Overview

In a battle against time and shadow, the last Michigan Mound Builder and his unlikely allies fight to save a hidden legacy from vanishing forever. Nokee, separated from his fleeing tribe at an early age, becomes the last remaining member of an ancient mound-building culture who lived in Michigan for thousands of years. He now carries a sacred burden: to ensure his people's stories survive. Raised in a world where memory is survival and history is power, he sets out on a treacherous journey to find the only person who holds the whole truth of his ancestors-an aging shaman whose knowledge is fading with time. Haunted by dreams, driven by duty, and inspired by the arrival of French Jesuit missionaries-the Black Robes-Nokee forges an unlikely alliance. Though their beliefs clash, their goals align: to document a culture on the brink of erasure. With the shamans' help, they began transcribing the sacred narratives into the Jesuit's diaries, carefully translating an oral tradition that had never before touched ink or parchment. But Nokee's mission is not just spiritual-it is dangerous. His journey draws the attention of enemies, both seen and unseen. Rival tribes, colonial forces, and shadowy figures who fear what these stories might reveal stand in his way. The closer he gets to completing the work and sending it across the Atlantic for publication in the Journal of Jesuit Relations, the more the threats escalate. As the line between the physical and spiritual worlds begins to blur, Nokee must confront visions, omens, and an inner calling that suggests this journey is not only about preservation but transformation. What started as a quest to protect a fading legacy becomes something more profound: a reckoning with identity, memory, and destiny. Suspenseful, lyrical, and steeped in the mysticism of a vanishing world, this is the story of a young man racing against time to save a civilization-and discovering his place within it.

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9781965278987

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Reviews

""Nokee: The Last of the Great Lakes Mound Builders is a deeply compelling historical novel that ... skillfully weaves themes of cultural survival, ancestral knowledge, and the complexities of intertribal life during early colonial disruption. The story combines a passion for storytelling, historical detail, and emotional depth. ... It highlights the enduring strength of Native communities ... and carries the potential to serve as a meaningful bridge to deeper, more meaningful conversations centered around Indigenous history, representation, and survival.""-Kelsey Wabanimkee, Anishinaabe, Great Lakes Area ""Nokee: The Last of the Great Lakes Mound Builders is a masterful historical fiction that will capture the reader with its powerful story of survival enmeshed within a fascinating historical framework. Mr. Rheaume's finely crafted story of a tribal chief fighting to protect his people resonates at the deepest human levels of existence. ... Through finely crafted details of the lives of those directly impacted ... it's nothing less than a novel that will change how the reader views a crucial period of American history.""-William Murphy, author of ten books and numerous journal and magazine articles on history, travel, and environmental issues-inducted into the Michigan Environmental Hall of Fame in 2018 ""Nokee: The Last of the Great Lakes Mound Builders, a powerful debut novel set in the 17th century, captivated me immediately. It is historical fiction at its best-well researched and yet entirely readable, a rare combination! The author shows a dazzling fluency in Native terminology and culture, along with a passion for the flora and fauna of the Great Lakes region. Rheaume has created vivid characters that jump off the page, their universal humanism would be believable in any century and in any setting.""-Joshua Veith, author of the Sudden Quiet trilogy

Author Information

Stephen Rheaume is a thirteenth-generation descendant of Louis Hébert, New France's first European apothecary and farmer, through Hébert's daughter Guillemette. Rheaume, a native of Michigan, earned his bachelor of science in fish and wildlife management from Lake Superior State University. For more than 30 years, he worked as a federal biologist and geo-hydrologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.His professional contributions include the authorship of fifteen government publications addressing hydrological and ecological dynamics within the Great Lakes basin. Rheaume's scientific background informs his narrative work, often weaving together themes of cultural preservation, natural history, and Indigenous knowledge systems. He resides in Williamston, Michigan, with his wife and family.

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