From the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist MAUD'S LINE comes an epic novel that follows a web of complex family alliances and culture clashes in the Cherokee Nation during the aftermath of the Civil War, and the unforgettable woman at its center.

It’s the early spring of 1875 in the Cherokee Nation West. A baby, a black hired hand, a bay horse, a gun, a gold stash and a preacher have all gone missing. Cherokee America Singer, known as “Check,” a wealthy farmer, mother of five boys and soon-to-be widow, is not amused.

In this epic of the American frontier, several plots intertwine around the heroic and resolute Check: her son is caught in a compromising position that results in murder; a neighbor disappears; another man is killed. The tension mounts and the violence escalates as Check’s mixed-race family, friends and neighbors come together to protect their community --- and painfully expel one of their own.

CHEROKEE AMERICA vividly, and often with humor, explores the bonds --- of blood and place, of buried histories and half-told tales, of past grief and present injury --- that connect a colorful, eclectic cast of characters, anchored by the clever, determined and unforgettable Check.