The Falcon, the Wolf, and the Hummingbird

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The Falcon, the Wolf, and the Hummingbird by Martha Engber

A consummate warrior and brilliant strategist, Pino is a young Native American woman who must fight against fierce invaders to save her tribe — and spirit — from annihilation in precolonial southern New England.

The strange tale of sisterhood begins on a stormy spring morning her tribe faces an imminent attack by a contingent of the mighty Pagassett Nation, infamous for destroying small tribes in its quest for land and power. Pino knows this is the moment she’s been waiting for, a chance to save her people and maybe —maybe — redeem herself for failing to rescue her beloved sister, murdered ten summers ago.

Aided by her best warrior and forbidden love, Tow, and key tribal leaders who witness Pino’s gift for camouflage, she clandestinely influences strategy in the short, but wildly intense conflict. She soon discovers her real opposition is Meesha, a beautiful near-slave taken in by the invading tribe when just a girl. By learning how the other operates, the women form an intimate, almost magical sisterhood in their internal fight to free their inner demons.

Martha Engber is the author of Winter Light, the 2021 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Young Adult Fiction. A freelance editor and workshop facilitator, she’s had a play produced in Hollywood and fiction, poetry, and essays published in Watchword, the Berkeley Fiction Review, Iconoclast, and other literary magazines.