Daughter of Strangers

Gillian Kajganich is a graduate student in history at Laurentian
University and a reviewer of historical fiction.

Thirteen-year-old Amy, who is of mixed ancestry, feels she does not
belong either with her adoptive family or with the Dene people of the
Northwest Territories. She is not interested in the heritage of her
people and rebels against her father’s anthropological interest in the
Dene people.

When Amy is transported to a world 1600 years earlier than her own, she
begins a journey of self-discovery with the Taltheilei people. She
learns to speak Taltheilei and gradually forms an identity that enables
her to come to terms with her heritage. She begins to observe the world
sensually, as the Taltheilei do, and returns home to embrace her
heritage through archeological study with her family.

This wonderful, multilayered tale incorporates the author’s expertise
in archeology as well as historical studies of Dene customs.