White Swan

Eddie Clem was born in White Swan on the Yakama reservation in the 1950s and subsequently did what most Yakama boys did at that time—he learned to shoot hoops and rodeo, fell in love, grew into a man, had children, and watched them repeat the same process.

The way Eddie did this, however, was unique to him in several respects:

• Eddie’s mother died when Eddie was born;
• His father disappeared into the foothills of Mt. Adams as soon as Eddie’s mother was buried;
• Eddie met the love of his life in the fifth grade;
• He accidentally killed his beloved cousin on his eleventh birthday;
• Eddie turned out to be better than most other boys at shooting hoops and rodeoing;
• He came of age just in time to spend a year as a medic in Vietnam; and
• The love of his life married someone else.

White Swan chronicles these events, but they’re just the beginning of the story. How Eddie and all the people he loves eventually connect with each other unfolds in a tale that celebrates the power of love, family, and a people who, in the heart of central Washington, have been tied to each other for centuries in the space between a mountain and a river that bears their name.

“Departing from his celebrated noir tales, Waiwaiole masterfully portrays a Native American family who, scarred by a father’s abandonment, find their ultimate redemption through rebirth, renewal, and forgiveness. Wonderful, provocative, so well done I gave it a second reading.”
—Kiana Davenport, author of Shark Dialogues

“The characters pull on your sleeve and insist you follow them through their lives, and you want to because the minute you meet them they grab hold of your heart. Waiwaiole’s deceptively plain writing hides depths of wisdom, like the calm surface of a mountain lake. Simply a beautiful book.”
—SJ Rozan, author of Paper Son

“As Hemingway did with his Nick Adams stories, Lono Waiwaiole paints America’s rural life—its indigenous people—with intense respect and compassion. You, the reader, are thrown into those sometimes beautiful, sometimes sad, but always true moments that we call Life. And like Hemingway, Waiwaiole, too, has given us an American masterpiece.”
—Kent Harrington, author of The Good Physician

“Waiwaiole’s writing is graceful, spare, seasoned with gentle humor, never overwrought. Though I didn’t grow up on an Indian reservation, play basketball, or compete in a rodeo, I found myself really caring about Eddie Clem and the people he loved yet couldn’t love enough.”
—Kathleen Tyau, author of Makai

“White Swan explores the push and pull of family and how people are fated to be together, even though it may take a lifetime before destiny is fulfilled. A beautiful intergenerational saga rooted in the White Swan community on the Yakama Indian Reservation in the mountains of Central Washington. With his indigenous heritage and current home in the Pacific Northwest, noted noir writer Lono Waiwaiole succeeds in this creative work that falls outside of the mystery genre.”
—Naomi Hirahara, author of the Mas Arai series

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