Wow this was so good. Intricately layered vignettes that criss-cross across the author's life as much as she criss-crosses the American West provide an intimate context to her life. Susan Devan Harness was adopted when she was 18-months old after being taken away from her negligent mother (and family, and life on the rez, and all that comes with that). She was adopted by a white couple, their only child. Both her birth family and her adoptive family were dysfunctional. She has faced a lifetime of never belonging--not within white society ("too dark"), and not within her Salish tribe ("too white") that she was able to gain access to after a heartbreaking search as an adult. She now advocates for open-ish adoptions--where children's parents may be replaced by adoptive parents, but their families (siblings, extended relatives) are not. This allows for the child to cultivate a sense of belonging and a better grounding for stability in their lives.

It is hard to express everything that is woven into this book: US Government treaties with Native Americans, child welfare policy, missing paperwork, photos, childhood memories, scenes from nature, mental health, mentally ill and aging parents, racism, relationships gone awry, etc etc. it is complex and not straightforward, but at no point did I get lost with too many details or lose track of where I was in Susan's life. It turns out that this book is part of a large series published by the University of Nebraska Press called American Indian Lives. I hope I will be able to read more from this series. I learned so many things I didn't know (I am ashamed I didn't know...) and besides being well written and interesting, this book is imbued with emotion.