Elsie’s Business

Description

Beaten| raped| and left for dead at the side of a road on the Standing Rock Reservation| the young Elsie Roberts disappears into her self to revisit the haunts of her childhood and| perhaps| in the depths of her experience to uncover the deepest mystery of all. In Elsie’s Business| Elsie’s search through her own memories ultimately intersects with the search of a stranger who is seeking Elsie’s story. A picture emerges of a poor child| half black and half Native| whose mother has barely eked out a living for the two of them by tanning deerskins and cleaning houses. Rebuilding her life in a different town as a housekeeper| tanner| and beader of moccasins and bags| much like her mother| the taciturn Elsie finds modest comfort and connections among the white people who employ and befriend her. But her peace is fleeting| for someone from her past or possibly her present would like to see her silenced completely. A mystery of mesmerizing suspense and sadness| Elsie’s Business weaves the story of a ravaged woman into the traditional tales of her people to create a vivid sense of communities bound by storytelling and understanding and sundered by ignorance and silence. English at the University of Arizona.