Dancing at the Odinochka

Description

Nearly 150 years ago| when Alaska belonged to Russia and was called Russian America| Erinia Pavaloff lived at the Nulato odinochka on the banks of the Yukon River.
Owned by the Russian American Company| an odinochka was a trading post where native people traded their furs for precious Russian supplies.
Erinia is always busy — learning to make fur clothing| emptying buckets of snow into water barrels| helping Mamma| gathering spruce boughs to make fish traps| and grinding paint for a new canoe.
It seems that Erinia works all the time.
So she can hardly wait for visitors — the company men who bring stock for trading| or the Indians who come to fish or sell furs.
When visitors come| Erinia and the others are delighted to listen to old stories and music| and everyone dances at the odinochka.
Life has a good sameness that Erinia counts on…until the day when American Western Union Telegraph men arrive.
Sent up north to build a telegraph line| the men bring news of the outside world| new inventions| and customs unfamiliar to Erinia’s people.
Everyone at the odinochka listens to the Americans’ stories| learns their funny songs| and dances the waltz that the telegraph men teach them.
But as suddenly as they’ve come| the telegraph men leave — their telegraph line abandoned — and Erinia is bereft.
Word comes that the United States has purchased Russian America from Russia; Erinia and her people have become American Alaskans.
Their lives will never be the same| as they struggle to find their place in this American world that doesn’t care about the old ways.
Will there ever again be dancing at their odinochka? Inspired by a five-page memoir written in 1936 by the real Erinia Pavaloff| a relative of the author’s stepfather| Dancing at the Odinochka is a stunning story of family| culture| and hope that will leave no reader untouched.