This story starts out very melancholic, with one of our protagonists, Nina, at her great-grandmothers hospital bed. Her great grandmother starts recounting, what Nina believes to be her family history, in an old Lipan language. Nina spends her free time recording stories, and translating and deciphering this old story.
Meanwhile, Cottonmouth snake Oli has been thrown out by his mom. It is now his turn to find his place in the spirit world, making friends for life along the way, and eventually settling down at an idyllic lakes shore.
Ages ago, the spirit world and earth as we know it coexisted in the joined era. The so called animal people (like Oli, the cottonmouth who can take on a human form) and regular people could move freely on both worlds during this time. Nowadays there is a great journey the animal people have to undertake to travel to “our” earth. When disaster strikes and one of Oli’s friends is afficted by a mysterious disease, he decides to go on an adventure to earth and find a way to help his friend; accompanied by two acrobatic coyote twins and a flamboyant hawk.
The more Nina finds out about the story her great-grandmother told her all those years ago, the more some strange encounters in her past start making sense, as she discovers the history of the animal people.
Darcie Little Badger’s storytelling is phenomenal. Every seemingly unimportant detail starts making sense the longer you read on, with the end tying everything together. The characters are all well written, every one of them with a distinct personality, all very loveable (except the antagonists of course) and wonderfully inclusive.
My favourite part about Darcie Little Badger’s writing is the stories within the story. The old tale Nina’s great-grandmother tells is just one of many. The writing is easily understood, making this book a heartwarming story with some serious undertones for any age.
