This Spur Award–winning novel of the Cherokee Nation follows an epic saga of family alliances and culture clashes in the aftermath of the Civil War. Cherokee Nation West, 1875. It's early in spring, and a baby has gone missing—along with a preacher, a black hired hand, a bay horse, a gun, and a stash of gold. Cherokee America Singer is not amused. Known as "Check," the wealthy farmer and soon-to-be-widowed mother of five boys has enough to deal with already. In this epic of the American frontier, several plots intertwine around the heroic and resolute Check: her son is caught in a compromising position that results in murder; a neighbor disappears; another man is killed. The tension mounts and the violence escalates as Check's mixed race family, friends, and neighbors come together to protect their community at any cost—even if it requires expelling one of their own.
