THE REVENANT

When her mother insists she leave boarding school and come home, Willie, 17—a teen rebel à la 1896—assumes the identity of another student who’s decided to decline a teaching position at the Cherokee Female Seminary.

Accepting the offer in her place, Willie heads to Tahlequah, Okla. Contrary to Willie’s expectations, the seminary is an elegant, distinguished academic institution, educating students far wealthier and more cultured than she. Class and cultural differences divide the student body: Urban sophisticates, often of mixed-race, disdain the less-privileged, rural Cherokee girls and Willie herself, a white, rural Tennessean. Lately, strange noises and violent happenings have been plaguing the school. Is the ghost of a dead student, a revenant, responsible? Dismissive at first, Willie is soon drawn into the mystery and to Eli Sevenstar, a handsome, charismatic student at the nearby Cherokee men’s seminary who may be involved. This debut presents an intriguing look at a little-known piece of American history: Opened in 1851, the Cherokee Nation’s seminaries provided superior education to youth across the socioeconomic spectrum, including girls, for half a century.

While Willie’s personal story and the school mystery don’t always mesh, the well-drawn characters and suspenseful plot should keep readers fully engaged.