Bitter Thaw

McCann (All Different Kinds of Free) delivers an engrossing family drama stacked with secrets and regrets. In 1990 Phoenix, Ariz., community college student April Parson comes across a news article about a 35-year-old cold case that’s been reopened in Bitter Rapids, Minn., her father’s hometown. She shows the article to her father, Frank, and points out how the quilt wrapped around the body in the accompanying photo resembles one in a 1950s photo of him as a child with his mother, Evelyn. When Evelyn learns about these developments, she insists they return to Bitter Rapids, saying only that she wants to “set the record straight.” During the family’s trip to Minnesota, flashbacks to the 1950s reveal family secrets: Evelyn, who was widowed during WWII, had an abusive second husband, Art Specht; Frank had a baby brother, Denny; and Frank and Denny were once rescued from drowning by a Black Ojibwe convict named Maakade Carpenter, who was out on work detail. More revelations ensue about the relationship between Maakade and Evelyn, Art’s sexuality, Denny’s fate, and the identity of the body in the newspaper photo. The plot moves briskly, and the author adds in rich historical context, with references to Indian boarding schools and the Lavender Scare. There’s plenty here to hold readers’ attention. (Self-published)