HARVEST HOUSE

The crossroads of a Kansas town is the site of a story with many hidden layers.

High school sophomore and theater kid Hughie Wolfe, younger brother of Hearts Unbroken (2018) protagonist Louise, is a member of the Muscogee Nation. He’s looking forward to a great year, but his hopes are dashed when the school cancels the fall play. Hughie turns instead to helping with a Halloween haunted house that’s fundraising for a good cause. But the rural crossroads where it’s set up is the setting for a local legend about an “Indian maiden” scorned in love who seeks revenge on young women. Worse, the organizer wants to cast Hughie in the role of Indian ghost and plans to create a haunted Indian burial ground for her attraction. Meanwhile, in a twisted echo of the legend, a creepy man is targeting brown girls in the area. The book superbly highlights and discusses key topics facing contemporary Indigenous youths, including redface and the plights of missing and murdered Indigenous women and two-spirit people. Hughie’s encounters with different types of racism are recognizably authentic, handled with delicacy and distinct realism. The diverse cast showcases a range of Indigenous lives. The book begins slowly by establishing the characters’ backgrounds and motivations, including mysterious Celeste, whose intermittent first-person chapters reference The Bad Man and whose identity is gradually revealed. The pace picks up in the middle and rides out to the end.

An atmospheric novel compellingly interweaving chills and contemporary themes.