Kathleen Grissom does it again - Crow Mary sucked me right in and brought the prairie of the late 1800s to life in this story about a Native American young woman who marries a white man during a tumultuous period in American history. This was a page turner with great history, very human characters, and a propulsive story. Recommend!

Inspired by true events, Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom tells us the story of Goes First, an indigenous woman from the Crow Tribe who at the age of sixteen married Abe Farwell, a white fur trader who gave her the name “Mary”. The narrative follows Goes First from 1863 and her early years as the daughter of a Chief of her tribe, the events that led to her marriage to a White man and through the next three decades. In 1872 she marries Farwell, with the blessings of her family who are happy with the alliance. With her husband, she eventually lands in Saskatchewan, Canada where they build and operate a trading post “Fort Farwell”. Abe proves to be a good man and treats his wife well. Though she makes every effort to embrace her new life, Mary often finds herself conflicted between her own culture and beliefs and the ways of her husband’s world. She makes a few good friends along the way but is not blind to the intolerance and exploitation of the indigenous tribes at the hands of white men.

The Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 is a pivotal point in her life. Her heroic act results in her saving the lives of four indigenous women taken by white men after a violent confrontation but the episode also triggers the gradual disintegration of her marriage and though Abe and Mary eventually relocate to her native land and build a ranch on the property sanctioned for their tribe by the government, Mary is unable to forget the atrocities against she witnessed on that fateful night and with Abe wants to see justice served but in a white man’s world, that would be more difficult than May could have imagined and the aftermath of their efforts takes a toll on her marriage and the life she has strived to build wither husband and their children. She will face loss, tragedy and oppression and discrimination both as a woman and as a Native American but she makes it a point to learn from what she observes, trusting her instincts, never backing down from a challenge and protecting those she holds dear in the face of any threat.

Impeccably researched, and sensitively written with great attention to detail, Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom is a captivating read that I could not put down. The story is presented to us from Mary's first-person PoV. In the course of telling the story of this courageous and resilient woman, the author not only gives us an insightful look into the rituals and beliefs and way of life of the Crow Tribe but also sheds light on the dynamics between the different tribes. As we follow Goes First through the decades, we also get to see how restrictive and oppressive government policies the indigenous people and their ways of life – from confiscation of their lands, forced relocations, government oversight of the Reservations, the role of Indian Agents and the forcible removal of children to government-run institutions designed to strip them of their Native identity. Do read the Foreword written by Mary’s great-granddaughter Nedra Farwell Brown wherein talks about her collaboration with the author. In her Note, author Kathleen Grissom discusses the historical context of the novel detailing the real events and facts that found their place in the narrative and where she has exercised creative license. Incredibly moving, informative and insightful, this is an exceptional work of historical fiction that I would not hesitate to recommend.

Many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I will be thinking about Kathleen Grissom’s new book Crow Mary for a long time. Make sure you read Grissom’s notes at the end of the book as I appreciated her book even more. So many times, while reading, I found myself trying to engage in a conversation with Mary. Written in first person, Mary tells her story from a small girl listening to stories told by her grandfather, Red Fox. Red Fox gives Mary his blessing to marry a white man, Farwell, who has a trading post and does not drink. His goal isI to travel north, have a trading post, and save money to buy a ranch and raise cattle. I cannot stop thinking about what happened at Cypress Hills. Mary was so brave. Life is definitely not easy or fair for Mary as she tells her story. My next step is to revisit Crow Mary by listening to the audio version of this story in a few months. My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I love, love love this book. From the very first page I couldn’t put this book down. I haven’t read many books about our American Indians. And what they went thru on their own land, and how they were treated by the government. Goes First who became Crow Mary, when she married a “white man”, Farwell ,who had demons in his life. And when he tried to do the right thing, and the court system completely fail. Just like today. She was a fierce independent women. Who tried to help her husband overcome the demons, yet she could out ride or out shoot any man.
Kathleen Grissom, is a wonderful writer. Her writing brings you right into the time, when this incident happened.
Kathleen doesn’t write many books, but when she does, it is well research and I only wish she would write more book, for her followers.
This is definitely a book club read, so many topics of discussion.

Amazing. Stellar. Powerful. I was captivated by this important historical fiction novel of Crow Mary, a Native American woman who learned her own power and agency as she married a white man and moved away from her family. Full of atmospheric writing about the landscape and the way of life in late 19th century Montana, this book is one that will stay with you long after you finish. The power of a woman, the strength of a mother, the hardiness of a Native American who must learn to live in a white man’s world.

The story about Crow Mary saving the women taken in a massacre was heart pounding and propulsive. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! I also loved the quieter moments of the book, her tender relationship with her uncle, her friendship with another wife, and most importantly, her fierce determination to make life better for her children. So much is covered in this book, told in an exquisite way with beautiful language.

Grissom is one of my favorite authors for a reason, and this book just solidifies that! I highly recommend it to any reader!

I loved The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, and as soon as I heard about her newest book, I immediately preordered it! Once I realized the story was based on the true story of Goes First, known as Crow Mary, I requested an ARC. Being Native myself, I am drawn to stories like Crow Mary and love learning about strong indigenous women.

