Voice of the Eagle

Thirteenth-century North America, where bands of Indians roam the land, again provides the backdrop in this sequel to the bestselling She Who Remembers . Kwani, a woman with compelling spiritual powers, has been driven from her Anasazi tribe and joins her mate Tolonqua's people, the Towa, in the Pueblo city of Cicuye. Over the next 20 years, Kwani survives enemy attacks, participates in rituals seeking guidance and good fortune from the deities, nurtures her spirited son Acoya and daughter Antelope, and struggles to fulfill her anointed role as She Who Remembers, the woman chosen to teach young girls the secrets of Earthmother. The author steeps her narrative in meticulously researched detail, which seems to have taken priority over the plot. Endless listings of minutiae, combined with an awkward dialect that reads like an inferior translation from a foreign language, diminish the reader's willingness to be transported to another time. In the end, Shuler's living history never comes fully to life. Literary Guild main selection. ( July )