Amber Blaeser-Wardzala is Anishinaabe from White Earth Reservation — spending most of her early years on the reservation — and she comes from a long line of storytellers.

“I grew up being surrounded by

Anishinaabe stories, oral stories were some of my favorites as a kid, and they really impacted the way that I tell stories and the way I think about stories,” Blaeser-Wardzala told MPR News.

The narrator in her new book “Another Name for Red” is “Middle Sister.” She's not in a good place after her oldest sister disappears from the community. And in the wake of that tragedy, the whole family has fallen apart. Middle Sister is barely holding on and is consumed with guilt over her last words to her sister, not to mention her rage at the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the country.

With a father who has checked out in front of the television, a mother who spends her time at marches and protests, and two younger siblings who need support and protection, Middle Sister is determined to find out what, exactly, happened to Oldest Sister. And, while she ultimately does find an answer, it comes with a steep cost.

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There are almost no real names mentioned in the book; Blaeser-Wardzala says that was a deliberate choice on her part to try and connect the story back to the traditions of the Anishinaabe language and culture.

“Another Name for Red” is Amber Blaeser-Wardzala's debut novel. You'll find more of the author's work in a much-lauded compilation from 2023, “Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology.” Blaeser-Wardzala will be at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis on Wednesday and at Content Bookstore in Northfield on Thursday.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.