Montana 1948

Filled with sharply drawn characters and set in an archetypal western town, this remarkable coming-of-age story is also a gripping mystery. Both Library Journal and Booklist named Montana 1948 one of the Best Books of 1993. To 12-year-old David Hayden, his family is comfortable and familiar. David admires his father, the modest town sheriff, and his charming uncle, the local doctor. He loves his gentle, perceptive mother. But when their Sioux housekeeper whispers her darkest fears in the heat of a fever, these statements, and the investigation they spark, will change David and his family forever. As he is pulled by both the physical landscape and the web of relationships that surround him, young David is caught in a struggle between courage and love, loyalty and justice. Written in the tradition of an American classic, Montana 1948 also won the Milkweed National Fiction Prize and the Mountains & Plains Bookseller Association Regional Book Award.