Northern Nights by Theresa Scott

In the 1850’s, Washington Territory is still a wild frontier. White men are moving in and settling the area and there are forts for some protection. But there are still many tribes of Indians and little safety for anyone, much less women during these Northern Nights.

Miss Elizabeth Powell, a recent graduate of Miss Cowperth's School for Young Ladies in San Francisco, arrives in the wilds of Washington Territory determined to find her missing father. But when handsome Isaac Thompson throws her over his broad shoulder and carries her off, all her plans dribble away in the wake left behind Isaac's black canoe.

Indian Isaac Thompson seeks to restore his family's tarnished name and right the wrongs done to them. But will his mistaken capture of the beautiful firebrand Elizabeth Powell divert him from the deadly aim of his life: to wreak revenge and destruction on his enemies?

After her father left seeking his fortune when she was very little, Elizabeth Powell’s mother raised her on her own in San Francisco. When her mother died while she was still young, her aunt took her in and did her best to provide for Elizabeth. Now that Elizabeth has gotten through school (and has all of Miss Cowperth’s knowledge bouncing around in her head), she follows her recently married aunt north in hopes of finding her long-lost father. Elizabeth has never gotten over his leaving or not fulfilling his promising to return for her and her mother. But her plans are detoured almost as soon as she arrives when she is abducted by Indians.

Fights With Wealth, known as Isaac Thompson among white men, has a complicated history. His father is a Haida chief (noblemen in the tribes are known as chief, not just the head/leader) stole his mother from the neighboring, often enemy Tsimshian. This ‘made’ his mother a slave, and basically dead to her people. But his father fell in love with her and married her. He “potlatch” to clear her and Isaac’s name of the taint of her being a slave. (Potlatch involves gathering items showing wealth and power and giving these things away, a social custom to clear shame or disgrace.) However, this only worked in the Haida’s tribes as the Tsimshian tribes refused to clear/accept Isaac’s mother as “cleaned from slavery” and thus Isaac is still ‘lesser’ in their view.

Until the nephew of one of the more powerful/older chiefs of the Tsimshian is murdered by some bad white men. Then this chief wants help bringing these white men back to the tribe to face ‘justice’ and calls on Isaac to help. This does not go over well with many of the Tsimshian, who either hate the Haida in general or want the promised rewards (for bringing back the white men) themselves. But since Isaac wants to clear his family name, he takes on the challenge even with the hateful Tsimshian assigned to ‘help’ him making things difficult.

But nothing is ever easy in this world. Elizabeth’s aunt and husband are at the fort getting supplies when his friend comes by to visit. This Mr. Burt makes her uncomfortable, but one must be mannered at all times (so Miss Cowperth trained her). But neither expects to be abducted, during the day no less! And Elizabeth having the same name as her aunt makes for more confusion among the Indians.

Of course, Isaac and Elizabeth are drawn to each other. And when you can’t even trust your own people, sometimes turning to others is your only choice. The white man with Elizabeth really is a villain and won’t help anybody. And half the Indians with Isaac are his long-term enemies who would gladly kill him. But how strong a bond can be formed under these settings? And the trials coming are only going to get harder…

Oh, I have conflicting feelings about Northern Nights. It almost like two different stories got blended into one, because the focus sifts half way through the book and forgets some of the things stressed in the first half. I don’t want to give too much away here, yet still show what I mean. We know from the beginning the Elizabeth’s uncle and Mr. Burt are the killers the Indians are after, yet they never truly go after her uncle. Why not, after all the fuss in the first half of the book? Or do they and we just never hear of it since Elizabeth isn’t involved? (Like I said, focus shift). And Elizabeth is either two different characters or has multiple personalities. She was raised in the city to be a lady, but decides to face the frontier to find her father. Then she harps on what Miss Cowperth would have a girl do, but still manages to handle being stolen by Indians. Sounds like a fairly strong woman for her times. So why does she become a weak “yes” girl later (after she thinks something happens), then lets her aunt walk all over her and control her when things happen? This just doesn’t ‘ring’ true to the character, especially after what had happened to her up to then (going to the frontier, the abduction and escape). I had enjoyed Northern Nights up to this point, but I got really frustrated with both the aunt’s constant whining (about everything) and Elizabeth letting her control her. And I must add that Isaac getting so caught up in needing to do his own potlatch that he would let happen to his own child what happened to him also came across as wrong.

Yet, for all that I had problems with that part of the book, Northern Nights does show how people get caught up in their own problems/issues. Isaac couldn’t see that he was doing the same thing that had been done to him in the past. In his culture, he has to clear his family name first. And can I really fault Elizabeth for being a product of her times? Was she being any different that she had been raised to be? She does grow in the book, and that is what we all hope to do in life…

Northern Nights is great in the historical details, specifically the Northern Haida and Tsimshian tribes. Theresa Scott did her homework for this novel, even including references after the book. Northern Nights was really interesting for me because I have not been exposed to any of the northern tribes before, and there are many things different from what most of us think of when people mention Native Americans. These are not the nomadic, buffalo following Indians we so often see in the movies. Theresa presents these people here as they were, including the ugly sides of slavery and violence they lived with everyday. The details she describes are amazing, down to the cloaks made from cedar and the longhouses.

Northern Nights is mainly a (northern) Native American historical novel. Very rich in detail, this is for our history lovers, and may not be for the light readers. Overall, a satisfying read that teaches at the same time.