An engaging history of ancient Native American peoples is brought to magical life by author David Fitz-Gerald.
In the early 1100s, in a region now known to us as the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York, a small band of tribal people is living in longhouses, growing crops, fishing, hunting, and enjoying certain rituals such as face and body painting, occasional migration for food survival, and even seasonal “vacations,” all while willingly obeying a simple form of governance with elements of basic democracy. In this tribe, we meet Wanders Far, a child who earns his nickname after showing a propensity to disappear and explore since he could walk. His mother, Bear Fat, is the recognized chieftainess of their group, mother of a large brood, one of whom is stolen as the book opens. Wanders Far would be considered an unusual child in any society, gifted with a highly accurate memory and the ability to visualize future events. He can also run like the wind, and with his love for travel, he is often the first to see and warn his people of danger, such as a cadre of warriors from a hostile tribe heading towards his home settlement.
Fitz-Gerald’s book interweaves family chronology, legend (such as tales of Hiawatha), and fact-weighted history into what is essentially a human drama focused on the personal lives of Wanders Far and his cultural community. Through the happenings described, we learn more about how such indigenous people survived and progressed. We see them fishing, hunting, and foraging, as well as loving, celebrating, and mourning. One dominant theme concerns the mixture of tribes in the area – Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. We see how they interact, with some being more generally friendly and others being enemies who may become allies as, in the future, they will meld into what is called The Iroquois Confederacy, serving a significant role in the founding of the first European colonies. We see Wanders Far and his relatives – all with earthy, practical names like Squash, Gentle Breeze, and Big Canoe – as real people who laugh and cry, fall in love, make war and form alliances in their nature-bound, intuitively guided, pre-technological circumstances.
Imbuing his hero with “second sight” along with exceptional physical prowess, Fitz-Gerald states that he was drawn to compose the story of Wanders Far through his own powers of imagination coupled with a fascination for the region where he himself has lived and explored. He draws a dynamic portrait of how specially gifted people were and can still be welcomed into the fold despite their differences. Wanders Far will experience a long life, here skipping from his early twenties to his mid-seventies, and readers will hope that a future novel may reveal more of the exploits of his full manhood. A small hint at the book’s end alludes to a distant identity and makes us want to see more from this multi-talented, highly creative author.
Wanders Far won First Place in the CIBA 2019 Laramie Awards for American Western Fiction.
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