I gotta start off by saying this: take a moment to admire the book cover above. How nice does it look? I’m someone who gets wooed by well-designed book covers, and when books are high quality, it enhances their covers’ beauty even more. Especially when it sets the tone for the plot. Firekeeper’s Daughter is one of those books. Let me tell you about it right now.
Taking place in 2004, Firekeeper’s Daughter portrays the grim reality of how drug use has impacted Native Peoples at the highest rates. There’s even a report from the mid-2000s about it, specifically on meth usage. That’s important to mention before my review, because it adds background on this book and some knowledge on the subject matter. One thing about realistic fiction is that it often reflects reality and provokes critical thinking on real-world affairs. The realizations may bring discomfort, but they’ve got to occur at some point.
Let’s provoke some right now with the synopsis.
CW: Homicide-suicide, meth usage, anti-Nativeness, anti-Blackness, drugging, abduction, sexual violence, infidelity. A few spoilers also exist. Read at your own risk.
Synopsis: Angeline Boulley’s debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, follows a young White & Native (Ojibwe) woman named Daunis Fontaine. Although she’s not enrolled in the Sugar Island Ojibwe tribe due to her late father’s absence from her birth certificate, she’s lived her life around Ojibwe culture and the Sault Ste. Marie reservation. As a high school graduate, Daunis plans on going to the University of Michigan, but she defers that plan to look after her mother and grandmother. One Friday afternoon in the summer, Daunis supervises kids as they skate with her half-brother Levi’s hockey team: the Sault Ste. Marie Superiors. It’s on that day she meets a guy named Jamie Johnson, their newest team member.
Daunis is entranced by his looks and how he effortlessly made the elite junior hockey team. But little does she know that Jamie went undercover for an FBI investigation of a meth ring in the Great Lakes’ reservations and hockey bubbles. After she witnesses a homicide-suicide, she learns about the investigation and joins in as a confidential informant (CI). As a CI, Daunis has several battles to face: remaining undercover, processing trauma, her disillusionment with Jamie, and the ethical dilemmas of cooperating with the FBI. She deals with dueling consciousness between her CI role and her community, as well as such between her Anishinaabe (Native) and Zhaaganaash (White) roots. Firekeeper’s Daughter sees Daunis incorporate her cultural identity and science knowledge while cooperating with the FBI’s investigation. But overtime, she learns that she’s not far removed from the investigation and that a few of her role models are secretly shady.
Review: Can you believe that Boulley wrote Firekeeper’s Daughter over the course of a decade? D**n, no wonder why it’s such a strong debut. It’s nearly 500 pages long, but the plot is cohesive with the storyline. There are a lot of plot twists within it and some shock value, but no event feels out of place. Not even the shocking revelation that Levi was involved in the meth ring operation. Plot twists that hinge on shock value can lower a story’s quality if not well-incorporated, but the twists in this book are clever. When Daunis found out about his involvement, his friend Mike’s involvement, and her hockey coach Bobby LaFleur’s involvement, OH that part was so intriguing! Same thing with the part where Daunis learned about her late uncle David’s involvement as a CI in the meth ring investigation.
I also appreciate the incorporation of text slang (note that basic phones were used in 2004), as well as the usage of Anishinaabemowin for context and cultural connections. There are translations of Anishinaabemowin into English, but I really like that Anishinaabemowin is used even in full paragraphs. It’s great when words and phrases from other languages are written as they are and not merely translated into English. Ever read English dialogue and it concluded with, for example, “says Chiara in Italian”? Yeah, that doesn’t help with envisioning what and how Chiara said something in Italian. Just write the Italian phrase and then the English translation with the conclusion being, “says Chiara.”
Although back to centering Ojibwe culture—a few Ojibwe traditional stories, rituals, and ceremonies are shared in Firekeeper’s Daughter. One of the stories is about the original firekeeper’s daughter, which Daunis’ compatriot Macy Manitou narrates to a group of children. Another one symbolizes the yellow pansy as a flower of solidarity for girl and woman survivors of misogynist violence. Daunis’ aunt Teddie tells that story at a yellow pansy ceremony, and it’s one that Teddie didn’t want Daunis to show up at. This part is really touching, because it shows how the desire to protect others from trauma is part of care and collectivism. Although if it happens, it’s still important to show solidarity with the survivor.
Most of the characterizations are well-executed, including that of the star herself: Daunis. The first person point of view totally works here. Her perspectives are interesting and shape her responses to different events and people. Her distrust for law enforcement, for example, makes her hesitant to cooperate with the FBI. Especially with how her Black & Native (Ojibwe) uncle Art faced anti-Black violence at the US/Canada border, which made Aunt Teddie feel unsafe about crossing it. Daunis decides to work with the FBI anyway after considering her desire to protect her community from the meth ring and bring closure to the deaths that resulted from it. One of them being of her best friend Lily, who was killed by her ex-boyfriend Travis before he killed himself. Travis had a meth addiction before his death.
Though even during Daunis’ time as a CI, she makes it clear that her objectives during the investigation are different from those of the FBI. One of the most powerful quotes from the book: “The FBI is interested in learning what caused the group hallucination. I want to know if the kids are okay.” It reminds me of how important it is to pursue transitional & restorative justice. Those two concepts aren’t elaborated on in this book, but her critique is a solid starting point for those dialogues.
Daunis is long-term oriented, interested in updates on the teens after the group hallucination in Minnesota months prior. Meanwhile, the FBI is short-term oriented, only seeing those teens (and the Ojibweg for that matter) as subjects to fulfill job assignments.* That’s one way she gets jaded with Jamie, who poses as a high school senior even at 22 years old. He’s Native (Cherokee), and so is his impostor uncle Ron (specific tribe unknown). But she remains skeptical of their intentions given the FBI’s anti-Native history.
Speaking of anti-Native history, Firekeeper’s Daughter touches on the multiple ways anti-Nativeness occurs. This includes how some Zhaaganaashag (White people) irk Daunis with their anti-Nativeness.** One way being through their ignorance of dreamcatchers, which actually have their origins in Ojibwe culture. There’s also a part where Mrs. Hammond, a high school secretary, compliments Daunis’ academic performance by telling her that she’s “not like them [other Indian kids].” It might sound complimentary on the surface to some people, but it’s a statement of exclusion. It’s one that heightens tokenism and respectability politics: two phenomena that uphold anti-Nativeness and White supremacy. Because Native Peoples’ rights shouldn’t be contingent on the actions of a few. The rights should be a given, regardless of how Native individuals behave and what they do/don’t accomplish.
Daunis also elaborates on the dueling consciousness she’s always had between her Anishinaabe and Zhaaganaash roots. On one hand, she acknowledges that being a White Native grants her privileges that non-mixed Natives and Black Natives don’t have. On the flip side, she also faces anti-Nativeness, an example being Mrs. Hammond’s “compliment.” Another one occurs after Daunis becomes an enrolled member of the Sugar Island Ojibwe tribe. Daunis gets drugged and abducted by her stepmother, Dana Firekeeper, the tribal judge and Levi’s mother. Even so, the feds don’t press charges against Judge Firekeeper.
That decision is influenced by Daunis’ tribe member status, and the feds had the authority to press charges in cases where perpetrators commit crimes on tribal land against tribe members. The feds showed their anti-Nativeness and misogyny through their decision, mirroring the reality of how Native women’s experiences with violence are ignored all too often. Judge Firekeeper is Native herself, but the point still remains. In addition, Daunis gets sexually assaulted by Grant Edwards, a White man who doesn’t face any charges.
Neither does his son Mike Edwards, who managed the meth ring and fled from the U.S. after it got busted. He had set up his former friend Levi into taking the blame, as Levi sits in jail while waiting to go to trial. Coach Bobby, another White man, gets to be the star witness in the case and give critical information that could worsen Levi’s (and even Daunis’) position. Through Daunis’ eyes, it’s seen how the Zhaaganaashag can get away with crimes that the Anishinaabeg can’t. They can also get away with sowing discord amongst the Anishinaabeg, as Judge Firekeeper’s involvement in the meth ring causes controversy in her tribe on the fairness of her punishment. It also sparks debates on banishment rules concerning drug crimes and whether adding those rules would be more helpful or harmful.
Now onto some critiques. I have a couple of them concerning the characterizations of Dana Firekeeper and another character named Seeney Nimkee. Seeney is an Elder who played a significant role in helping Daunis in the story’s climax, but it’s hard to remember her in the beginning. It’s mentioned that Daunis cried once after Elder Nimkee pinpointed how she and the other youngins disrespected the Elders. Still, the brief mentions of her before the climax don’t help with envisioning her personality and aura. That’s a telltale sign that she’s not well-characterized.
As for Dana, her affair with Daunis’ father (Levi Firekeeper Sr.) resulted in the birth of Levi Firekeeper Jr. three months after Daunis’ birth. That fact and her marriage to him are known in the story early on, as well as the fact that Levi Sr. died when Daunis and Levi Jr. were both seven years old. But then there’s lackluster characterization of Dana until the last quarter of the book. There are some details given about her before that point, such as her becoming the first Ojibwe judge on Tribal Court and her care for Stormy Nodin, another culprit of the meth ring. Nevertheless, Judge Firekeeper’s characterization could’ve been stronger with more spoken dialogue from her.
