The Ghost of Milagro Creek — Melanie Sumner

The story of Ignacia Vigil Romero, a Jicarilla Apache, and the two boys, Mister and Tomas, she raised to adulthood unfolds in the barrio of Taos, New Mexico -- a mixed community of Native Americans, Hispanics, and their white neighbors. Now deceased, Ignacia, a curandera -- a medicine woman, though some say a witch -- relates this tale of star-crossed lovers.

Mister and Tomas, best friends until their late teens, both fall for Rocky, a gringa of some mystery, a girl Tomas takes for himself. But in a moment of despair, a pledge between the young men leads to disaster. Police reports, witness statements, and case worker interviews draw an electrifying portrait of a troubled community and of the vulnerable players in this mounting tragedy. Set in a terrain that becomes a character in its own right, The Ghost of Milagro Creek illuminates this hidden corner of American society.