Book Description:
Crow Mary weds fur trader, Abe Farwell, and soon leaves everything she knows behind. At the tender age of sixteen, she joins Farwell as he moves from the plains of Montana to his trading post in Saskatchewan, Canada. She deftly navigates the world of the "Yellow Eyes" while trying to hold onto the traditions of her people. Through new experiences, new friends, motherhood, and loss, Grissom reverently shares Crow Mary's story.

My thoughts:
While reading Crow Mary, we experience the clash of two vastly different cultures. We see the challenges of adjusting to marriage. We see the struggles of adjusting to a different way of life. We see the heartbreak at the end of an era. It was hard to read at times, especially knowing how it ultimately ends. Kathleen Grissom does an extraordinary job of telling Mary's story while respecting the spirit of the Crow people. Because of the importance of stories like this, Crow Mary will forever have a place on my bookshelf.

Read this if you like:
• Historical fiction
• Stories about indigenous people
• Stories about strong women

Enjoyable historical fiction. I thought that the strength of the novel was the characters. I really liked them.
The one negative in my opinion was that there was a little too much intimacy between the main character and her husband written into the story.
Recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book!

Crow Mary is the story of an Indigenous teenager who marries a white man, Abe Farwell, in the late 1800s. He calls her Mary. She is stuck between two cultures. The couple heads on a journey to Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada, to set up a trading post. Along the way, they meet some unsavory characters and Mary witnesses crimes against women that haunt her.

My thoughts: I appreciated that Kathleen Grissom contacted Crow Mary’s great-great granddaughter who wrote the forward to this book and indicated that she believed Kathleen was the right person to tell Crow Mary’s story.

But I felt like I was reading an assignment from Mrs. Lake-Daniel’s 10th grade English class. This book was very YA and I struggled with it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (rounded up)

Thank you to @netgalley and @ for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are honest and my own.

I have not read Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom yet, but I read and loved her other books. In fact, if you haven’t read The Kitchen House or Glory Over Everything, get them right now. Her books are historical fiction at their best. I’m super particular about this genre but when I look back on my books in review at the end of the year, my favorites tend to be historical fiction.

Here’s the plot:

In 1872, sixteen-year-old Goes First, a Crow Native woman, marries Abe Farwell, a white fur trader. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the long trip to his trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada. Along the way, she finds a fast friend in a Métis named Jeannie; makes a lifelong enemy in a wolfer named Stiller; and despite learning a dark secret of Farwell’s past, falls in love with her husband.

The winter trading season passes peacefully. Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters forty Nakota—despite Farwell’s efforts to stop them. Mary, hiding from the hail of bullets, sees the murderers, including Stiller, take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. Thus, she sets off a whirlwind of colliding cultures that brings out the worst and best in the cast of unforgettable characters and pushes the love between Farwell and Crow Mary to the breaking point.

This is out now so go get it!

“Crow Mary,” by Kathleen Grissom, Atria Books, 368 pages, June 6, 2023.

In 1865, Goes First, a Crow Native girl, is taught by her grandfather, Red Fox, to ride and shoot as well as the boys. She has a younger brother, Strong Bull.

When Goes First is 15, Big Cloud asks to marry her. But he dies before they marry. The following year, Abe Farwell, a white fur trader, comes to the camp. He wants to marry a Crow woman so she can talk to other Indians who come to the trading post.

Goes First marries him. He gives her the name Mary, and they set off on the trip to his trading post in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Along the way, she makes a friend, a Métis named Jeannie. The Métis are people of mixed First Nations and European ancestry. She also makes an enemy, a wolf hunter named Stiller.

Then, on the eve of their return to Montana, a group of drunken whiskey traders slaughters 40 Nakota—despite Farwell’s efforts to stop them. Mary sees them take five Nakota women back to their fort. She begs Farwell to save them, and when he refuses, Mary takes two guns, creeps into the fort, and saves the women from certain death. This is the beginning of an incident. Mary is caught between two cultures.

“Crow Mary” is very well-written. The characters come alive as Crow Mary and Abe Farwell are based on real people. The novel highlights women who history books ignore. The novel was well-researched and was reviewed by members of the Crow nation. The brutal incident actually occurred.

This reminds me of Paulette Jiles’s 2016 novel “News of the World,” which I also enjoyed. Kathleen Grissom is also the author of “The Kitchen House” and of “Glory Over Everything.”

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

The Kitchen House is a forever favorite, and I think fans of that will find a lot to love in Crow Mary. An enthralling story with characters to root for.

I devoured this story. I loved that the story was based on the real Goes First also called Crow Mary. The writing was exquisite. The details about the scenery made me feel like I was there. I enjoyed reading about a time period that I haven't had the opportunity to read much about. I learned a lot about the Crow culture. The events in the story were heartbreaking but also empowering. I loved learning about Crow Mary and what a badass, strong woman she was.

Amazing book about an amazing woman. This book had me from the first chapter and I could not stop reading! It was well written, well researched and written with such compassion for Mary and her family.

An incredible story about a Crow woman who stands up for herself, her people, and her children. It shares the harrowing experience of indigenous people as manifest destiny became the ultimate theology of the whites.

