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Steal the North: A Novel
Vocally graceful and fearlessly intimate, STEAL THE NORTH, Heather Brittain Bergstrom's remarkable debut novel, is a strikingly beautiful portrait of modern identity, faith, family, and love in all its forms.
Emmy Nolan is a sheltered and introverted sixteen-year-old living in Sacramento with her mom, Kate, when a phone call comes from an aunt she never knew existed. Fifteen years earlier, Kate had abandoned her only sibling, Beth, fleeing their tiny eastern Washington town and the fundamentalist Baptist church that had condemned her as a whore. Beth, who's pregnant for what she knows is the last time after countless miscarriages, believes her only hope to delivering the baby is Emmy's participation in a faith healing ceremony.
Emmy reluctantly goes. Despite uncovering her mom's desperate and painful past, she soon finds she has come home--immediately developing a strong bond with her aunt Beth and feeling destined to the rugged landscape. Then Emmy meets Reuben Tonasket, the Native American boy who lives next door. Though passion-filled and resilient, their love story is eerily mirrored by the generation before them, who fear that their own mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves in Emmy and Reuben.
This is a marvelously imaginative and deeply felt debut, one whose characters live at nearly intolerable levels of vulnerability. Yet, as fragile as they may seem, Bergstrom has imbued them with a tremendous inner strength, proving that the question of home is a spiritual one, that getting over the past is hope for the future, and that the bond between family is truly unbreakable.
Emmy Nolan is a sheltered and introverted sixteen-year-old living in Sacramento with her mom, Kate, when a phone call comes from an aunt she never knew existed. Fifteen years earlier, Kate had abandoned her only sibling, Beth, fleeing their tiny eastern Washington town and the fundamentalist Baptist church that had condemned her as a whore. Beth, who's pregnant for what she knows is the last time after countless miscarriages, believes her only hope to delivering the baby is Emmy's participation in a faith healing ceremony.
Emmy reluctantly goes. Despite uncovering her mom's desperate and painful past, she soon finds she has come home--immediately developing a strong bond with her aunt Beth and feeling destined to the rugged landscape. Then Emmy meets Reuben Tonasket, the Native American boy who lives next door. Though passion-filled and resilient, their love story is eerily mirrored by the generation before them, who fear that their own mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves in Emmy and Reuben.
This is a marvelously imaginative and deeply felt debut, one whose characters live at nearly intolerable levels of vulnerability. Yet, as fragile as they may seem, Bergstrom has imbued them with a tremendous inner strength, proving that the question of home is a spiritual one, that getting over the past is hope for the future, and that the bond between family is truly unbreakable.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 10, 2014
14 people are currently reading
1621 people want to read
About the author
Heather Brittain Bergstrom
1 book25 followershttps://www.facebook.com/hbbergstrom
I grew up in a small farming town in eastern Washington, located between the two largest Indian reservations in the state. My family has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest, and I remember my grandmother telling stories of how the Snake River used to flood their house every spring. For much of my childhood, my parents were members of a fundamentalist Baptist church where I attended school in an unaccredited basement academy. I have worked as a truck stop waitress and as a teacher. I've won multiple awards from Narrative Magazine, including first place in the Fall 2010 Story Contest. Four of my short stories can be found online at Narrative. Leslie Marmon Silko chose a story by me to win the Kore Press Short Fiction Chapbook Award. I have also won writing awards from The Atlantic Monthly and The Chicago Tribune, as well as other places. One of my stories was picked as a notable story in the Best American Short Stories 2010. Steal the North is my debut novel and first published book. I currently live in the Sacramento Valley with my husband and two children. I return often to the Pacific Northwest to visit the rivers and to feel the wind in the canyons and coulees.
I grew up in a small farming town in eastern Washington, located between the two largest Indian reservations in the state. My family has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest, and I remember my grandmother telling stories of how the Snake River used to flood their house every spring. For much of my childhood, my parents were members of a fundamentalist Baptist church where I attended school in an unaccredited basement academy. I have worked as a truck stop waitress and as a teacher. I've won multiple awards from Narrative Magazine, including first place in the Fall 2010 Story Contest. Four of my short stories can be found online at Narrative. Leslie Marmon Silko chose a story by me to win the Kore Press Short Fiction Chapbook Award. I have also won writing awards from The Atlantic Monthly and The Chicago Tribune, as well as other places. One of my stories was picked as a notable story in the Best American Short Stories 2010. Steal the North is my debut novel and first published book. I currently live in the Sacramento Valley with my husband and two children. I return often to the Pacific Northwest to visit the rivers and to feel the wind in the canyons and coulees.
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July 31, 2015
“It's crazy what a heart blinded by love can lead you to believe.”
----Jourdane Erasquin
Heather Brittain Bergstrom, an American author, pens her poignant as well as compelling debut novel, Steal the North that accounts the story of a young teenage girl who, after learning about her mother's painful past and about those lies that her mother had been hiding from her, embarks upon a journey through the dusty and bumpy road to the Moses Lake in Washington from Sacramento in California. This emotional tale is entwined with love, family, sisterhood, teenage pregnancy, Christianity, race and culture set across a vivid backdrop.
Synopsis:
Vocally graceful and fearlessly intimate, STEAL THE NORTH, Heather Brittain Bergstrom's remarkable debut novel, is a strikingly beautiful portrait of modern identity, faith, family, and love in all its forms.
Emmy Nolan is a sheltered and introverted sixteen-year-old living in Sacramento with her mom, Kate, when a phone call comes from an aunt she never knew existed. Fifteen years earlier, Kate had abandoned her only sibling, Beth, fleeing their tiny eastern Washington town and the fundamentalist Baptist church that had condemned her as a whore. Beth, who's pregnant for what she knows is the last time after countless miscarriages, believes her only hope to delivering the baby is Emmy's participation in a faith healing ceremony.
Emmy reluctantly goes. Despite uncovering her mom's desperate and painful past, she soon finds she has come home--immediately developing a strong bond with her aunt Beth and feeling destined to the rugged landscape. Then Emmy meets Reuben Tonasket, the Native American boy who lives next door. Though passion-filled and resilient, their love story is eerily mirrored by the generation before them, who fear that their own mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves in Emmy and Reuben.
This is a marvelously imaginative and deeply felt debut, one whose characters live at nearly intolerable levels of vulnerability. Yet, as fragile as they may seem, Bergstrom has imbued them with a tremendous inner strength, proving that the question of home is a spiritual one, that getting over the past is hope for the future, and that the bond between family is truly unbreakable.
Emmy, a 16year old Cali girl, lives with her mother, Kate- a single mother, who works as a lecturer and has a boyfriend named, Spencer. Emmy and Kate both are content with their lives, when a sudden phone call changes the gravity of this mother-daughter relationship. It seems Kate had been hiding her past under layers of lies that she fed her daughter. Kate has a younger sister, Bethany who has a husband named Mike and that Emmy's father is still alive. Bethany needs Emmy's help on her journey to become a mother, who lives at the Moses Lake which is also home to a large number of Indians. Emmy's days at Washington begins perfectly when she meets her Indian next-door-neighbor guy who sweeps her off her feet at the first go. Will Emmy's summer be romantic or will Kate's secrets and lies about her past finally make Emmy a victim?
