Crow Mary is the new novel by Kathleen Grissom. After such a long wait between books, I am happy to report that Ms. Grissom has, once again, written a masterpiece. 

Most of what makes Crow Mary so good is the marvel of a heroine that was Crow Mary. Her story is almost unbelievable if it weren't true. A Crow chief's daughter, Mary marries a white fur trader and follows him to his new trading post in Canada. What follows is heartbreaking and astounding.

Crow Mary is not another story about the power imbalance between the Native Americans and the "Yellow Eyes," aka white men. It is not a rehashing of the poor treatment and even worse opinions white people held about Native Americans. It is a simple story about one woman's experiences in the Montana and Canadian territories. It just so happens that one woman led a pretty unusual life.

In Crow Mary, Ms. Grissom lets Mary tell her story. The author fades into the background as you become wholly absorbed in Mary's words. She is so humble and matter-of-fact about what she does and sees that you can practically hear Mary telling her tale. What is a truly extraordinary feat becomes a mundane but necessary task in Mary's eyes, which only adds to the reader's delight. 

While Crow Mary is not a commentary about what happened out west with the Native Americans, Ms. Grissom and Mary prove that any story about that time automatically becomes one when telling the story from the Native American viewpoint. Even though there are a few times where Mary outright condemns what is happening to her people, it is all too easy to understand her confusion and anger about the white people and their ways. You feel her disgust at the lies they told and the lack of consequences for those lies. At the same time, you understand the pride she feels about her Crow heritage and the honor with which she holds herself as an example of her people, and that is the most important takeaway from the novel.

There is no doubt Ms. Grissom is a talented writer. Her previous books remain popular and highly rated. With Crow Mary, readers get the pleasure of experiencing a remarkable author joining forces with a remarkable subject in the form of Crow Mary. Ms. Grissom takes you back to the 1870s, but Crow Mary keeps you spellbound.