"My great-grandmother, Goes First, who became known as Crow Mary, was a beautiful, strong young woman who married a white man she did not know. That she faced this world with such bravery makes me proud to think I carry her blood.”
Nedra Farwell Brown

Historical fiction takes on a new meaning for me when the main characters were real people, and direct ancestors of those who share the world with us today. In this fiction based on fact novel, each emotion, from heartbreak to joy, took on a more acute relevance and author Kathleen Grissom honors an untold story with her compelling prose. The novel follows a young girl, a member of the Crow Tribe, as she navigates the quickly changing world of mid 19th century America. It is a love story to Mother Earth, and acknowledges the deep importance of our individual traditions and cultures. I was transported to a time and place I know little about and was humbled and inspired by a plot which is incredibly relevant to our current day news.

This new novel will especially appeal to readers who were moved by
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of Mary Dodd by Jim Fergus, This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger and The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Goes First, a strong, curious young Crow woman, catches the eye of a fur trader named Farwell in 1872. The bride is renamed Crow Mary, and leaves her family and way of life to begin anew in the wilds of Montana and Canada. Sometimes, though, the west is truly wild, and men full of whiskey aren't known for tolerance or rational thinking. When the unthinkable happens, Mary rescues 5 women from a nightmare, but this act of bravery changes the course of her life yet again.

Crow Mary's story is based on true events, penned after Kathleen Grissom's extensive research and collaboration with Crow Mary's descendants. It's brought to life with sweeping landscapes, a beautiful friendship, loving family members, and heartbreaking loss.

The story is very character-focused but touched on some fascinating (and horrifying) events that I was inspired to research and learn more about. I was struck by Crow Mary's bravery and resilience and I'm so glad that Grissom brought her to life in these pages. Here's to strong women: may we know them, may we be them, may we read more about them!

My sincere thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Based on a real life historical Native American woman in post-Civil War Montana, this book is about a woman known as Goes First in her Crow tribe, and then later Crow Mary as she becomes known in the world of white people. The book follows her from her childhood and teenage years in her tribe though her marriage to white fur trader Abe Farwell and beyond, as she travels north with him and makes friends and enemies along the way.

This was such an interesting book and a great read as well. Goes First/Mary is such a terrific character and the fact that this is based on her real life makes her that much more impressive. The description of life among the Crow people is so vivid and fascinating, making their treatment (in the book and real life) by both lawless white people and the government that much more heartbreaking.

This is the third book by Kathleen Grissom I’ve read and the third one I loved - she just writes such impeccably researched and written books which illuminate different corners of history, and really brings them to life.

I was so excited to see this book and even more excited to be approved and read it.
If there’s something more that I love to read than frontier history, it’s frontier historical fiction that centers on women.
I love that the book is based on the actual story of a woman who faced adversity head on and continued to persevere. As if women had Amy other choice back then.
The story is rich in context and very satisfying. The only reason I felt bereft at the end is because the story was over.

Crow Mary is the new novel by Kathleen Grissom. After such a long wait between books, I am happy to report that Ms. Grissom has, once again, written a masterpiece. 

Most of what makes Crow Mary so good is the marvel of a heroine that was Crow Mary. Her story is almost unbelievable if it weren't true. A Crow chief's daughter, Mary marries a white fur trader and follows him to his new trading post in Canada. What follows is heartbreaking and astounding.

Crow Mary is not another story about the power imbalance between the Native Americans and the "Yellow Eyes," aka white men. It is not a rehashing of the poor treatment and even worse opinions white people held about Native Americans. It is a simple story about one woman's experiences in the Montana and Canadian territories. It just so happens that one woman led a pretty unusual life.

In Crow Mary, Ms. Grissom lets Mary tell her story. The author fades into the background as you become wholly absorbed in Mary's words. She is so humble and matter-of-fact about what she does and sees that you can practically hear Mary telling her tale. What is a truly extraordinary feat becomes a mundane but necessary task in Mary's eyes, which only adds to the reader's delight. 

While Crow Mary is not a commentary about what happened out west with the Native Americans, Ms. Grissom and Mary prove that any story about that time automatically becomes one when telling the story from the Native American viewpoint. Even though there are a few times where Mary outright condemns what is happening to her people, it is all too easy to understand her confusion and anger about the white people and their ways. You feel her disgust at the lies they told and the lack of consequences for those lies. At the same time, you understand the pride she feels about her Crow heritage and the honor with which she holds herself as an example of her people, and that is the most important takeaway from the novel.

There is no doubt Ms. Grissom is a talented writer. Her previous books remain popular and highly rated. With Crow Mary, readers get the pleasure of experiencing a remarkable author joining forces with a remarkable subject in the form of Crow Mary. Ms. Grissom takes you back to the 1870s, but Crow Mary keeps you spellbound.

Grissom has penned yet another well researched and compelling work of historical fiction. Her words evoke such raw emotion while telling stories so important for readers to know and to learn from. Crow Mary was a brave woman who stood up for her beliefs and for those she loved even while facing adversity and heartache. This is a must read for fans of historical fiction and I'm glad her story is finally being told. My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.