This is an extremely emotional tale that rips a sweet mother-daughter relationship apart with the lies and the secrets kept buried in the closet for a long time. The tale not only moved me with it's intensity of pain and love, but also made me contemplate or rather say look at the story with a different perspective from that of the characters.
The writing style is nice and polished layered with emotions. The evocative prose is bound to make a human heart long for their estranged relationships with their family members. The narration is delightful and there is so single POV, every other character has a voice and speaks the tale from their own POV, that really added a depth to each and every character's demeanor.
The characters like I said are strikingly portrayed in this tale where each has has their own voice, from main characters to not so important characters. This book is actually a love story buried under depths of family drama, and every character voices their own fear when the young lovers passion and dreams for each other leaves them behind. Emmy is an extremely sweet and strong YA protagonist who despite of all those lies and her ill-fated love story, held on to hope and her heart, and how she reconnected with her only aunt despite of her mother's abandonment, is depicted beautifully in the story. Reuben is another important character, who shows a different side of the native American's race and culture as well as his small town, Moses Lake.
The chemistry is sweet and innocent in the beginning which then matures with the situations that life puts Emmy on to. Moreover, their love story is enough to make the readers feel the flush of teenage love and all those heightened hormones kicking out of the system. The author has captured young love vividly through Emmy and Reuben.
The backdrop of Moses Lake is vivid with colors and lakes and greenery and it is enough to easily transport the readers to the land of natives. And the native American race is featured with lots of sensitivity and strikingly. The theme of the book is powerful enough to make the readers feel a deep sense of respect towards their won family members. The love story is beautiful as well as heart-breaking.
In a nutshell, this book is perfect for your summer read since it captures the essence of summer, young love and family drama with realism and authenticity.
Verdict: A perfect summer read for realistic YA fans.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Heather Brittain Bergstrom, for providing me with a copy of this book, in return for an honest review.
----Jourdane Erasquin
Heather Brittain Bergstrom, an American author, pens her poignant as well as compelling debut novel, Steal the North that accounts the story of a young teenage girl who, after learning about her mother's painful past and about those lies that her mother had been hiding from her, embarks upon a journey through the dusty and bumpy road to the Moses Lake in Washington from Sacramento in California. This emotional tale is entwined with love, family, sisterhood, teenage pregnancy, Christianity, race and culture set across a vivid backdrop.
Synopsis:
Vocally graceful and fearlessly intimate, STEAL THE NORTH, Heather Brittain Bergstrom's remarkable debut novel, is a strikingly beautiful portrait of modern identity, faith, family, and love in all its forms.
Emmy Nolan is a sheltered and introverted sixteen-year-old living in Sacramento with her mom, Kate, when a phone call comes from an aunt she never knew existed. Fifteen years earlier, Kate had abandoned her only sibling, Beth, fleeing their tiny eastern Washington town and the fundamentalist Baptist church that had condemned her as a whore. Beth, who's pregnant for what she knows is the last time after countless miscarriages, believes her only hope to delivering the baby is Emmy's participation in a faith healing ceremony.
Emmy reluctantly goes. Despite uncovering her mom's desperate and painful past, she soon finds she has come home--immediately developing a strong bond with her aunt Beth and feeling destined to the rugged landscape. Then Emmy meets Reuben Tonasket, the Native American boy who lives next door. Though passion-filled and resilient, their love story is eerily mirrored by the generation before them, who fear that their own mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves in Emmy and Reuben.
This is a marvelously imaginative and deeply felt debut, one whose characters live at nearly intolerable levels of vulnerability. Yet, as fragile as they may seem, Bergstrom has imbued them with a tremendous inner strength, proving that the question of home is a spiritual one, that getting over the past is hope for the future, and that the bond between family is truly unbreakable.
Emmy, a 16year old Cali girl, lives with her mother, Kate- a single mother, who works as a lecturer and has a boyfriend named, Spencer. Emmy and Kate both are content with their lives, when a sudden phone call changes the gravity of this mother-daughter relationship. It seems Kate had been hiding her past under layers of lies that she fed her daughter. Kate has a younger sister, Bethany who has a husband named Mike and that Emmy's father is still alive. Bethany needs Emmy's help on her journey to become a mother, who lives at the Moses Lake which is also home to a large number of Indians. Emmy's days at Washington begins perfectly when she meets her Indian next-door-neighbor guy who sweeps her off her feet at the first go. Will Emmy's summer be romantic or will Kate's secrets and lies about her past finally make Emmy a victim?
This is an extremely emotional tale that rips a sweet mother-daughter relationship apart with the lies and the secrets kept buried in the closet for a long time. The tale not only moved me with it's intensity of pain and love, but also made me contemplate or rather say look at the story with a different perspective from that of the characters.
The writing style is nice and polished layered with emotions. The evocative prose is bound to make a human heart long for their estranged relationships with their family members. The narration is delightful and there is so single POV, every other character has a voice and speaks the tale from their own POV, that really added a depth to each and every character's demeanor.
The characters like I said are strikingly portrayed in this tale where each has has their own voice, from main characters to not so important characters. This book is actually a love story buried under depths of family drama, and every character voices their own fear when the young lovers passion and dreams for each other leaves them behind. Emmy is an extremely sweet and strong YA protagonist who despite of all those lies and her ill-fated love story, held on to hope and her heart, and how she reconnected with her only aunt despite of her mother's abandonment, is depicted beautifully in the story. Reuben is another important character, who shows a different side of the native American's race and culture as well as his small town, Moses Lake.
The chemistry is sweet and innocent in the beginning which then matures with the situations that life puts Emmy on to. Moreover, their love story is enough to make the readers feel the flush of teenage love and all those heightened hormones kicking out of the system. The author has captured young love vividly through Emmy and Reuben.
The backdrop of Moses Lake is vivid with colors and lakes and greenery and it is enough to easily transport the readers to the land of natives. And the native American race is featured with lots of sensitivity and strikingly. The theme of the book is powerful enough to make the readers feel a deep sense of respect towards their won family members. The love story is beautiful as well as heart-breaking.
In a nutshell, this book is perfect for your summer read since it captures the essence of summer, young love and family drama with realism and authenticity.
Verdict: A perfect summer read for realistic YA fans.
Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Heather Brittain Bergstrom, for providing me with a copy of this book, in return for an honest review.
February 22, 2014
Each chapter in this book is written from the first-person perspective of one of the main characters. Typically I find this style academic and detaching. Bergstrom, however, speaks so clearly, so purely, in each character's voice, that I found myself wholly immersed in the story, aching to hear more from each of them. The reader is drawn along so lightly, so effortlessly, that the sorrow which consumes the book is no warning of the tragedy which ensues. Bergstrom does not shirk from the permanency of our choices, how they change our world, how they change us. In spite of the grief staining every person, love remains stronger and more powerful than life itself, than even the hearts which it breaks. It is easy to say that a reader could not bear to put a book down. Of this book, I would say instead that my heart would be poorer had I never picked it up. A beautiful book which will leave an indelible imprint on the reader.
November 23, 2014
http://theprettygoodgatsby.wordpress....
A few months ago I discussed imprints and I mentioned one of my go-to imprints (according to my ratings) is Viking. Steal the North is one of Viking's latest releases and, once again, proves just how well that imprint knows me.
Steal the North is not a happy story by any means. Instead it's a story of a family brought together by lies and tragedy and shows how they cope with the past and, ultimately, struggle to move on. Sixteen-year-old Emmy thought her only family was her mother. Her world shatters when she finds out that, not only is her father alive and well, but she also has an aunt and uncle living in Washington. Even more shocking is when Emmy's mother tells her she'll be spending the summer with her new-found family. Kate was just barely out of her teens when she became pregnant. Having been raised in a fundamentalist church, Kate's pregnancy cast her out of the only thing she knew. Her father disowned her, the church disowned her, the boy she planned on marrying took off. In order to support herself and Emmy, Kate did unspeakable things and, when she couldn't take it anymore, left Washington for California in order to start a new life. It's been sixteen years since she last spoke to her sister and now her family needs her help.
When Kate left, Bethany lost a huge part of herself. Her older sister was her rock and the year she was able to spend with Emmy was the happiest she'd ever been. Since she was a child Bethany's dream was to have children of her own, but she's suffered miscarriage after miscarriage and realizes she has one more chance. While Matt can't convince her to see a doctor, Bethany has started looking into alternative medicine - herbs, plants, but not to the extent that her fellow worshipers would become suspicious. The new pastor has agreed to do a healing and Bethany's niece is needed for a vital role. Next door to the Millers lives a Native American family. Life on the reservation might provide them with family, but the trailer court holds far more stability and a life away from gangs and poverty. Theresa supports her kids as best as she can and her younger brother Reuben helps out whenever she needs him. The summer Emmy spends in Washington brings together two wildly different families and she discovers what it truly means to be home.
Steal the North is beautiful. It's heartbreaking. It's emotional, raw, real. The story is set in the late '90s and, in the easiest way to get to my heart, features numerous points of view. I don't want to say Emmy is the standout character, though the story is very much about her. Bethany, Reuben, and Kate are every bit as important to the story and each chapter shows a side to the story that wasn't there before. Bethany, with her homemade dresses and long hair. Kate's bitterness and regret. Reuben's desire to hold onto his Colville traditions. I was pleasantly surprised that even minor characters were given a chapter or two: Jamie, Emmy's father, isn't quite the deadbeat he's originally made out to be. Spencer, Kate's boyfriend, loves her and Emmy more than anything and is determined to become a family. Every single character, big or small, was beautifully written and felt like people I could easily pass on the street or stand behind in line at the grocery store.
Be warned, though: this isn't a lazy day read. It's not a novel to be devoured in an afternoon. I spent well over a week with this book and I feel that truly helped me get a real feel for the place and the characters that I would have missed had I raced through it. I also feel that my slow reading pace subconsciously mirrored the slow story-telling - and I don't mean that in a bad way! Steal the North was not a novel that dragged its feet or one that bored me. Instead, it was a story that simply wasn't ready to give up its secrets; instead I had to earn them and when I finally discovered the truth it hit me hard. My heart broke a hundred times over for these characters and while my life isn't anything like theirs, by the end of the book I wanted to reach out to my family. That is the sign of good story-telling, ladies and gentlemen.
My only - only! - complaint about the novel has nothing to do with the story itself, but with the cover. Personally I find the cover stunning, but what you can't see on the screen is that, because of the camera angle, there's a clear view down the model's dress. It would have been so easy to fix: a different angle, different lighting, a different dress.
It floors me that Steal the North is Bergstrom's first novel. With a debut like this there's no telling what the future holds - but I look forward to it! Steal the North was filled to the brim with emotion: heavy subjects like loss and race were handled with grace and the love coursing through these pages hit home. This is definitely a novel I'll be talking about for a long, long time and certainly one I'll be recommending to friends, family, and customers. Pick up a copy of this novel - trust me.
A few months ago I discussed imprints and I mentioned one of my go-to imprints (according to my ratings) is Viking. Steal the North is one of Viking's latest releases and, once again, proves just how well that imprint knows me.
Steal the North is not a happy story by any means. Instead it's a story of a family brought together by lies and tragedy and shows how they cope with the past and, ultimately, struggle to move on. Sixteen-year-old Emmy thought her only family was her mother. Her world shatters when she finds out that, not only is her father alive and well, but she also has an aunt and uncle living in Washington. Even more shocking is when Emmy's mother tells her she'll be spending the summer with her new-found family. Kate was just barely out of her teens when she became pregnant. Having been raised in a fundamentalist church, Kate's pregnancy cast her out of the only thing she knew. Her father disowned her, the church disowned her, the boy she planned on marrying took off. In order to support herself and Emmy, Kate did unspeakable things and, when she couldn't take it anymore, left Washington for California in order to start a new life. It's been sixteen years since she last spoke to her sister and now her family needs her help.
When Kate left, Bethany lost a huge part of herself. Her older sister was her rock and the year she was able to spend with Emmy was the happiest she'd ever been. Since she was a child Bethany's dream was to have children of her own, but she's suffered miscarriage after miscarriage and realizes she has one more chance. While Matt can't convince her to see a doctor, Bethany has started looking into alternative medicine - herbs, plants, but not to the extent that her fellow worshipers would become suspicious. The new pastor has agreed to do a healing and Bethany's niece is needed for a vital role. Next door to the Millers lives a Native American family. Life on the reservation might provide them with family, but the trailer court holds far more stability and a life away from gangs and poverty. Theresa supports her kids as best as she can and her younger brother Reuben helps out whenever she needs him. The summer Emmy spends in Washington brings together two wildly different families and she discovers what it truly means to be home.
Steal the North is beautiful. It's heartbreaking. It's emotional, raw, real. The story is set in the late '90s and, in the easiest way to get to my heart, features numerous points of view. I don't want to say Emmy is the standout character, though the story is very much about her. Bethany, Reuben, and Kate are every bit as important to the story and each chapter shows a side to the story that wasn't there before. Bethany, with her homemade dresses and long hair. Kate's bitterness and regret. Reuben's desire to hold onto his Colville traditions. I was pleasantly surprised that even minor characters were given a chapter or two: Jamie, Emmy's father, isn't quite the deadbeat he's originally made out to be. Spencer, Kate's boyfriend, loves her and Emmy more than anything and is determined to become a family. Every single character, big or small, was beautifully written and felt like people I could easily pass on the street or stand behind in line at the grocery store.
Be warned, though: this isn't a lazy day read. It's not a novel to be devoured in an afternoon. I spent well over a week with this book and I feel that truly helped me get a real feel for the place and the characters that I would have missed had I raced through it. I also feel that my slow reading pace subconsciously mirrored the slow story-telling - and I don't mean that in a bad way! Steal the North was not a novel that dragged its feet or one that bored me. Instead, it was a story that simply wasn't ready to give up its secrets; instead I had to earn them and when I finally discovered the truth it hit me hard. My heart broke a hundred times over for these characters and while my life isn't anything like theirs, by the end of the book I wanted to reach out to my family. That is the sign of good story-telling, ladies and gentlemen.
My only - only! - complaint about the novel has nothing to do with the story itself, but with the cover. Personally I find the cover stunning, but what you can't see on the screen is that, because of the camera angle, there's a clear view down the model's dress. It would have been so easy to fix: a different angle, different lighting, a different dress.
It floors me that Steal the North is Bergstrom's first novel. With a debut like this there's no telling what the future holds - but I look forward to it! Steal the North was filled to the brim with emotion: heavy subjects like loss and race were handled with grace and the love coursing through these pages hit home. This is definitely a novel I'll be talking about for a long, long time and certainly one I'll be recommending to friends, family, and customers. Pick up a copy of this novel - trust me.
May 13, 2014
Heather Brittain Bergstrom is a welcome new voice I will be looking for. This unusually moving novel tells not only a beautiful story of young true love, but adds accurate and interesting pictures of Native American Culture and the farmland of Washington. And a chilling picture of fundamentalist church practices.
It took me longer to finish than usual only because of the time it took to prepare and heal from eye surgery. Otherwise, this would have been a hard to put down book.
Heather seems to know her material first hand and from her own experience, making it empathetic and easy to relate to. You will feel that you can cast the film roles of Emmy and Reuben and the marvelously developed minor characters.
It took me longer to finish than usual only because of the time it took to prepare and heal from eye surgery. Otherwise, this would have been a hard to put down book.
Heather seems to know her material first hand and from her own experience, making it empathetic and easy to relate to. You will feel that you can cast the film roles of Emmy and Reuben and the marvelously developed minor characters.
October 20, 2014
Booklist TOP 10 FIRST NOVELS: 2014
PRAISE FOR STEAL THE NORTH BY BESTSELLING AUTHORS:
"A heartrending exploration of longing, loyalty, and love. With palpable sympathy, Bergstrom captures the rugged and desolate atmosphere of eastern Washington and the distinctive people who call that place home." --Christina Schwarz, bestselling author of Drowning Ruth
"One of those rare novels that have everything: family, the ties that bind us no matter how hard we sometimes try to escape. Love: between mothers and daughters, between sisters, between men and women. Most of all it has a rich sense of place, of how we find our homes in the soil, in our roots, in the places we've left and in other people." --Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save us
"A shimmering debut. Shattering, romantic, and deeply profound (and how many books can claim such adjectives?), Bergstrom's novel lays a dazzlingly original claim to the unpredictable landscape of the human heart." --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow
"The kind of debut novel one longs to read--full of crooked fates, hopeful hearts, and the bitten courage it takes to thrive--a tale, ultimately, of redemption." -- Carol Edgarian, New York Times bestselling author of Three Stages of Amazement
"Heather Brittain Bergstrom's visceral first novel, a story of love too powerful to die, haunts me. Steal the North stole my heart." -- Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author of Fallen Women
SOME OF MY FAVORITE (NON-GOODREADS, BUT STILL AVAILABLE ONLINE) REVIEWS OF STEAL THE NORTH, THUS FAR:
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/20...
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/20...
http://bookpage.com/reviews/16444-hea...
http://theprettygoodgatsby.wordpress....
http://www.compulsivereader.com/2014/...
http://booktrib.com/2014/04/steal-the...
PRAISE FOR STEAL THE NORTH BY BESTSELLING AUTHORS:
"A heartrending exploration of longing, loyalty, and love. With palpable sympathy, Bergstrom captures the rugged and desolate atmosphere of eastern Washington and the distinctive people who call that place home." --Christina Schwarz, bestselling author of Drowning Ruth
"One of those rare novels that have everything: family, the ties that bind us no matter how hard we sometimes try to escape. Love: between mothers and daughters, between sisters, between men and women. Most of all it has a rich sense of place, of how we find our homes in the soil, in our roots, in the places we've left and in other people." --Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save us
"A shimmering debut. Shattering, romantic, and deeply profound (and how many books can claim such adjectives?), Bergstrom's novel lays a dazzlingly original claim to the unpredictable landscape of the human heart." --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow
"The kind of debut novel one longs to read--full of crooked fates, hopeful hearts, and the bitten courage it takes to thrive--a tale, ultimately, of redemption." -- Carol Edgarian, New York Times bestselling author of Three Stages of Amazement
"Heather Brittain Bergstrom's visceral first novel, a story of love too powerful to die, haunts me. Steal the North stole my heart." -- Sandra Dallas, New York Times bestselling author of Fallen Women
SOME OF MY FAVORITE (NON-GOODREADS, BUT STILL AVAILABLE ONLINE) REVIEWS OF STEAL THE NORTH, THUS FAR:
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/20...
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/20...
http://bookpage.com/reviews/16444-hea...
http://theprettygoodgatsby.wordpress....
http://www.compulsivereader.com/2014/...
http://booktrib.com/2014/04/steal-the...
March 3, 2014
Words can not describe how much I loved this book. It was a great read, and a story that will be kept close to my heart. Steal the North tells the story of Emmy, a shy and sheltered sixteen year old girl, whose Mom ships her off to
Washington and to a family she never knew she had for a summer. Washington and the people she meets there, especially Ruben, change her life forever. I really loved the setting as Washington, and I learned a lot about it throughout the course of this book. I also really enjoyed the spiritual aspect of this book, it blew me away and really added to the story. I loved all of the characters, each with their own well written voices. They were all so relatable in different ways, and it was so beautiful to see all their different relationships grow. Especially Emmy's and Ruben's who really found something special that summer. This book was so witty and humorous, I found my self laughing out loud on multiple occasions. This book also made me cry, a few times, but that only caused me to love it more. Steal the North is a unique and beautiful story that I will never forget. ( I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads!!! yay!)
Washington and to a family she never knew she had for a summer. Washington and the people she meets there, especially Ruben, change her life forever. I really loved the setting as Washington, and I learned a lot about it throughout the course of this book. I also really enjoyed the spiritual aspect of this book, it blew me away and really added to the story. I loved all of the characters, each with their own well written voices. They were all so relatable in different ways, and it was so beautiful to see all their different relationships grow. Especially Emmy's and Ruben's who really found something special that summer. This book was so witty and humorous, I found my self laughing out loud on multiple occasions. This book also made me cry, a few times, but that only caused me to love it more. Steal the North is a unique and beautiful story that I will never forget. ( I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads!!! yay!)
May 10, 2014
Steal the North is more than a love story. It is also the story of two families and two cultures coming together. Bergstrom narrates in the voice of both men and women, whites and Native Americans. It is a western novel in which the stark land of eastern Washington is more than a backdrop--it actually shapes the characters. I personally enjoyed Aunt Beth’s chapters the most. There is tragedy and lots of heartache, but in the end, there is grace, triumph even. Reuben Tonasket, the Native American neighbor boy, is so well-drawn and perhaps even the star of the book, but I liked Aunt Beth's character best. If you have, or ever had, an aunt dear to your heart, this is a novel for you. Love and family are probably the central issues in the novel, but spirituality is also explored, as well as class and race. I highly recommend--I couldn't put it down!
April 24, 2015
This book is a story of a California girl who revisits her birthplace in Washington, to help an aunt she never knew. Emmy goes to help perform a Christian ritual to save her aunt's unborn baby, and meets the love of her life in the process. All odds are against them, it seems. A riveting, easy read. 5 stars.
March 21, 2014
I received this book through Goodreads.
This book was wonderfully written, beautifully told and a fabulous read.
This book was wonderfully written, beautifully told and a fabulous read.
August 26, 2016
LOVED this book....each character drew me into their world. Could not put it down once I started it Highly recommending this book to others.
February 11, 2015
I really "fell into" this book. A shy, artistic sixteen year-old girl named Emmy, living in Sacramento with her Mom, Kate, a struggling community college professor, must navigate new ground when her knowledge of family history is suddenly much enlarged. Her mother finally admits Emmy's father is not dead but alive, and that Emmy has an aunt named Beth. Kate has long been on the run from her fundamentalist Christian roots since running away from her small town in eastern Washington, baby Emmy on her hip, determined to find a better life for the two of them. How could she totally turn her back on her once-beloved sister Beth all these years?
We learn that Beth is still under the sway of an extremely fundamentalist religion and has been suffering miscarriages all these years, wanting nothing more than to become a mother. When she is pregnant again, her minister recommends a healing ceremony and a virgin is needed as part of the ritual. Emmy is astounded to be called upon to be selected as that virgin. In truth, unbeknownst to her mother, she has a boyfriend and is no longer a virgin. Emmy goes to Washington to spend the summer with Aunt Emmy and Uncle Matt. They are more loving guardians than she could ever hope for. Plus Emmy meets a Native American boy named Reuben who at first becomes a good friend and later, the love of her young life. Emmy learns a lot about herbs from her sweet, frail Aunt Beth and goes fishing with Uncle Matt. Beth makes Emmy a matching long dress to wear for the religious ceremony. Emmy is much conflicted over her role as acting virgin. Her aunt's health is precarious. And so the suspense grows.
Different characters narrate their own chapters, including Emmy's birth Dad, her mother's kindly boyfriend Spencer, and Reuben's sister Teresa. I was so wrapped up in Emmy, I might have found this off-putting. But Bergstrom succeeds at keeping the story of Emmy front and center, only enriched by multiple points of view. Many questions concerning the fate of all these characters kept me reading. This emotional, multi-themed book is a real winner. I highly recommend it for both YA and adult audiences.
We learn that Beth is still under the sway of an extremely fundamentalist religion and has been suffering miscarriages all these years, wanting nothing more than to become a mother. When she is pregnant again, her minister recommends a healing ceremony and a virgin is needed as part of the ritual. Emmy is astounded to be called upon to be selected as that virgin. In truth, unbeknownst to her mother, she has a boyfriend and is no longer a virgin. Emmy goes to Washington to spend the summer with Aunt Emmy and Uncle Matt. They are more loving guardians than she could ever hope for. Plus Emmy meets a Native American boy named Reuben who at first becomes a good friend and later, the love of her young life. Emmy learns a lot about herbs from her sweet, frail Aunt Beth and goes fishing with Uncle Matt. Beth makes Emmy a matching long dress to wear for the religious ceremony. Emmy is much conflicted over her role as acting virgin. Her aunt's health is precarious. And so the suspense grows.
Different characters narrate their own chapters, including Emmy's birth Dad, her mother's kindly boyfriend Spencer, and Reuben's sister Teresa. I was so wrapped up in Emmy, I might have found this off-putting. But Bergstrom succeeds at keeping the story of Emmy front and center, only enriched by multiple points of view. Many questions concerning the fate of all these characters kept me reading. This emotional, multi-themed book is a real winner. I highly recommend it for both YA and adult audiences.
October 26, 2014
There are many great things about this novel about a 16 year old Emmy living in Sacramento with her liberal, single mother Kate to spend the summer in rural Eastern Washington with her fundamentalist aunt and uncle, Beth and Matt.
But my favorite is that nuance repeatedly trumps stereotype.The story recounts the harshness of Beth's fundamentalist church which helped drive Kate from home when she became pregnant with Emmy as a teenager and prevented needed medical treatment for family members but it also shows Beth's and Matt's strong faith based marriage and a love for Emmy that gives her a security and peace she did not have. This nuance is complimented by the Native American spirituality of Reuben who lives next door to Beth and Matt and eventually becomes Emmy's best friend. A great scene in the book is when Emmy and Reuben go to the Whitman mission together and we hear their different perspectives.
Another nuance is the portrayal of Emmy's biological dad who irresponsibly abandoned Kate when she became pregnant. The author shows how his irresponsibility matured and the complexity of his life during the potential reconnection in the book. A final example is the debate about the merits of going to college at Washington State in Pullman or University of California in Berkley or working the real world
The novel also has suspenseful plot twists, a number of fully developed characters that the reader becomes to know and humor and much sadness. It also is the best book I've read that integrates the physical landscape of Eastern Washington into a story. I strongly recommend this!
But my favorite is that nuance repeatedly trumps stereotype.The story recounts the harshness of Beth's fundamentalist church which helped drive Kate from home when she became pregnant with Emmy as a teenager and prevented needed medical treatment for family members but it also shows Beth's and Matt's strong faith based marriage and a love for Emmy that gives her a security and peace she did not have. This nuance is complimented by the Native American spirituality of Reuben who lives next door to Beth and Matt and eventually becomes Emmy's best friend. A great scene in the book is when Emmy and Reuben go to the Whitman mission together and we hear their different perspectives.
Another nuance is the portrayal of Emmy's biological dad who irresponsibly abandoned Kate when she became pregnant. The author shows how his irresponsibility matured and the complexity of his life during the potential reconnection in the book. A final example is the debate about the merits of going to college at Washington State in Pullman or University of California in Berkley or working the real world
The novel also has suspenseful plot twists, a number of fully developed characters that the reader becomes to know and humor and much sadness. It also is the best book I've read that integrates the physical landscape of Eastern Washington into a story. I strongly recommend this!
July 31, 2014
I don't know how to begin to itemize what's wrong with this book - we have a deeply flawed premise (Mom runs away across the country from religious family including sister she is supposedly close to, never reveals existence of sister to her daughter, drops bombshell one day that despite almost two decades of silence she is now shipping her daughter of to the sister because sister needs the blessing of a virgin to make sure her longed for baby is delivered and not miscarried - huh? no one else is around in church to help with this?) - daughter becomes quite attached to weird, introverted, uber religious aunt and kind of creepy but supposed to be a saint uncle, and, despite having a one dimensionally unhealthy relationship with a jerk of a boyfriend back home, quickly picks up with the macho and 'controlling presented as chivalrous' conveniently same aged boy in the neighboring trailer. Though there is absolutely nothing appealing about daughter, neighbor boy can't stop obsessing over her, despite her acting like a four year old. Intense love affair ensues. Mom breaks them up because Mom is a bit of jerk herself (and she too has a devoted man despite her jerkiness) and we are left wondering will superficial, adolescent love conquer all??? I won't spoil the ending or anything except to say this book was poorly written with little to recommend it so why bother?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 10, 2014
"Let them love whom they love. That is the greatest gifts a parent can give to a child."
Love, in all it's forms is at the center of this mesmerizing novel. Love for a child, sibling love, romantic love, love of the land, your culture and the history surrounding you, love of God and the once in a lifetime love that lives in your heart and soul.
Emmy, Reuben, Matt, Beth, Kate, Spencer and Theresa were very much a part of my life while reading this book and I suspect they will visit my thoughts for a lot longer than the last page of this hypnotic novel. The story is divided into chapters with each character telling his own story, normally not my favorite way to read a novel but in this instance it enchanted me.
