Useful Girl

March 8, 2004
The life of a contemporary young woman runs parallel to that of an 1870s Cheyenne girl in Stevens's affecting, accomplished second novel (after 2002's well-received Curve of the World
). Erin Douglass, 17, and her detached father, Jack, are mourning the loss of her mother ("Without her, we were an inexplicable pairing, two unconnectable dots"). The rift widens when the remains of a Cheyenne girl are discovered at Jack's construction company's work site, and Jack callously orders his workers to cover them up to avoid an expensive halt to the job. Charlie White Bird, one of the workers, is offended by Jack's disrespect and enlists Erin's cooperation to rectify the situation. They soon begin an affair that is forbidden both by Erin's father and the racially divided society of rural Montana. As Erin's problems snowball, she becomes increasingly interested in the Cheyenne girl, whom she and Charlie name Mo'é'ha'e. Meanwhile, she is reading about the Indian wars, as recorded in her grandfather's notes for a family history, and she images the life of Mo'é'ha'e while learning about her own family's role in the settling of the West. Eventually compelled to flee both her father and Charlie, Erin embarks on a bleak hitchhiking trip with no fixed destination in mind. Stevens skillfully juxtaposes the stories of Erin and Mo'é'ha'e, drawing a clear connection between them. The descriptions of late 19th-century battles and living conditions are unsettling in their vivid and authentic detail, riveting even the least historically minded reader, and the account of Erin's plight is clear-eyed and uncompromising. Writing with compassion and grace, Stevens delivers a timeless story of brutality and forgiveness. Author tour.

March 1, 2004
One summer day, Emma tells her young daughter the story of two girls: her own story as a young woman and that of Mo'e'ha'e, a Cheyenne girl whose bones Emma tried to protect in just one of the life-changing events of a tumultuous year. The story opens with the death and funeral of Emma's mother, which leaves Emma and her increasingly estranged father alone with each other. Delivering a package to her father at his construction site, Emma arrives just as the body of a young girl is unearthed; she was buried with silver thimbles on each finger to show her worth to her family. While Emma's father demands that the body be covered over and forgotten, Emma instantly connects with a young Native American construction worker, and the two begin conspiring to bring the girl they call Mo'e'ha'e to rest. Emma's life begins to swirl out of control, and soon she is pregnant and on the run. It is not common for a man to write from a woman's point of view, but Stevens (The Curve of the World) does it credibly. Highly recommended for public libraries, especially where there is strong interest in historical fiction.-Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll. Lib., OH

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2004
In his ambitious second novel, Stevens (" The Curve of the World," 2002) tells an affecting story of the power of young love, intertwining it with a less effective subplot on Native American oppression. When a construction crew uncovers the remains of a Cheyenne girl, the foreman, anxious about deadlines, orders his men to keep working. Charlie White Bird is not willing to overlook this breach in regulations, and he enlists the foreman's daughter, Erin Douglass, in his quest to rebury the remains in a sacred place. Erin, still grieving the recent death of her mother and unable to draw her reticent father into any meaningful conversation, finds in her passionate relationship with Charlie an outlet for her repressed emotions. In parallel with this contemporary love story, Stevens re-creates the life of the young Cheyenne girl and the circumstances that led to her death; unfortunately, this subplot is mired in some too-obvious symbolism. Still, this novel is well worth reading for its evocative depiction of first love and its realistic portrait of a strained father-daughter relationship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)