Happy April, dear readers! It finally feels like spring in the northern hemisphere, and I’ve been taking the opportunity to bring books with me on my daily walks to enjoy the weather as much as I can. Here’s a small selection of upcoming titles that I have my eye on for further jaunts, starting with Jon Hickey’s standout literary debut Big Chief, publishing on April 8.
Big Chief tells the story of a hotly contested election and the lengths that some people will go to in order to win, in an under-explored literary realm: the world of tribal politics. Filled with the energy of protest, activism and tumult, this novel faces political corruption head on while asking what you would do, reader, if the very problems that you sought to fix threatened to consume you.
But Big Chief isn’t just a book about politics. It’s also a big-hearted book about second chances, lost love and facing the ghosts of your past.
Mitch Caddo is a young law school graduate and aspiring political fixer who, much like the author himself at that age, feels like an outsider in the homeland of his Anishinaabe ancestors. Alongside his childhood friend, incumbent Tribal President Mack Beck, he runs the government of the Passage Rouge Nation, and with it, the tribe’s Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel.
On the eve of Mack’s reelection, the young men’s tenuous grip on power is threatened by nationally known activist and politician Gloria Hawkins and her young aide Layla Beck, who happens to be Mack’s estranged sister and Mitch’s former love. In their struggle for control over Passage Rouge, the campaigns resort to bare-knuckle political gamesmanship, testing the limits of how far they will go — and what they will sacrifice — to win it all.