Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer is Allison Adelle Hedge Coke s searching account of her life as a mixed-blood woman coming of age off reservation, yet deeply immersed in her Huron, Metis, and Cherokee heritage. In a style at once elliptical and achingly clear, Hedge Coke details her mother s schizophrenia; the domestic and community abuse overshadowing her childhood; and torments both visited upon her (rape and violence) and inflicted on herself (alcohol and drug abuse during her youth). Yet she managed to survive with her dreams and her will, her sense of wonder and promise...