River Braids - Softcover

"RIVERBRAIDS is a multi-generational story that spans one hundred years. The family's struggles are chronicled through the stories of three people: Joe Barton, a promising 1904 Olympic rower, his young love, Annie, and Joe's grandson, Sonny Barton.
Through the story of Joseph Barton and young Annie's letters and diary entries, we learn about Joseph Barton's place on the Olympic rowing team. Upon the team's arrival to the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition to participate in the 1904 Olympics, Joe finds himself involved in the Exhibition's Wild West Show, but he also discovers that he does not fit into any world. Joe was raised in the white middle-class society of his father but finds himself defined by his mother's Indian heritage. While at the fair he explores this other part of himself with the indigenous peoples who have set up villages in the Ethnology Exhibit.
River Braids weaves together three stories: Sonny's modern-day journey, Joseph Barton's 1904 recollections, and Annie personal feelings to chronicle the 100-year history of the Barton clan. Sonny realizes the importance of his heritage as a descendent of a proud Native American line and as the latest link in a generations-long bond with the Mississippi River itself."