The Ancient Child

About this book

In his first novel since the Pulitzer Prize-winning House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday shapes the ancient Kiowa myth of a boy who turned into a bear into a timeless American classic. The Ancient Child juxtaposes Indian lore and Wild West legend into a hypnotic often lyrical contemporary novel--the story of Locke Setman known as Set a Native American raised far from the reservation by his adoptive father. Set feels a strange aching in his soul and returning to tribal lands for the funeral of his grandmother is drawn irresistibly to the fabled bear-boy. When he meets Grey a beautiful young medicine woman with a visionary gift his world is turned upside down. Here is a magical saga of one mans tormented search for his identity--a quintessential American novel and a great one.