She's Gone Santa Fe

by Maida Tilchen

In this historical novel set in the early 1920s, the dream of a young Brooklyn Jewish woman named Ree is to live with the Indians of the Southwest, far from the sweatshop where she works. To reach that goal, she studies anthropology at Columbia University, where the professor she idolizes, Ruth Benedict, is having an affair with her fellow student, Margaret Mead. When her professors think Ree is a loose cannon and won’t send her to the Southwest for her field work, she defiantly goes to New Mexico on her own. But before she reaches Navajoland, Ree works at a lesbian dude ranch that really existed; works for Boston heiress Mary Cabot Wheelwright to study Navajo culture from Hosteen Klah, a transgender medicine man; finds romance on a starlit mesa top with an elusive Navajo youth; travels in a sheepherder’s cozy wagon; and tries to find her place at a trading post in a remote Navajo community. She’s Gone Santa Fe tells a unique story based on real people and places of New Mexico, lesbian, and anthropology history.

334 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2013

Reviews

[Sissy Van Dyke · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her new book, Maida Tilchen once again brings the southwest United States to life through the eyes of strong women characters and the women they love and admire. As in her previous book, Land beyond Maps, Tilchen juxtaposes the main characters' struggle for freedom and self-expression with a similar struggle of the native people who seek to retain dignity and their way of life.

Even though this is a work of fiction, it is well-researched and its events are respectfully extrapolated from actual historical figures and events. Many of these events were infuriating, in terms of the blatant sexism, racism, and homophobia, but the determination of the characters to live as they wished, in spite of obstacles, was inspiring. I greatly enjoyed reading this very interesting novel.