The Indian lore and the love of the land feel like they become characters in this book, the words transported me to the Northwest and immersed me in another culture.
Beautifully written, slow paced, languid but never boring. I highly recommend this book of love, survival, family and friendship.
Love, in all it's forms is at the center of this mesmerizing novel. Love for a child, sibling love, romantic love, love of the land, your culture and the history surrounding you, love of God and the once in a lifetime love that lives in your heart and soul.
Emmy, Reuben, Matt, Beth, Kate, Spencer and Theresa were very much a part of my life while reading this book and I suspect they will visit my thoughts for a lot longer than the last page of this hypnotic novel. The story is divided into chapters with each character telling his own story, normally not my favorite way to read a novel but in this instance it enchanted me.
The Indian lore and the love of the land feel like they become characters in this book, the words transported me to the Northwest and immersed me in another culture.
Beautifully written, slow paced, languid but never boring. I highly recommend this book of love, survival, family and friendship.
May 8, 2014
This book tells the story of 2 sisters who had not seen each other for many years. When one of them was desperate for the possible last chance of having what she had desired for many years, she reaches out to the other sister and asks for a favor. Emmy Nolan is a very shy 16 year old girl who didn't remember her first few years of life. She goes to visit her aunt and falls in love with the part of the country where they live. She meets some neighbors and befriends a young man, who is also very special. As their love story starts to build, her aunt becomes ill. The ongoing stories mingle and mix. This book kept me so interested in what was going to happen that I could hardly put it down.
February 5, 2014
I loved this book, the setting, and all of it’s characters, each one telling his own story with his own voice. This mesmerizing family drama explores every facet of love: love for a child, love of the land, love of a culture and its history, sibling love, love of a spouse, love of religion, second chance love, and a true once-in-a-lifetime love all woven together in a beautifully written, magical story that you won’t be able to put down.
April 13, 2014
Everyone, add to that, everyplace, has a story to tell. Ms. Bergstrom's characters tell more than their personal love stories. They share their sense of place. Through the eyes of the individuals in this writing we learn the stark beauty of the scrublands, the power of the rivers, the contrast of the coulees, the fertility of the wheat fields. There is a connection to the land that in itself is a true love story.
June 14, 2015
Set in eastern Washington small towns, this book is amazing. I don't think I've found another book that balances (or even includes) the Colville reservation and the surrounding lands. The plot was perfectly composed and orchestrated, not too much sappiness or drama. I felt a little miffed that while the main characters were women, their male companions were often portrayed as the heros (too empathetic at times). Regardless, a great read for its setting and plot. A well played-out ending.
April 12, 2014
I loved this book it was heartwarming and heartbreaking. I wish things would have turned out differently for the characters but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It will take some time as this book is not rushed through. The pace is slower but builds up to great moments. I would definitely recommend it as a good book to read.
May 22, 2014
Steal the North by Heather Brittain Bergstrom is about a young girl who was sent away for the summer to her aunt. What a REALLY GREAT BOOK! I enjoyed it a lot! It is told by the different characters throughout the book. Loved the ending too. Would make a good lifetime movie!
(Gerard's review)
(Gerard's review)
May 26, 2014
Awesome book!!! Loved every minute of it!
My favorite books are those written from multiple perspectives. The desolate beauty shown in the souls of the characters and in the landscape leave you forever hearing the voices and ties that forever connect.
My favorite books are those written from multiple perspectives. The desolate beauty shown in the souls of the characters and in the landscape leave you forever hearing the voices and ties that forever connect.
April 22, 2014
not to be missed
February 11, 2020
This book is my jam to an extreme degree and it's unbelievable how much it feels like I've been emotionally trampled on right now. I don't even have words, I've just been wailing the last few hours reading through its second half. I was apprehensive about it at the beginning but then I was all in because it has such a good combination of tenderness and heartbreak and love and pain - in the relationships between the characters but also in their relationship with the land around them - and it's so up my alley, it's surreal. It's been a long time since I've been this invested in a book and if I don't ever get around to doing it, I hope someone out there turns this into a beautiful movie with just as much sucker-punching emotion (and with equally as much love for the lands of eastern Washington) as the book so I can watch it and get wrecked all over again.
December 13, 2021
Very different plot and interesting setting.
December 22, 2014
Review originally posted on Rather Be Reading Blog
This is hands down one of the best fiction books I’ve picked up in years.
I was nervous about it, too. Leah over at The Pretty Good Gatsby awarded the book such high praise. Wanting to feel the same felt like an added pressure but a chapter in, I was hooked. With Steal the North, you aren’t sucked in in a way where you want to speed read the whole thing. As the book shifts POVs from the big hitters like Emmy, her mom (Kate), her aunt (Beth), and Reuben (the boy next door) to the smaller characters, there is a lot of exposition. Explanations of backgrounds, family trees, and a lot of beautiful description of this Pacific Northwest town. The land is its own character because in all of these stories, it has been a catalyst in the decisions then make and who they are all destined to become.
Emmy is a bit of a conundrum. There are so instances she acts so wise and so much older than she is, but there are others where she can be so naive and so inexperienced in life. She is so tied to her mom because for so long Kate made her believe it was them against the world. No other relatives and a dead father. But imagine the surprise when Emmy finds out that her own story is not what she thought at all. She is quickly sent off to stay with her Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt for the summer, without enough time to deal with the repercussions of her mother’s many lies.
Immediately, Emmy and Beth are like peas and carrots. The intimacy and connection they shared when Emmy was just a baby is back, and they spend much of the summer getting to know each other all over again. I loved their relationship. Beth and Matt are very into the church, but they don’t expect Emmy to believe what they believe and I liked the respect they had for her. Her time alone eventually leads to her spending a lot of time with Reuben, a Native American teenager, who lives in the trailer next door.
It was Beth and Reuben’s belief in much more than what they could see that took Steal the North to a whole new level for me. Beth concocting her antidotes around the house, and Reuben sensing the presence of his dead father, and both of their commitments to the earth fused to create this overpowering spirituality in the whole book. The secrets and the pasts of these characters was haunting every scene, and the fear, the shame, and even the hope was so palpable. It’s overwhelming to think words on a page could be this powerful.
Steal the North is a love story not limited to the feelings between Reuben and Emmy. Mothers and daughters, sisters, husbands and wives, and most importantly how we feel about ourselves. The sense of loyalty, the heartbreaking betrayal, and the tough decisions we make because of our love for others can be found throughout the story. I laughed, I swooned, I cried, and I wondered if this family could ever be whole again. Could Emmy break out of her shell and trust? Could she forgive her mother and forgive herself?
This book is as much about death as it is rebirth. I am totally in awe of Bergstorm’s talents: how well she described the land, her decisions to reveal important information what she did, her pick of what character got to tell what, and most importantly, how she challenged her characters and stretched them beyond their comfort zones. Life could be hard, and it could also be good. Very, very good.
From the writing to the characters to how invested I felt in the smallest detail to the biggest, Steal the North is a book I am going to give a special spot on my bookshelf and buy for others whenever I get the chance.
This is hands down one of the best fiction books I’ve picked up in years.
