Out West Books suggests titles featuring all kinds of heroes
Out West Books in Grand Junction recommends a true story about native land rights, a young adult novel spanning generations an a heroic fantasy.
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Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Out West Books in Grand Junction recommends titles that introduce us to a variety of heroes.
By the Fire We Carry
By Rebecca Nagle
Harper Collins
$32
September 2024
Purchase
From the publisher: In the 1830s, Muscogee people were rounded up by the U.S. military and forced into exile halfway across the continent, with a promise that this new land would be theirs. But that promise was broken. When Oklahoma was created from Muscogee land, the new state claimed their reservation no longer existed.
Over a century later, a Muscogee citizen was sentenced to death for murdering another Muscogee citizen on tribal land. His defense attorneys argued that the murder occurred on the reservation of his tribe, and therefore Oklahoma didn’t have the jurisdiction to execute him. Oklahoma asserted that the reservation no longer existed. In 2020, the Supreme Court settled the dispute. Its ruling would ultimately underpin multiple reservations covering almost half the land in Oklahoma, including the author’s own Cherokee Nation.
From Marya Johnston, owner: This is one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. Rebecca Nagle’s reporting takes “Killers of the Flower Moon” one step further, and is also a great companion book for those who loved “Killers.” This story ultimately became a case about who owns the land and who has jurisdiction over it. Litigation would last for 20-odd years, and go all the way to the Supreme Court, whose decision would become one of the most important in history concerning land and treaty rights.
From early Muscogee leaders, who would fight for their people over and over and over, to Lisa McCalmont, the first public defender to take it on (and she died by her own hand in the middle of it), to the team that would bring it to the highest court …twice… (only to find that in the end the court would protect institutions at the expense of truth), the people who stood up to fight for injustices in this case are all champions. The real hero, though, is Rebecca Nagle, who, with the razor sharp focus of a journalist, worked tirelessly for six years to expose this story.
Under the Same Stars
By Libba Bray
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
$23.24
February 2025
Purchase
From the publisher: In this propulsive historical mystery by New York Times bestselling and Printz Award-winning author, three timelines converge to unveil the truth behind the disappearance of two girls during World War II.
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom’s Oak from a mysterious “Nobody.” Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis. In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany. And meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.
In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when a mysterious package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak 80 years ago. Libba Bray makes her Macmillan debut with this standalone young adult novel that explores the cyclical nature of fascism and genocide—and how teens have always been part of the resistance against it.
From Didi Herald, bookseller: Bray’s latest book challenges our ideas of what constitutes a hero. A teenage girl’s excellent penmanship may not seem like a heroic skill but when she risks her life forging documents to save the lives of hundreds of children how could it not be heroic? Can the stories of heroism inspire future generations to take their own stance? I loved the way this story of unsung resistance heroes, separated by 40-year gaps, were connected and entwined through a fairy tale story. None of them were trying to be heroic. They all saw problems and fell into trying to right them. It is too easy to forget the people who secretly resisted during Hitler’s reign, or those who 40 years later smuggled people out of East Berlin, or the nurses and medical workers who cared for the dying during the pandemic. They were among many others who were hidden heroes.
Swordheart
By T. Kingfisher
Bramble
$28.99
February 20225
Purchase
From the publisher: The delightful charm of “The Princess Bride” meets the delicious bodyguard romance of “From Blood and Ash” in this cozy fantasy romance. Halla has unexpectedly inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, she is also saddled with money-hungry relatives full of devious plans for how to wrest the inheritance away from her. While locked in her bedroom, Halla inspects the ancient sword that’s been collecting dust on the wall since before she moved in. Out of desperation, she unsheathes it—and suddenly a man appears. His name is Sarkis, he tells her, and he is an immortal warrior trapped in a prison of enchanted steel.
Sarkis is sworn to protect whoever wields the sword, and for Halla—a most unusual wielder—he finds himself fending off not grand armies and deadly assassins but instead everything from kindly-seeming bandits to roving inquisitors to her own in-laws. But as Halla and Sarkis grow closer, they overlook the biggest threat of all—the sword itself.
From Didi Herald, bookseller: Heroes have always found a place in the fantasy genre and Sarkis definitely looks the part, big, brawny, and strong. This is the kind of swashbuckling escapist heroic fantasy that is great entertainment and respite from today’s issues.
While the emphasis is on Halla and Sarkis, the characters who have very small roles in the story are well drawn, from the military history librarian Morag, to Gnole the ox driver who is a tiny being, to Zale, the non-binary priest of the Rat God. When Halla, a middle aged widow, discovers she has inner reserves of strength to step up to do what is needed it makes me hope maybe we all can draw on ourselves to do the right thing. To borrow from Dr. Seuss’s “A person’s a person, no matter how small” in “Horton Hears a Who,” perhaps we need to think about acts of heroism as being heroism no matter how small.
As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
