The Grass Dancer - by Mona Susan Power (Paperback)

About the Book

From the lore of her people, the Sioux, Susan Power has forged a consummate work of the imagination. Set on a North Dakota reservation, "The Grass Dancer" creates a living mythology, spinning folk motifs into the fabric of reality, revealing how the actions of our ancestors can affect our contemporary lives.

Book Synopsis

Inspired by the lore of her Sioux heritage, this "captivating"(New York Times Book Review) critically-acclaimed novel from Mona Susan Power weaves the stories of the old and the young, of broken families, romantic rivals, men and women in love and at war...

Set on a North Dakota reservation, The Grass Dancer reveals the harsh price of unfulfilled longings and the healing power of mystery and hope. Rich with drama and infused with the magic of the everyday, it takes readers on a journey through both past and present--in a tale as resonant and haunting as an ancestor's memory, and as promising as a child's dream.

WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL

Review Quotes

"Captivating...a healing vision that goes to the core of our humanity."--New York Times Book Review

"Stunning...Power steeps us in the traditions and culture of contemporary Indian life."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Extravangantly inventive...a book of wonders."--Washington Post Book World

"A wild river of a book. Susan Power writes with a headlong energy and a force that are nothing less than thrilling."--Louise Erdich

"Pure and potent magic, with storytelling that encircles you like wisps of tribal ghosts."--Amy Tan

"Intoxicating...compellingly authentic...Clearly, this author has painted herself a place in the literary landscape."--Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author

Mona Susan Power is the author of four books of fiction, including the bestselling The Grass Dancer (which won a PEN/Hemingway Prize), Roofwalker (awarded the Milkweed National Fiction Prize), Sacred Wilderness and A Council of Dolls. She's a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is also the recipient of several grants in support of her writing which include an Iowa Arts Fellowship, James Michener Fellowship, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship, Princeton Hodder Fellowship, USA Artists Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship, and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including The Best American Short Stories series, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, and Granta. She is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta).