclaims her heritage, especially the Lingit worship of and reliance on the land and all it supports, a way of life she hope to pass on to her grandchildren. This sometimes raw, consistently honest memoir is a rewarding, evocative, ultimately uplifting view of Native life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)