The story begins at the Battle of Little Big Horn in June of 1876. Eleven-year-old Paha Sapa (whose name, in the Lakota dialect, means “Black Hills”), is present at the precise moment of Custer’s death, a moment that will have enormous ramifications. The narrative that follows encompasses eighty years of highly charged history and ranges from the eponymous (and sacred) Black Hills of South Dakota to the Dust Bowls of the Great Depression to the emerging face of Mount Rushmore, where an astonishing revelation awaits.

On one level, Black Hills is a story of profound and inescapable loss: of family, of cultural heritage, of the ancient gods that once dominated the Lakota’s world. On another, it is a visionary account of love, hope, and unexpected discovery, and a meditation on the Mystery that lies “at the heart of the heart of the universe.” Absorbing, moving, and constantly surprising, Black Hills is, by any standard, a major novel, another landmark achievement in a constantly evolving career.