Death Of Bernadette Lefthand - Softcover

Bernadette Lefthand, renowned on the Jicarilla Apache reservation for her beauty and spirited dancing, is found brutally murdered, and her alcoholic husband, Anderson George, has disappeared. Bernadette's grief-stricken sister, Gracie, recalls the young couple's courtship -- traveling to powwows, rodeos, and dance competitions, visiting respected elders and friends on other reservations -- while Starr Stubbs, a white woman for whom Bernadette cleaned house, and an un-named stranger hint at the ineluctable evil that compelled the young lovers to their doom. Red Crane Books sold out its first printing of The Death Of Bernadette Leffhand in three days and these hardcovers have become collector's items. A riveting tale of passion, obsession, and destruction, it provides a striking view of the complexity and bleakness of contemporary Native American life.

1993 Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award. Winner Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association 1994 Regional Book Award Winner.

Even today, amid the sere hills of Arizona and New Mexico, the Navajo believe witchcraft is at work. Some suspect it is the unseen force behind the brutal murder of Bernadette Lefthand, a young woman renowned on the Jicarilla Apache reservation for her beauty and graceful dancing. Others suspect Bernadette's hard-drinking husband, Anderson George, who has inexplicably disappeared. Gracie, Bernadette's teenage sister, tries to make sense of the vortex of doom in which the young couple seems to have been caught, while Bernadette's Anglo employer, Starr Stubbs, and an unnamed stranger reveal a tale of betrayal and tragedy.

In prose rich with the rhythms and colors of the desert highways, Ron Querry--a member of the Choctaw Nation--paints a vivid portrait of the lives of contemporary Native Americans. A riveting tale of passion, obsession, and destruction, The Death of Bernadette Lefthand is a compelling novel about heritage, family, and the dark magic of the twisted soul.