Some backstory about her experiences on Tribal Court, her feelings on that affair, and her experiences with widowhood would’ve improved it too. Though the fact that she was involved in the meth ring despite her authority? And with her OWN son? WONDERFUL incorporation of irony in Firekeeper’s Daughter, no kidding. Also ironic that she drugs and abducts her own stepdaughter. Judge Firekeeper does that out of revenge to get back at Daunis. For the record, Daunis had broken into Levi’s room to learn more about his role in the meth ring after noticing suspicious activity in their joint bank account.
Moving on to my critique about the time period: I previously thought Firekeeper’s Daughter was set in the year of this book’s publishing—2021. It turns out, however, that this book is actually set in 2004. That wasn’t evident in the beginning, and there should’ve been a subheading clarifying the time period. In fact, there should’ve been several subheadings throughout the book that highlighted the storyline’s chronological progression. Would’ve made it easier to follow along.
Another critique is about the setting set up, particularly with Chi Mukwa and the Elder Center. It’s hard to envision those locations to the fullest extent. I could envision the skating rink inside of Chi Mukwa, but I couldn’t envision its exterior landscape or the other parts of its interior. I could envision the meeting room of the Elder Center but could hardly envision its exterior and its location on Sugar Island. The locations didn’t have to be super detailed. Although, it would’ve been nice if the location descriptions were more concise with those of different events.
I also question if it’s ethical to portray the homicide-suicide in graphic details. While the event shows a realistic consequence of drug use, there should’ve been a content warning there. Either that or the details should’ve been omitted altogether unless given in law enforcement scenes. Also, there should’ve been an update on Angie Flint. The fact that no update was given on her signifies a plot hole, because how is she not a person of interest as the “Meth Queen”? Travis’ death should’ve raised suspicion amongst law enforcement officers. Then again, maybe she had crafty ways of going under the radar.
Final Verdict: I must make an important note: Firekeeper’s Daughter has content mentioning drug overdoses, deaths in Daunis’ family, anti-Nativeness, anti-Blackness, sexual violence, abduction, homicide-suicide, and infidelity. If you do not feel safe reading that content in books, then you shouldn’t read it. It’s also not suitable for youth under 13 years of age (or even under 15-16 years of age) to read.
But if you feel capable of withstanding the sensitive content in this book, it’s one I wholeheartedly recommend. The writing gets high marks! It’s artistic, meaningful, and captivating! It’s evident that Boulley paid attention to the small details in the storyline. Even with my critiques about the setting set-up, there was dynamic cohesion between the book’s other settings and its characters. I enjoyed learning about Ojibwe culture with the mentions of their food, powwows, Anishinaabemowin language, philosophy, and spirituality. And it’s really cool to see Daunis’ evolution. She becomes an enrolled member of the Sugar Island Ojibwe tribe in the latter half of the book. Although she only got admitted by one vote, there were twenty-six Elders who endorsed her with affidavits.
There’s a lot of heart wrenching realism, especially on the devastating effects of drug use. I think back to Lily’s murder and how just before she was killed, Lily expressed disinterest in ever reconciling with Travis. That devastated him. Before his meth addiction and Levi wrecking his community standing, he was a playful kid who made Lily laugh and enjoyed science. But his message by killing her was “if I can’t love her, nobody will.” The way his mother, Angie Flint, was involved with meth is sad too. Travis’ multidimensional backstory compellingly adds emotions to the whole situation.
This book also leaves me wondering about what may have happened outside of this story. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. For example, is it possible that Stormy Nodin didn’t speak to law enforcement officers because he’d have to confess to guilt in Heather’s death? The details on Heather’s backstory and behaviors shortly before her death make me wonder about his role in her life.
And another thing: Daunis receives two postcards at the end of the story from an anonymous sender. One of them says “The kids are all right,” which might be an update on the teens who were part of the group hallucination. After all, its photo is of a Minnesota lake and that event took place in Minnesota. The other postcard was a photo of the University of Wisconsin Law School. That got me wondering: might Jamie be the sender of those postcards? Those postcards sound like they serve as this book’s easter eggs.
There’s a touching part towards the end of Firekeeper’s Daughter where Daunis reveals her plans to major in ethnobotany at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her cousins Pauline and Perry are set to visit her in Hawaiʻi at some point, and Perry is the protagonist of the sequel titled Warrior Girl Unearthed. I hope those experiences are mentioned in that book, because they’d be interesting to hear about.
I had never really looked into thrillers before reading Firekeeper’s Daughter, but it’s got me interested in them. I’m definitely gonna read more thrillers in the future. If you’re into thrillers and you’re looking for a great one, give this one a shot. It gets bonus points for centering a Native culture (Ojibwe) and being written by an Ojibwe author. Angeline Boulley is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the tribe she based her book off of.
*Ojibweg is the plural form of Ojibwe.
**Zhaaganaashag is the plural form of Zhaaganaash.
Overall Rating: 4.6/5
