Distant Echoes (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

Kathleen Prescott is NOT happy when the school board outvotes her to allow Jesse Spotted Horse access to her inheritance, the Dubois Military Academy, formerly the Dubois Indian School. Afraid that Mr. Spotted Horse will bring bad publicity to the school, Kathleen is determined to be uncooperative with his research and intention to film a documentary revealing the so-called truth about the Indian schools. She refuses to believe her ancestors could have abused the Indian children as he claims. In order to prove her point, Kathleen does finally agree to help Spotted Horse go through the school's records. Little does she realize how close she and the modern day Lakota warrior will become.

Jesse Spotted Horse is a man on a mission. When the funding comes through to film his documentary about the tragic circumstances of the Indian schools, he naturally picks Dubois Military Academy as the most likely to research. He has promised his grandmother he'll uncover the truth about what really happened to their ancestors who attended the school. Jesse doesn't expect the prim and proper Kathleen Prescott to be so defensive about her great-great grandfather, the Reverend Providence Divine, founder of Dubois. Can she be so blind to the facts in front of her that the Indian children were forced into the white man's world, far different from what she's been led to believe?

As Jesse sets up a scene in the Dubois barn for the film, having somehow talked Kathleen into participating, a mysterious fire breaks out, and dense smoke surrounds the two. When the smoke clears, they find themselves transported back in time to 1886 Dubois. Will the culture shock and reality of the times pull these two closer together, or tear them further apart? And how will they get back to their own time?

Kathleen and Jesse are perfect foils for each other, however, I found Kathleen more suited to Victorian times than modern. She dresses and acts the part, which makes it fairly easy for her to adjust to the customs of 1886. Jesse, too, seems to accept his fate fairly easily. I had to take into consideration all of the research he had done, and surmise that he was prepared to suffer indignities in order to survive. Ms. Aitken also creates a secondary cast of characters varying from very naive to very nasty. Dark secrets, betrayals, and greed abound.

I have to say DISTANT ECHOES is one of the more emotional reads I've come across in a very long time. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are heartbreaking, as is most of the story. Ms. Aitken, herself a Native American, writes with an intensity rarely found in most Native American romances. Thankfully, she inserts some humor where needed so as not to bog the reader down with overwhelming sadness.

I recommend DISTANT ECHOES as a heartfelt treatise on the injustices served the Native American people during the 1800's. That said, I will warn readers that this is not an easy tale to read. Be sure to have a box of tissues handy -- especially toward the end.

The Brookstone Foundation provides a $2.5 million grant to movie director Jesse Spotted Horse to film a documentary on the "Stolen Children, Stolen Culture: The Story of the off-Reservation Schools". To fulfill a promise he made to Grandma Boo to find what happened to her relative Tokalu Sapa at the DuBois Indian School, Jesse obtains permission to film at the now closed school, whose museum is part of the Dubois Academy.

Jesse meets the museum curator Kathleen Prescott whose family goes back several generations to when the founder ran the school. She believes her ancestors were caring individuals trying to help while he feels that they destroyed families and individuals. When they begin filming, suddenly smoke breaks out. When it clears the two combatants find they somehow are back in 1886 where both will learn the truth about the salad days of the DuBois Indian School even as they fall in love with one another.

This engaging time travel romance is at its best during the squabbles over what happened as handed down by generation to generation by the lead protagonists' respective families. As Jesse and Kathleen observe the truth, their misconceptions seem foolish, adding to a historiographic feel to the plot. Though the time travel device remains shaky, the use provides the audience with a deep look at a questionable practice from a bygone era.

Harriet Klausner

Two people on opposite sides of a documentary about Dubois Indian Industrial School learn that there are two sides to every story when they're whisked back in time and experience it firsthand.

Kathleen Prescott is the epitome of all that's prim and proper. She lives in the apartment her family has occupied for generations, on the grounds of what used to be the Dubois school, as the caretaker for the school's museum. With no family left, and isolated from even the possibility of friendship, Kathleen is alone with her history; content, if not exactly happy.

Jesse Spotted Horse is a man with a mission. He's finally received a grant to make the documentary he's been dreaming of for years.

When Jesse arrives at Kathleen's museum, they're immediately on opposite sides. He's heard all his life how terrible & inhumane the school was. She's heard all her life how wonderful & helpful the school was. They each set out to change the other's mind.

When the actress for one scene has to bow out because of pregnancy, Jesse asks Kathleen to take her place, and Jesse himself ends up playing a part as well. When both of them are in costume, smoke on the set transports them into the past.

They try to fit in to the past as well as possible, remembering clues from the present about the extra student who arrived unexpectedly (Jesse) and the mysterious English teacher (Kathleen). In the process, they each learn that they both were right about the school, that there were both good and bad things about it, and they solved the mystery of what happened to a young boy from Jesse's family.

From the time he appears, Jesse shakes up Kathleen's world. He makes her question the beliefs she's built her life on, and he makes her want more from her life than the lonely existence she'd contented herself with.

This story definitely follows the advice of "always leave the audience wanting more." Don't get me wrong--the ending was definitely satisfying. It just has my imagination going. I wonder if Jesse's friend in particular noticed anything unusual when Jesse & Kathleen returned to the present. He suspected Jesse was falling in love with Kathleen before they went to the past, but all the time they spent there changed their relationship quite a bit. And I really wonder what (bear with me, this keyboard doesn't have the numerical keypad so I can't make all the correct symbols) "Ta'ku kin oyas'in isanbya cante ciciye" means It's fun to guess, though. Maybe even more fun than actually knowing.