Girl with Skirt of Stars

Like the river that drives much of its plot, this debut novel runs smooth and fast, with the occasional turbulent rapids and a few circling eddies. Lilli Chischilly is a lawyer for the Navajo Nation who finds herself at the center of several dramas-the murder of a Navajo elder, the return of her childhood love, and the collision of a presidential campaign with a reservation community. Chischilly embarks on a symbolic river trip with presidential candidate Lee, his family and handlers, and her old flame Jerome. Stacked with dramatic tension, including Chischilly's doubts over the candidate's intentions towards her people anda would-be assassin with a score to settle against Lee, Kitchell's narrative can be awkward in its transitions, reintroducing lost plotlines abruptly. Still, the whole of the novel is tied together well by the Navajo perspective, presented with a matter-of-factness and lightness of touch that make it hard to believe that Kitchell, a geologist, isn't a Navajo herself; for that alone, she proves herself a new talent worth watching.