And She Was - by Cindy Dyson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Sweeping across centuries and into the Aleutian Islands of Alaska's Bering Sea, And She Was begins with a decision and a broken taboo when three starving Aleut mothers decide to take their fate into their own hands. Two hundred and fifty years later, by the time Brandy, a floundering, trashy, Latin-spewing cocktail waitress, steps ashore in the 1980s, Unalaska Island has absorbed their dark secret--a secret that is both salvation and shame.

In a tense interplay between past and present, And She Was explores Aleut history, mummies, conquest, survival, and the seamy side of the 1980s in a fishing boomtown at the edge of the world, where a lost woman struggles to understand the gray shades between heroism and evil, and between freedom and bondage.

From the Back Cover

Sweeping across centuries and into the Aleutian Islands of Alaska's Bering Sea, And She Was begins with a decision and a broken taboo when three starving Aleut mothers decide to take their fate into their own hands. Two hundred and fifty years later, by the time Brandy, a floundering, trashy, Latin-spewing cocktail waitress, steps ashore in the 1980s, Unalaska Island has absorbed their dark secret--a secret that is both salvation and shame.

In a tense interplay between past and present, And She Was explores Aleut history, mummies, conquest, survival, and the seamy side of the 1980s in a fishing boomtown at the edge of the world, where a lost woman struggles to understand the gray shades between heroism and evil, and between freedom and bondage.

Review Quotes

"A mysterious and soul-searching journey that takes us to a place we've never been. . . . It leaves us full." - Maria T. Lennon, author of Making It Up as I Go Along

"Dyson has created such a mesmerizing groups of female characters that it's disappointing to bid them farewell. It's tough to get these women out of your head." - Portland Tribune

"An unforgettable first novel. Highly recommended." - Library Journal (Starred Review)

"An original and provocative first novel." - Publishers Weekly

"Dyson packages thought-provoking content in a wonderfully readable form. She evokes the island's harsh beauty and unceasing winds. It would be easy, and less effective, to allow her central characters to become brave and unfortunate stereotypes; hers are real people facing hard dilemmas. Dyson also effectively shares the aboriginal history, neither sidestepping the horrific actions of the island's conquerors or the behavior of the Aleuts, which at times conspires to keep them victims. The resulting novel is far more complex than it first appears, and its impact sneaks up on the reader. What starts out feeling like a light story ends up packing a walloping punch." - The Denver Post