Cherokee Talisman by David-Michael Harding

Cherokee Talisman. David-Michael Harding. Q&CY Books. November 2012. 368 pp.  ISBN #: 9780615652535.

This fictional account is written to break the stereotype of the "savage" Native American Indian, in particular two Cherokee leaders.  Totsuhwa, a Cherokee shaman, is first trained by the leader Tsi'yugunsini, "Dragging Canoe" or "Dragon." The Dragon knows that the white man will return numerous times, each time committing the Indian leaders to sell more and more land and leave behind what is useless or unproductive land.  Worse yet, the land the white man is really stealing is not treated with reverence.  In fact, The Cherokee tribe fails to understand how anyone can "own" land that is a gift from God. When agreement fails, stronger weapons and manipulation through the gifts of material goods and alcohol weakens the Indians into confusion and surrender of all they treasure!

This is a sad but necessary tale to be told.  What the reader needs to see is how the "Dragon" mentors Totsuhwa with a constant attitude of care and compassion, urging war only in self-defense.  While Indians are always depicted as "scalping savages," here we learn that the white attackers often scalped, tortured and shot their Indian victims and burned homes and lands of Indians as well.  An endless cycle of violence is perpetuated on both sides.  General Jackson is portrayed in truth as being no friend of Indians whom he saw as an obstacle to westward expansion of American explorers and settlers.

Totsuhwa is a loving, cherished husband of Galegi and devoted father who trains his child to honor the gifts of nature, in one potent scene punishing his child for ignoring the need to return to the earth something in place of what has been taken.  It is written as a fair, reasonable, and poignant exchange that the son never forgets, even though eventually he must learn to live with the white man who will always be far superior in numbers and whose ways will continuously diminish the dignity of the Cherokee and other tribal members. Forgiveness is too late but truth-telling is sorely due in this 21st Century of a people not only driven from homes but almost completely exterminated.

Cherokee Talisman is a well-written, obviously well-researched, and honest novel to a comprehensive treatment of Indian-American relationships, an excellent addition to a more fair treatment of Native American history and the genre of historical fiction.

How Angels Die by David-Michael Harding

How Angels Die. David-Michael Harding. Q&CY Books. 2011. 420 pages. ISBN #: 9780615503325.

Monique and Claire, as well as her parents Sean and Estelle, are living in France during the Nazi occupancy of WWII.  They appear to be a very divided family at the beginning of this story that depicts a side of the Resistance Movement that is almost never fully explained.  Monique cares for the abandoned orphans of the war and meets German soldiers in the evening to dine and dance and more, the more enabling her to gather secret information unavailable by any other means, a job drawing extreme criticism from her sister and father.  Claire, however, has her own job to do, one that shows her to be as brave as any soldier, one which she embraces with so much fervor that the reader wonders from where this ferocity arises.

Another family gives a different point of view of countless thousands who loved and died at the hands of the Nazi rapers and killers, but the question is who died and who lived?  Anyone associated with Nazi targets is doomed.  The risk or stakes are enormous beyond one's comprehension, yet the hatred of those blighting France with their presence takes on many forms of expression, some out of fear, some from revenge, and some out of tragedy-induced realization of one's undying patriotism!

To say more would ruin a phenomenal story very much on par with a Ken Follett, Frederick Forsythe, and other masters of espionage fiction.  The tension hypes up to a fever pitch when Monique falls in love with one of her German "friends" and discovers details twice about pivotal German movements and shipment of arms.  However, Pieter suspects her awareness and resistance role; these realizations build the plot to a crescendo with devastating but eventually healing consequences.  Many more amazing secrets are yet to be revealed!

How Angels Die is not just another WWII story; it's about how individuals and united groups will give all they are to a common cause out of pure love.  It isn't a fantasy tale or contrived story at all; it's a well-research realistic viewpoint celebrating the cost of ensuring evil will NOT prevail in history's unfortunately too frequent travesties of justice and fair treatment!  Awesome, amazing, and deserving of best-seller status!!!