I was nervous about it, too. Leah over at The Pretty Good Gatsby awarded the book such high praise. Wanting to feel the same felt like an added pressure but a chapter in, I was hooked. With Steal the North, you aren’t sucked in in a way where you want to speed read the whole thing. As the book shifts POVs from the big hitters like Emmy, her mom (Kate), her aunt (Beth), and Reuben (the boy next door) to the smaller characters, there is a lot of exposition. Explanations of backgrounds, family trees, and a lot of beautiful description of this Pacific Northwest town. The land is its own character because in all of these stories, it has been a catalyst in the decisions then make and who they are all destined to become.
Emmy is a bit of a conundrum. There are so instances she acts so wise and so much older than she is, but there are others where she can be so naive and so inexperienced in life. She is so tied to her mom because for so long Kate made her believe it was them against the world. No other relatives and a dead father. But imagine the surprise when Emmy finds out that her own story is not what she thought at all. She is quickly sent off to stay with her Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt for the summer, without enough time to deal with the repercussions of her mother’s many lies.
Immediately, Emmy and Beth are like peas and carrots. The intimacy and connection they shared when Emmy was just a baby is back, and they spend much of the summer getting to know each other all over again. I loved their relationship. Beth and Matt are very into the church, but they don’t expect Emmy to believe what they believe and I liked the respect they had for her. Her time alone eventually leads to her spending a lot of time with Reuben, a Native American teenager, who lives in the trailer next door.
It was Beth and Reuben’s belief in much more than what they could see that took Steal the North to a whole new level for me. Beth concocting her antidotes around the house, and Reuben sensing the presence of his dead father, and both of their commitments to the earth fused to create this overpowering spirituality in the whole book. The secrets and the pasts of these characters was haunting every scene, and the fear, the shame, and even the hope was so palpable. It’s overwhelming to think words on a page could be this powerful.
Steal the North is a love story not limited to the feelings between Reuben and Emmy. Mothers and daughters, sisters, husbands and wives, and most importantly how we feel about ourselves. The sense of loyalty, the heartbreaking betrayal, and the tough decisions we make because of our love for others can be found throughout the story. I laughed, I swooned, I cried, and I wondered if this family could ever be whole again. Could Emmy break out of her shell and trust? Could she forgive her mother and forgive herself?
This book is as much about death as it is rebirth. I am totally in awe of Bergstorm’s talents: how well she described the land, her decisions to reveal important information what she did, her pick of what character got to tell what, and most importantly, how she challenged her characters and stretched them beyond their comfort zones. Life could be hard, and it could also be good. Very, very good.
From the writing to the characters to how invested I felt in the smallest detail to the biggest, Steal the North is a book I am going to give a special spot on my bookshelf and buy for others whenever I get the chance.
March 30, 2014
I won Steal the North by Heather Brittain Bergstrom as a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for a review.
At first, I was skeptical about this book as I thought it fell into the Christian fiction genre (nothing wrong with that, just not my thing), but as the story unfolded I realized I had made an incorrect snap judgement (and I gave myself a good whack on the head for that). While a part of the story revolves around a sect-like group of Fundamentalist Baptists, it is far more than that. Steal the North is an intricate coming of age story, not only for two young people, Emmy and Reuben, but for all the adults in the story as well. The growth that every character experiences in the course of the summer will resonate with any reader. Told in the voices of the main characters, the story unfolds as an exploration of timeless themes. Who has the right to criticize, judge, reject or ridicule what is sacred to one person but not necessarily sacred to you? What is the nature of true love? Who is one's family? Beautiful and descriptive language paint word pictures of every character and event in this story, and once I had read the first chapter, I was hooked and could not put it down.
Emmy is sent by her mother, Kate, to spend the summer with her Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt, people Emmy has grown up not knowing existed. In the first few pages of the book, Emmy also finds out that her father, who Kate has told her is dead, is not. Emmy leaves her home in Sacramento and goes to a small town in Eastern Washington to participate in a faith healing for her Aunt Beth, who is pregnant once again, after a series of miscarriages. This is the core of the story, but it is by no means the whole story, as once Emmy arrives, her entire life, or, what she thought was her life, is broadened and enriched in ways she could never have imagined. And that's all I am going to say about the story, because you have to read it for yourself.
At the end, the message that love, in its most sublime, brutal, and bittersweet moments, is like life - complicated, messy, wonderful, and something to be experienced to its fullest. Steal the North is a lovely book; rich with love, loss, conflict, passion, and, overall, the power of the human heart, when filled with love, to guide us through the dark nights of the soul and into a shining morning filled with hope.
At first, I was skeptical about this book as I thought it fell into the Christian fiction genre (nothing wrong with that, just not my thing), but as the story unfolded I realized I had made an incorrect snap judgement (and I gave myself a good whack on the head for that). While a part of the story revolves around a sect-like group of Fundamentalist Baptists, it is far more than that. Steal the North is an intricate coming of age story, not only for two young people, Emmy and Reuben, but for all the adults in the story as well. The growth that every character experiences in the course of the summer will resonate with any reader. Told in the voices of the main characters, the story unfolds as an exploration of timeless themes. Who has the right to criticize, judge, reject or ridicule what is sacred to one person but not necessarily sacred to you? What is the nature of true love? Who is one's family? Beautiful and descriptive language paint word pictures of every character and event in this story, and once I had read the first chapter, I was hooked and could not put it down.
Emmy is sent by her mother, Kate, to spend the summer with her Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt, people Emmy has grown up not knowing existed. In the first few pages of the book, Emmy also finds out that her father, who Kate has told her is dead, is not. Emmy leaves her home in Sacramento and goes to a small town in Eastern Washington to participate in a faith healing for her Aunt Beth, who is pregnant once again, after a series of miscarriages. This is the core of the story, but it is by no means the whole story, as once Emmy arrives, her entire life, or, what she thought was her life, is broadened and enriched in ways she could never have imagined. And that's all I am going to say about the story, because you have to read it for yourself.
At the end, the message that love, in its most sublime, brutal, and bittersweet moments, is like life - complicated, messy, wonderful, and something to be experienced to its fullest. Steal the North is a lovely book; rich with love, loss, conflict, passion, and, overall, the power of the human heart, when filled with love, to guide us through the dark nights of the soul and into a shining morning filled with hope.
April 12, 2014
The first novel from award-winning short-story writer Heather Brittain Bergstrom celebrates the tenacity of teenage love. “Steal The North” ($27.95 in hardcover from Viking; also for Amazon Kindle) tells the story of 16-year-old Emmy Nolan, sent by her mother Kate in Sacramento to eastern Washington state, there to take part in a healing ceremony for Kate’s sister.
Bethany and husband Matt are part of a fundamentalist Baptist sect; the preacher, Brother Mathias, wants the ceremony to include a young virgin. Beth has had a series of miscarriages that have ruined her health; now she is pregnant again. Kate has kept many things from Emmy, including the existence of Emmy’s aunt and uncle, but Emmy is not forthcoming either. She is no virgin.
While staying with Beth and Matt, whom she comes to love deeply, she meets a sixteen-year-old Native American named Reuben Tonasket. It’s pretty much love at first sight. In their lovemaking, Emmy and Reuben open up to each other, partly. Family secrets still abound.
Kate had grown up in the area, but her husband left her and she became a trucker’s prostitute to pay the bills. She tells Emmy that her father is dead, but that’s a lie. As Spencer, Kate’s boyfriend, puts it: “Guys like women with a little mystery. Kate had a whole sea of it inside her. I was standing on the shore.”
