Sweep Out the Ashes - Paperback

by Mary Clearman Blew (Author)

2020 Spur Award Finalist from Western Writers of America

Diana Karnov came to Versailles to uncover secrets. Teaching college history in remote northern Montana offers the opportunity to put distance between herself and her overbearing great-aunts and to uncover information about her parents, especially the father she can't even remember.

At first overwhelmed by the brutal winter, Diana throws herself into exploring mysteries her aunts refuse to explain. Eventually, she befriends several locals, including a student, Cheryl Le Tellier, and her brother, Jake. As Diana's relationship with Jake deepens, he discusses his M tis heritage and culture, exposing the enormous gaps in her historical knowledge. Astounded, Diana begins to understand that American narratives, what she learns about her father, and the capacity for women to work and learn is not as set and certain as she was taught. Mary Clearman Blew deftly balances these 1970s pressure points with multifaceted characters and a layered romance to deliver an instant Western classic.

Author Biography

​Mary Clearman Blew is the author or editor of numerous fiction and nonfiction books, including the novels Ruby Dreams of Janis Joplin (Nebraska, 2018) and Jackalope Dreams (Nebraska, 2008), and the memoir This Is Not the Ivy League (Nebraska, 2011). She is professor emerita of English at the University of Idaho and has won numerous awards, including the Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award.