“Wisdom is not bestowed. In its raw state, it is the heartbreak of knowing things you wish you didn't.”

Daunis Fountaine is an 18 year old unenrolled, biracial tribal member and the daughter of scandal. She has never fully fit into her Fountaine or Firekeeper world. Her mother's white Fountaine family didn’t enrol her in her tribe at birth and her grandmother doesn’t like to talk about that part of her family. She feels like she doesn’t fit into her Indigenous Firekeeper family either; people in the community think her skin is too light to be Indigenous and feel she is privileged because of her white family. She struggles between her desire to be part of her Indigenous traditions and her dream to be a medical doctor. A bright spot in her life is meeting Jamie, the newest recruit on her brother's hockey team. But over the summer she witnesses a shocking murder at a party and is thrust into the heart of a criminal investigation. She agrees to go undercover to aid the officers but she finds out that this crime is deeper entrenched into her community than they ever could have imagined. The deeper she looks, the closer to home she realises the problem is.

Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter is an amazing novel that everyone should read. Daunis’s struggle between her Indigenous and non-Indigenous families is beautifully written; I really enjoyed reading about how she starts with refusing to mix her different “world” then learns that it's possible to combine different parts of her life. It was interesting reading about how being Indigenous people are affected by racism and seeing how Daunis was affected differently since she is biracial and has fairly light skin. A large part of this book is also the criminal investigation, so if you're a fan of a mystery crime thriller you’ll love this book. Daunis works undercover with the FBI to help them try and find out who in the community might be involved in the crime ring. Overall it’s an amazing read that highlights the struggles of being Indigenous, biracial, a young woman, and being a teenager.

If you enjoyed this book try A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger or Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith.