Crow Mary

I have been an ardent fan of Kathleen Grissom since reading The Kitchen House and its follow-up, Glory Over Everything many years ago. With this latest book, Grissom once again shows her skill at weaving a compelling story with historical details as she focuses on a woman from history who will be new to many readers. 

This story centres around the life of Goes First who is a proud member of the Crow nation. She later becomes known as Crow Mary when, as a teen, she weds a white fur trader, and they move to Canada. Life is hard and we witness their struggles and how their complicated bond grows despite their clash of cultures. 

This was a slower-paced, character-focused story about Crow Mary's growth as a wife, mother, and proud Indigenous woman. The 19th century setting is a great turbulent backdrop, but despite the era and events, this was a quieter read than I expected and I was surprised that the Cypress Hill Massacre was featured only briefly in the story. 

The strength of this book is in Grissom's extensive research. This story is a big undertaking and set within a culture to which Grissom does not belong. To be respectful to Crow Mary, Indigenous heritage and culture, Grissom gained permission from and collaborated with Crow Mary's descendants and received guidance from the Indigenous community, giving her story authenticity and respect the story deserves.

This is a quiet, well-researched story about a strong and resilient woman that history has forgotten. I appreciate being introduced to Crow Mary and I hope Kathleen Grissom has plans to write more historical fiction in the near future.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Atria Books for my advanced copy which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 3.75 stars

Author: Kathleen Grissom

Genre: Historical Fiction, Indigenous, Canadian

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

First Published: June 6, 2023

Publisher: Atria Books (Simon & Schuster Canada)

Book Description from GoodReads: The New York Times bestselling author of the “touching” ( The Boston Globe ) book club classics The Kitchen House and the “emotionally rewarding” ( Booklist ) Glory Over Everything returns with a sweeping saga inspired by the true story of Crow Mary—an indigenous woman torn between two worlds in 19th-century North America.

In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell’s past, falls in love with her husband.

The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota—despite Farwell’s efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point.

From an author with a “stirring and uplifting” (David R. Gillham, New York Times bestselling author) voice, Crow Mary sweeps across decades and the landscape of the upper West and Canada, showcasing the beauty of the natural world, while at the same time probing the intimacies of a marriage and one woman’s heart.