"Smith writes fluidly, and the society he depicts is intriguingly complex." - Kirkus Reviews"A stunning novel and a joy to read" Helen Hollick, Managing Editor - Historical Novel Society (Editor's Choice) The first recorded Europeans to cross the Mississippi River reached the western shore on June 18, 1541. Hernando De Soto and his army of three hundred and fifty conquistadors spent the next year and a half conquering the nations in the fertile flood plains of eastern Arkansas. Three surviving sixteenth-century journals written during the expedition detailed a complex array of twelve different nations. Each had separate beliefs,languages, and interconnected villages with capital towns comparable in size to European cities of the time. Through these densely populated sites, the Spanish carried a host of deadly old-world diseases, a powerful new religion, and war. No other Europeans ventured into this land until French explorers arrived one hundred and thirty years later. They found nothing of the people or the towns that the Spanish had so vividly described. For those lost nations, the only hope that their stories, their last remaining essence will ever be heard again lies with one unlikely Storykeeper. ~~~Editorial Reviews of Storykeeper,winner of Best Indie Book Award 2013"A saga of revenge, bribery, political bargaining, death and disease, it's a novel that's surprisingly succinct for its subject, rich in its detail, and highly recommended for historical fiction readers who want so much more than a casual pursuit." D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer - Midwest Book Review "In alternating chapters, three narratives unwind: the conquest Taninto witnesses, the flight Nanza endures, and the remembrances Manaha struggles to share. In the process, the history of a nearly forgotten people is imagined, or reimagined. . . . A glimpse into a culture until now kept solely in the prison of the past." - Kirkus Reviews "It takes a master artist to create a picture of such perfect detail that it looks like a photograph. Smith paints this amazing picture with words, and indeed is himself a storykeeper. To translate a culture that is unfamiliar with such accuracy and poetry is a great achievement." Helen Hollick, Managing Editor - Historical Novel Society (Editor's Choice) "Mr. Smith has written a fantastic tale from the Native American point of view about the conquest of the New World by Hernando De Soto. He has done impeccable research . . . made that period in our history come alive for me. I learned much more about the conquest of the New World and life around the Mississippi River that now makes me want to read even more." Dawn Edwards - The Kindle Book Review "Storykeeper, is a tender, poignant, powerful story of a people's strength, endurance and history. Smith not only turned his research of those days of Hernando De Soto in the 1500's into a story that honors the Indians that lived through it, but created a lesson on the importance of storytelling." Tammy Snyder - Arkansas Book Reviewer
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