Written in Stone by Rosanne Parry (review)

When the whaling canoe returns to the Makah village on the Olympic peninsula, Pearl's father is not in it among her uncles and cousins. As the daughter of the revered harpooner, Pearl once enjoyed elevated status, but now that she's ophaned, her restlessness and lack of carefully nurtured domestic skills have become problematic for both her and her paternal grandparents who care for her. The village as a whole is facing its own set of challenges: the whales seem to have abandoned them, white authorities have curtailed or outlawed many of the sacred customs, such as the potlatch, and now they must move inland to live among salmon fishers. Pearl admires her cousin, Susi, who lives independently in town as postmaster, buying her own clothes, and enjoying such modern delights as the latest Charlie Chaplin films. Stepping into the white community has its costs, though, as Pearl learns when a man claiming to be a collector for the Art Institute in New York arrives to bargain for tribal masks and regalia, forcing the cash-strapped Makah people to evaluate how to balance financial and cultural survival in post-World War I America. Parry successfully melds Pearl's quieter coming-of-age story with a faster-paced mystery plot concerning the true agenda of "art collector" Arthur Glen and the efforts of the Makah teens to thwart his predatory activities. Framing chapters focused on Pearl in her old age assure readers that the tribal knowledge and customs are endangered but not extinct, and closing notes address historical background and respect for maintaining the secrecy of certain stories and rituals.