 The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich.
This novel is partly based on the life of Louise Erdrich's grandfather, who fought the federal government's attempts to dissolve the legal status of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa (Ojibwe) tribe. The fictionalized character, Thomas Wazhashk, is a night watchman who takes a delegation of tribe members to Washington to testify against the tribe's termination (referred to in government doublespeak as "emancipation"). The other plot involves Patrice ("Pixie"), who travels from the reservation to Minneapolis in search of her missing sister Vera. Patrice is a confusingly drawn character. She's canny enough to escape a rape attempt by some local boys. Yet when she's warned that Vera's likely fate involves prostitution, she's naively unfamiliar with the concept. On her first day in the city, Patrice gets fast-talked into taking a job as a burlesque performer in a ridiculous rubber costume, and she accepts promises from guys that she's already caught lying to her repeatedly. There's a very bleak moment when Patrice finds evidence of human trafficking. Yet her escape, and Vera's, seem all too easy. There are two men romantically pursuing Patrice. One, her brother's boxing coach, is a white man who seems to fetishize Indigenous women. The other, one of his boxing students, seems a nice guy, but Patrice isn't sure he's what she wants. She hasn't yet noticed the hints that there many be a woman interested in her as well. There are supernatural touches to the story, ghosts and visions. And for comic relief, a couple of very clueless white missionaries. Trigger warnings for sexual assault, human trafficking, cruelty to humans and animals, and racism. Booklist Queen Challenge: Paired prompt: two books with similar titles. (Paired with Night Watch by Terry Pratchett.) Around the Year Challenge: Indigenous author or main character.
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