A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Written by Michael Dorris

Three generations of women unravel secrets that bind and divide them.

3.9 Goodreads · 18,558 ratings

372 pages· 920L

$18.99Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

Rayona, a fifteen-year-old, navigates her identity amidst her mother's conflicting emotions and her grandmother Ida's hidden past. As their stories unfold backward through time, secrets and betrayals surface, challenging their bonds. What truths will they uncover, and how will these revelations shape their future? This saga of kinship and resilience explores the intricate ties that connect and divide three generations of Native American women.

From the publisher

“Dazzling.” –San Francisco Chronicle Michael Dorris has crafted a fierce saga of three generations of Native American women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship. Starting in the present day and moving backward, the novel is told in the voices of the three women: fifteen-year-old part-Black Rayona; her American Indian mother, Christine, consumed by tenderness and resentment toward those she loves; and the fierce and mysterious Ida, mother and grandmother whose haunting secrets, betrayals, and dreams echo through the years, braiding together the strands of the shared past.

At a glance