When the River Sleeps

A lone hunter, Vilie, sets out to find the river of his dreams, a place from which he will be able to wrest a stone that will give him untold power. His is a dangerous quest-not only must he overcome unquiet spirits, vengeful sorceresses, and demons of the forest, but there are armed men on his trail as well.

In When the River Sleeps, Easterine Kire transports her reader to the remote mountains of Nagaland in northeastern India, a place alive with natural wonder and supernatural enchantment. As Vilie treks through the forest on the trail of his dream, readers are also swept along with the powerful narrative and walk alongside him in a world where the spirits are every bit as real as men and women. Kire invites us into the lives and hearts of the people of Nagaland: their rituals and beliefs, their reverence for the land, their close-knit communities, and the rhythms of a life lived in harmony with their natural surroundings.

Reminiscent of Garcia Marquez’s magic realism and Leslie Marmon Silko’s Native-American storytelling. At the end, though, this is a Naga story, unmistakably so, in its sense of place, time, and oral traditions. -Paulus Pimomo, Central Washington University