Touches the Sky

September 1, 2003
The beauty of his prose and a compelling story make Schaap's latest effort (Home Free, Romey's Place) a standout. Set in the 1880's American West and based on actual events, the novel tells the story of a Dutch settler, Jan Ellerbroek, and his wife's relationship with the Sioux Indians, in particular, a young woman named Anna Crow. Anna has embraced the mystical "ghost dance," the central ritual of the late 19th-century messianic religion that promised the return of Jesus Christ to rescue her people from the invasion of the white man. Schaap expertly builds the suspensful plot until it boils over at the massacre of Wounded Knee. Although Schaap's narrator does not espouse the ghost dancers' beliefs, he is never condescending nor sanctimonious. This lyrical book will appeal to readers who enjoys good westerns as well as those whose tastes run to more literary novels. Highly recommended for all libraries.

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