Each chapter is narrated by one of the main characters. In an interview Bergstrom says that “I grew up between the two largest Indian reservations in Washington State: the Colville and the Yakama reservations.” But it was a challenge to get Reuben’s narration right: “How could I possibly begin to understand what it is like to be a Native American youth? How can I possibly understand their spirituality? Their culture? Their sorrow, joy, loss, love?”
Yet Reuben, flawed human, emerges as a noble figure who must make an extraordinary sacrifice. The reader will cheer the ending, but long be haunted by the rawness of a family history laid bare and the courage of the very young.
Copyright Chico Enterprise Record. Used by permission.
Bethany and husband Matt are part of a fundamentalist Baptist sect; the preacher, Brother Mathias, wants the ceremony to include a young virgin. Beth has had a series of miscarriages that have ruined her health; now she is pregnant again. Kate has kept many things from Emmy, including the existence of Emmy’s aunt and uncle, but Emmy is not forthcoming either. She is no virgin.
While staying with Beth and Matt, whom she comes to love deeply, she meets a sixteen-year-old Native American named Reuben Tonasket. It’s pretty much love at first sight. In their lovemaking, Emmy and Reuben open up to each other, partly. Family secrets still abound.
Kate had grown up in the area, but her husband left her and she became a trucker’s prostitute to pay the bills. She tells Emmy that her father is dead, but that’s a lie. As Spencer, Kate’s boyfriend, puts it: “Guys like women with a little mystery. Kate had a whole sea of it inside her. I was standing on the shore.”
Each chapter is narrated by one of the main characters. In an interview Bergstrom says that “I grew up between the two largest Indian reservations in Washington State: the Colville and the Yakama reservations.” But it was a challenge to get Reuben’s narration right: “How could I possibly begin to understand what it is like to be a Native American youth? How can I possibly understand their spirituality? Their culture? Their sorrow, joy, loss, love?”
Yet Reuben, flawed human, emerges as a noble figure who must make an extraordinary sacrifice. The reader will cheer the ending, but long be haunted by the rawness of a family history laid bare and the courage of the very young.
Copyright Chico Enterprise Record. Used by permission.
January 20, 2015
This book made me tear up in a few of the more emotional and well-written scenes. I cared about the characters, except Emmy’s birth dad, who I actually think the author gave too much excuse, as sorry as he was, in explaining his actions.
The saddest fact to me, which I had to verify, was the expanse of the Grand Coulee Dam and what it did to sacred native lands. From Wikipedia: “Creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. The dam has also blocked the migration of salmon and other fish upstream to spawn.”
This novel has a lot of heartbreak:
- Third world poverty
- Alcoholic, deadbeat parents
- Religious fundamentalism that corrupts communities
- Single moms who work multiple jobs to make ends meet
- Teenage girls with no self-confidence who fall for the first boy who pays them any attention and proceeds to take advantage of that low self-esteem
- Racism
- Broken families
- Resignation
On the other hand, there is a lot of sensitivity the author uses to frame life on a rez, life in a trailer park, and life in an inner city apartment with secondhand everything that I found completely authentic. I can say this with some amount of authority because I myself grew up on a Native American reservation.
I wasn’t sure about Emmy’s voice at first, though I became more accepting of it as the novel went on. I thought the multiple perspectives were very well done and very different to each other (except how perhaps “true” love is viewed). I also wish there was a little bit more resolution between mother and daughter at the end, and that the f-word wasn’t used so much, though I thought when it was used it showed the frustration it meant. Overall, this is a very special debut novel and I hope more people read it. I have already specifically recommended it to some.
The saddest fact to me, which I had to verify, was the expanse of the Grand Coulee Dam and what it did to sacred native lands. From Wikipedia: “Creation of the reservoir forced the relocation of over 3,000 people, including Native Americans whose ancestral lands were partially flooded. The dam has also blocked the migration of salmon and other fish upstream to spawn.”
This novel has a lot of heartbreak:
- Third world poverty
- Alcoholic, deadbeat parents
- Religious fundamentalism that corrupts communities
- Single moms who work multiple jobs to make ends meet
- Teenage girls with no self-confidence who fall for the first boy who pays them any attention and proceeds to take advantage of that low self-esteem
- Racism
- Broken families
- Resignation
On the other hand, there is a lot of sensitivity the author uses to frame life on a rez, life in a trailer park, and life in an inner city apartment with secondhand everything that I found completely authentic. I can say this with some amount of authority because I myself grew up on a Native American reservation.
I wasn’t sure about Emmy’s voice at first, though I became more accepting of it as the novel went on. I thought the multiple perspectives were very well done and very different to each other (except how perhaps “true” love is viewed). I also wish there was a little bit more resolution between mother and daughter at the end, and that the f-word wasn’t used so much, though I thought when it was used it showed the frustration it meant. Overall, this is a very special debut novel and I hope more people read it. I have already specifically recommended it to some.
Read
April 16, 2014
9/10
Emmy has spent her entire life believing that her father was dead and that her mother, Kate, had no family. When Kate’s past comes back for her, Emmy is sent away to Washington to spend the summer with an aunt and an uncle that she has never met to participate in a ritual that may help Emmy’s aunt carry a child to term. At first Emmy feels reluctant about the entire situation but as she spends some time with her aunt and uncle she realizes that she shares a bond with them that time and distance could have never destroyed. Along the way Emmy meets Reuben, a Native American boy, how shows her what it truly means to be in love and be loved in return.
Heather Brittain Bergston’s Steal the North blew me away! When I first began reading Steal the North I was not sure that it was “my type of a book,” because of the religious element in the story. As I got further into the novel, however, I found myself completely drawn into this beautiful story. Don’t let the religious aspect of this novel scare you away, this novel is not about religion, it is so much deeper. Bergston perfectly captures the beauty of young love, the strength is carries, and the power it takes to overcome one’s past. Bergston writes beautifully and I recommend this to anyone and everyone looking for a great novel to read. You won’t be disappointed!
January 6, 2017
I have a feeling that I liked this novel more than I really should have. It's the story of young love, of coming of age, stories that I generally avoid. But I found this one compelling, if occasionally the author's earnestness was a little over the top. The author deftly shifts the narration among several characters: 17-year-old Emmy, a smart, shy California girl visiting her aunt & uncle for the summer in a trailer court in eastern Washington; her boyfriend, Reuben (I especially liked his voice and character), an Indian from the nearby impoverished reservation who regularly visits his sister (and her four kids from three different fathers) who lives in a trailer next door to Emmy's aunt & uncle; Emmy's childless uncle (Matt) and aunt (Beth), who have suffered multiple miscarriages over the years and who have invited Emmy (as a virgin--though she's not really) to participate in a healing ceremony that they hope will enable Beth to carry a baby to term; and, of course, Emmy's prickly mother (Beth's older sister), who fled Washington for California after she became pregnant with Emmy as a teenager and was condemned by the cult-like church that her family belonged to (and which Matt & Beth continue to participate in). There are cameo narrations as well by Emmy's mom's boyfriend and Emmy's biological father. The characters are all engagingly complex, and the narration reflects considerable affection for the eastern Washington landscape along the Columbia River.
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