My Father’s Blood by Amy Krout-Horn

“Darkness; the place where light best reveals itself.”

In life, there exist struggles that break, or build, pain that controls, or consecrates, and the monumental moments that leave us either devastated, or defined. My Father’s Blood tells the story of one woman’s tumultuous and triumphant passage through a childhood ever-shadowed by “the monster,” (juvenile diabetes) an incurable, life-threatening condition with which her father also does battle. Though Amy Krout-Horn’s paternal inheritance brings illness, it also brings strong medicine, medicine remembered on a cellular level, derived from the profound wisdom of her Lakota ancestors. But can the ancient council fire’s “spark” that ignited within a young girl’s heart, continue to guide the woman, even as the monster drags her into the “darkest darkness?”

In the potent and poignant language of fine literature, this stunningly honest autobiographical novel grants candid views of chronic illness, blindness, and Native American racial identity, against the backdrop of a world often determined to demean, degrade, and disenfranchise. Vivid scenes of love, loss, and the raw realities of family, illuminate with a quality unique to those individuals who have courageously fought to protect their inner light. In a language that speaks to our collective spirit, she articulates the achingly beautiful and acutely agonizing balance that characterizes the human condition. Like the reverberations of a native drum, Amy Krout-Horn’s visceral voice resounds, imparting the message that, sometimes, our bloodlines become our lifelines.

Amy Krout-Horn worked as the first blind teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota’s American Indian Studies program. She is a regular contributor to Slate and Style magazine and, in 2008, was awarded their top fiction prize for War Pony. She co-authored the novella, Transcendence (All Things That Matter Press, 2009). Her creative non-fiction was featured in the spring 2010 issue of Breath and Shadow, and Talking Stick Native Arts Quarterly published her essay, Bleeding Black, in their fall 2010 issue. Her latest book is an autobiographical novel, My Father’s Blood (All Things That Matter Press, 2011). Currently, she is at work on her third novel, Dancing in Concrete Moccasins.

A staunch advocate for social and environmental justice, she writes and lectures on native history and culture, diabetes and disability, and humanity’s connection and commitment to the natural world. For more information, visit her web site at http://www.nativeearthwords.com

Available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/My-Fathers-Blood-Amy-Krout-Horn/dp/0984639292/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312208787&sr=1-1