Conley, R: Peace Chief

It is the early days of the European expansion into America, and a young Cherokee must be reborn in order to lead his people through this difficult time.A sweeping novel of the sixteenth-century Cherokee, The Peace Chief is the story of Young Puppy, a young man who, during a fight with the enemy Ofos tribe, mistakenly kills his best friend, Asquani. That it happened by mistake makes no difference. Young Puppy, as a member of the Long Hair Clan, has killed a member of the Wolf Clan and now things are out of balance between the clans. The usual solution is for a Wolf to kill Young Puppy. But he has fled to Kituwah, a Mother town, wherein no one may be killed. If he should leave, he would be killed, but if remains within its borders until the new year, is offense will be forgotten.Thus begins the journey of Young Puppy-a man who is spiritually reborn as "Comes Back to Life" and comes to lead his people as a ceremonial leader, the Peace Chief. During a time of uneasy relations with the French, and incursion for the Spanish, and trouble with the Senika (Seneca), Comes Back to Life must guide his people along a difficult path. The Peace Chief is a powerful evocation of a time and of a people.