The Raven's Gift - Don Rearden [0]
“Rearden’s fresh, new voice is a kaleidoscope of cultural collision and the astonishing landscape of the heart.”
—Ron Spatz, Editor, Alaska Quarterly Review
“A many-layered Alaskan intrigue which is gritty and engaging and an absolutely good read … all in a world, that Alaskan world—which I could believe.”
—Ron Carlson, author of The Speed of Light,
Five Skies, and News of the World
“Don Rearden’s writing is captivating and new. This is a writer who has many books in him. I predict he will be widely read, well respected, and greatly admired.”
—Jo-Ann Mapson, author of bestselling novels
Bad Girl Creek, The Wilder Sisters, and Hank and Chloe
“Take a remote Alaskan village, add a dedicated teacher, toss in a plague. The Raven’s Gift is a page turner with a message: We Alaskans are lost if we cannot find our own way.”
—Bill Streever, author of Cold:
Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places
“In The Raven’s Gift, Don Rearden has created a kind of allegory for a people and place at risk, a generous and honest portrait of Yup’ik communities. His Alaska is one you won’t yet have seen.”
David Vann, author of bestselling novels
Legend of a Suicide and A Mile Down
PENGUIN CANADA
THE RAVEN’S GIFT
DON REARDEN grew up on the tundra of Southwestern Alaska. He is a produced screenwriter, a published poet, and assistant professor of Developmental Studies at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, where he shows young writers how to develop their creative voices. His experiences with the Yup’ik Eskimo culture shape his writing, and he considers the Alaskan wilderness a major influence in his work.
The
RAVEN’S
Gift
Don Rearden
PENGUIN CANADA
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Canada Inc.)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published 2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Copyright © Don Rearden, 2011
The excerpt on page 1 is from Intellectual Culture of the Copper Eskimos by Knud Rasmussen, published by Gyldendal, Copenhagen, 1932.
The excerpts on pages 3, 115, and 201 are from The Eskimo About Bering Strait by Edward Nelson, published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1899, 19 83.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Publisher’s note: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Manufactured in Canada.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Rearden, Don
The raven’s gift / Don Rearden.
ISBN 978-0-14-317333-5
I. Title.
PS3618.E32R38 2011 813’.6 C2010-905204-8
Visit the Penguin Group (Canada) website at www.penguin.ca
Special and corporate bulk purchase rates available; please see www.penguin.ca/corporatesales or call 1-800-810-3104,