The Road Back to Sweetgrass

A Novel

By: Linda LeGarde Grover

Narrated by: Charlotte Flyte

Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in northern Minnesota, The Road Back to Sweetgrass follows Dale Ann, Theresa, and Margie, a trio of American Indian women, from the 1970s to the present, observing their coming of age and the intersection of their lives as they navigate love, economic hardship, loss, and changing family dynamics on the fictional Mozhay Point reservation. As young women, all three leave their homes. Margie and Theresa go to Duluth for college and work; there Theresa gets to know a handsome Indian boy, Michael Washington, who invites her home to the Sweetgrass land allotment to meet his father, Zho Wash, who lives in the original allotment cabin. When Margie accompanies her, complicated relationships are set into motion, and tensions over "real Indian-ness" emerge.

Dale Ann, Margie, and Theresa find themselves pulled back again and again to the Sweetgrass allotment, a silent but ever-present entity in the book. In a powerful final chapter, Zho Wash tells the story of the first days of the allotment, when the Wazhushkag, or Muskrat, family became transformed into the Washingtons by the pen of a federal Indian agent. This sense of place and home is both tangible and spiritual, and Linda LeGarde Grover skillfully connects it with the experience of Native women who came of age during the days of the federal termination policy and the struggle for tribal self-determination.

©2014 Linda LeGarde Grover (P)2023 Tantor

Believable history!

This is a touching story of family, survivors of trauma, and the paths that took them back to their origins. The generations did not forget history but used it to heal. The book’s highlights clearly brought out the social construct of white society that continues to interfere with families, on the margins, especially Women. A message for us all. Not all men in this story were unsupportive and understanding, which was and is the key to partnership and healing. Yes, this is great class material and an example of a strong people who acknowledge and remind us that the land is everyone’s home!! I liked that it wove Creation Care and Racial Justice together!!

Harrowing and haunting

This story odd beautiful, narrator’s cadence made an already beautiful story more haunting and memorable. Chimiigwich

Storytelling at its Best

I loved the clever braiding of these stories and the ethereal quality of time which does not move in a straight line but rather in a circle. The telling of indigenous stories by the People themselves is so important. Hope to read more by this author in the near future. Tlazohcamati. Thank you.