Ten Little Indians
By Sherman Alexie
Grove Press, 2003

(From the publisher) Ten Little Indians offers 11 poignant and emotionally resonant new stories about Native Americans who, like all Americans, find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads, faced with heartrending, tragic, sometimes wondrous moments of being that test their loyalties, their capacities, and their notions of who they are and who they love.

In "The Life and Times of Estelle Walks Above," an intellectual feminist Spokane Indian woman saves the lives of dozens of white women all around her, to the bewilderment of her only child, now a grown man who looks back at his life with equal parts fondness, amusement, and regret.

In "Do You Know Where I Am?" two college sweethearts rescue a lost cat—a simple act that has profound moral consequences for the rest of their lives together.

In "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," a homeless Indian man must raise $1,000 in 24 hours to buy back the fancy dance outfit stolen from his grandmother 50 years earlier.

Sherman Alexie's stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candor that cut to the heart of the human experience, shedding brilliant light on what happens when we grow into and out of each other.

About the author

	© Susan Sheridan

(From the author's Web site) Sherman J. Alexie, Jr., was born in October 1966. A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane.

Alexie was named one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists and won the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award and the Murray Morgan Prize for his first novel, Reservation Blues, published in 1995 by Atlantic Monthly Press. His second novel, Indian Killer, published in 1996, also by Atlantic Monthly Press, was named one of People's Best of Pages and a New York Times Notable Book.

He occasionally does reading and stand-up performances with musician Jim Boyd, a Colville Indian. Alexie and Boyd also collaborated to record the album Reservation Blues, which contains the songs from the book of the same name.

He is the guest editor for the Winter 2000 issue of Ploughshares, a prestigious literary journal, and he's a contributing editor to Contentville.com, the Brill's Content web site.

Alexie, who resides with his wife and two sons in Seattle, has published 14 books to date, including his most recent collection of short stories, The Toughest Indian in the World, and his newly released poetry collection, One Stick Song.