That Girl Montana

The American West at the turn of the century, raw and ungovernable, provides the setting for Marah Ellis Ryan's vivid novel of a young woman who refuses to be categorized. Known only as 'Tana, she emerges from the Kootenai River like something wild and untamed, observed by strangers who recognize immediately that she belongs to no one and nothing but the land itself. When she's linked to the murder of Lee Holly, a notorious figure in the territory, the community's suspicions settle upon her like a second skin. Yet 'Tana moves through this judgment with a defiance that is almost unbearable to witness. In her encounters with Dan Overton, a man intrigued by her fierce independence, we see her wrestling with the impossible choice between her hard-won freedom and the human hunger to be understood. This is a story about what it means to be seen and what happens when society decides your story before you've had the chance to tell it. 'Tana's refusal to perform the role of either victim or villain makes her one of the most electrifying female protagonists of early American fiction.