Dungeness

by Karen Polinsky

Spanning the latter half of the nineteenth century, this coming-of-age novel unfolds in the form of a historian’s notebook. Protagonist and narrator Millie Langlie (daughter of a S’Klallam maiden and a Norwegian mariner) is an adventurous girl with a curious mind. Guided by the gift of a pair of silver fish earrings, she unearths an anomalous Indian-on-Indian massacre and confronts her mother's secret love affair. Journeying from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend and back again, Millie discovers how knowledge of the past can teach us to love, forgive, and forge a new path.

280 pages, Paperback

Published July 21, 2017

Reviews

[Linda Albert Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prose is clunky but the story is a lively page turner. I liked the way the author paused the narrative to meander through history in alternating chapters. Another reader warned this might be off-putting, but I found it worked to bring the histories alive. If you've read Winter Brothers by Ivan Doig you will enjoy meeting James Swan again.

[Sandy Frykholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a very creative and intriguing approach to historical fiction. Millie is part Native American, part Norwegian young girl on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington in the late 1800s. Her coming of age story is combined with a murder mystery, and interspersed with non-fiction and local legend and lore. Based on the life of a tribal historian, the author sorts out the fact from fiction in an author's note at the end. Recommended for anyone with an interest in Washington's coastal and Native American history.

[Dede Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This powerful and well-researched book weaves Pacific Northwest Native American History into an uniquely formatted and designed novel. This book expanded my knowledge of Washington’s northern coast Native American people, while at the same time, illustrating the discrimination experienced by tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest. I was captivated by the storyline and the well crafted mix of fact and fiction, weaving in art, and spirituality - all together in a fascinating read.