The Death of Bernadette Lefthand

By Ron Querry

    Twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Ron Querry’s haunting first novel about the mysterious death of a young Indian dancer is a stunning portrayl of the spirit and struggles of the Southwest’s native peoples.

    Description

    Ron Querry’s debut novel, originally published in 1993 by Red Crane, is a foundational novel in contemporary Native American writing. Querry uses the alternating viewpoints of Gracie, Bernadette’s younger sister, and Starr Stubbs, the wealthy New Yorker who lives just outside of Dulce, New Mexico-to detail the tragic end of Bernadette’s life. The conflicting accounts create a compelling novel about heritage, family, and the dark magic of the twisted soul.

    This twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Ron Querry’s debut novel features a new afterword in which the author offers insight into the writing of this American classic.

    About the Creators

    Ron Querry

    Ron Querry is an internationally-acclaimed, American author and member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Querry served in the Marine Corps during the 1960s and, after his term of service, studied English at the University of Oklahoma. He later received a PhD in American Studies at the University of New Mexico. Querry lives in northern New Mexico, in a century-old Queen Anne/Victorian house with his wife--fine art photographer Elaine Querry--and their cow dogs--BeauDog and Shorty.

    Reviews

    • "The innocence of Gracie's youth and her anguish in relating her sister's life story work like a magnet to pull the tale along.""Querry, a Choctaw, chooses Arizona, his present home, as the setting for this excellent first novel. It is a landscape peopled by Natives, where Navajo, Apache and Hopi reservations jostle up against one another, literally and figuratively. The book deals with the murder of its eponymous heroine. In the process it becomes a fine vignette of modern Indian existence, giving readers a genuinely felt view of the pow-wows, dances, rodeos, alcoholism, intertribal rivalry and poverty that are the facts of life for many Native Americans. At the beginning of the novel, Bernadette is found dead and her drunken husband, Anderson George, has disappeared. The story of their tumultuous union is told in flashback from the points of view of Gracie, Bernadette's sister, and Starr Stubbs, a white woman who knew her but may have been less than a friend. With his compelling storytelling, Querry leads the reader methodically and inexorably back in time (to witness the final moments of Bernadette's short life) and deeper into the darkness of the witchcraft that destroys both her and Anderson. The innocence of Gracie's youth and her anguish in relating her sister's life story work like a magnet to pull the tale along." (first edition)

      - Publishers Weekly
    • "This excellent debut by a promising new novelist should appeal to anyone interested in the Southwest and Native Americans."Bernadette Lefthand got killed, "but it wasn't in no car wreck," and the police are looking for her Navajo husband. The story instantly pulls its reader into the events surrounding a young Pueblo Indian's bizarre and brutal murder. Set on the Navajo and Jicarilla reservations, this novel explores the effects that poverty, alcoholism, and witchcraft have on the communities. Gracie, Bernadette's younger sister, and Starr Stubbs, the white woman for whom Bernadette kept house, tell most of the story. The chapters flip-flop between the narrators' points of view, cleverly exposing the contrast between Indian and white perspectives and their cultural differences. This excellent debut by a promising new novelist should appeal to anyone interested in the Southwest and Native Americans." (first edition)

      - Library Journal
    • "The best novel of its type since Leslie Sitko'sCeremony. The Death Of Bernadette Lefthandshould rank among the classics of American fiction."(first edition)

      - Tony Hillerman, author ofThe Blessing Way

    Paperback

  • ISBN 9781947627086
  • Publication Date Nov 13, 2018
  • Trim Size 8.25 × 5.25 in
  • Weight 0.6875 lbs
  • Page Count 232
  • Interests

  • Audience Adult
  • BISAC Category 1 FICTION / Thrillers / Supernatural
  • BISAC Category 2 FICTION / Small Town & Rural
  • BISAC Category 3 FICTION / Occult & Supernatural
  • Themes Coping with Death, Fiction, Indigenous / First Nations / Native American, Mystery / Suspense, Siblings
  • Reading Levels

  • Guided Reading Adult
  • Interest Level Adult
  • Reading Level Adult
  • This Book is Included in These Collections:

    • 23
      Adult Fiction
      Collection of 23 books: $398.85

      The Bird Boys

      Sometimes the truth is not the truth, but murder is always murder. Which of the brothers carries the bloody knife?

      White Panties, Dead Friends

      "Byrd writes poems like a novelist. Epic ones. His lines are full of fiction, bullshit and beauty."--E.Myles

      The Price of Doing Business in Mexico

      The Mexican Border stands at the soul's edge with a port-of-entry leading directly into Byrd's poems.

      Otherwise, My Life is Ordinary

      Spoken plainly, all of us get born, then we go away. What shall we do in the meantime, huh?

      My Marriage A to Z

      A prose poem written in dictionary form, My Marriage A to Z is a unique chronicle of life within marriage.

      Letters to Goya

      Internationally acclaimed artist James Magee (alleged doppelganger of equally acclaimed artist Annabel Livermore) reinvents himself one more time as poet.

      The Last Cigarette on Earth

      A gay Latino's intimate journey through addiction, human desire and broken love.

      Elegies in Blue

      Saenz speaks from inside the skin of himself--Chicano, political being, spiritual seeker, family man and lover.

      Incantations

      Mayan women sing sacred magical woman poems.

      As Far As I Know

      Remember the poetry of William Stafford? Stafford's quiet wisdom? Good. Now listen up. Joseph Somoza wanders the same territory. Differently.

      The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked

      When you're disabled, you don't have to be naked to be naked.

      The Death of Bernadette Lefthand

      Twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Ron Querry's haunting first novel about the mysterious death of a young Indian dancer is a stunning portrayl of the spirit and struggles of the Southwest's native peoples.

      When a Woman Rises

      Two Zapatista women, bound by cultural expectations, struggle to express the truth of their lives in the highlands of Chiapas.

      The Amado Women

      Four women, connected by birth, separated by secrets.

      Sofrito

      A Cuban-American travels to Havana searching for a secret recipe where he finds love and the truth about his father.

      Make It, Take It

      Witty and insightful, this isn't the college basketball we hear about on TV. And Bradburd knows what he's talking about.

      Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club

      Sometimes the border is a mirror, sometimes it's an escape, and sometimes it's just the bridge you cross to go home.

      Conquistador of the Useless

      Sex is fun, but a baby? Why climb a mountain? What's your favorite band? A Grunge Generation novel of answers.

      Cold Type

      "You mean, you crossed the picket line right past your daddy and he took a swing at you?"

      A Woman, In Bed

      Simone sleeps with strangers. The most important stranger? Her husband Jacques. A love story spanning WWI to WWII in Paris.

      A Tightly Raveled Mind

      A psychoanalyst's sanity unravels when several patients die and she falls for the private investigator she's hired to help.

      Nobody's Pilgrims

      No Country for Old Men meets Contagion in this story of three teenagers on the run, carrying a great menace, and chased by a greater evil.

      A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son

      A collection of short stories where Mexican-Americans grapple with their roots as their ambitions take them far from home.

      1367 in stock

    ADA Site Compliance-Accessibility Policy