Cloud Dancer by P.A. Bechko

The Spaniards are coming, the Spaniards are coming!

The year is 1598 and the Kere tribe of the Acoma Pueblo were about to be annihilated from their peaceful home in New Mexico.

Being a Kere Native American woman required domesticity, certainly not a hunter and warrior, but Cloud Dancer was having none of that. She couldn’t hide in her teepee any longer when the Spaniards came to take whatever food and supplies they wanted. She knew she had to stand up for her people.

In this battle, she lost. The Acoma Pueblo were wiped out. A handful managed to escape, seeking a new home with nearby tribes, but as a whole, the Acoma Pueblo were wiped out.

Cloud Dancer’s life was saved by a young Spanish warrior, who knew his people were wrong. He risked everything saving her. It was from her new friend she learned to ride a horse and shoot “the stick that thunders.”

Missing her family, friends, and previous lover - Apache warrior and medicine man, White Hawk - Cloud Dancer finds she is alone. As with other survivors from the Acoma Pueblo, she decides to live with an Apache tribe. Their ways are very different from the Kere ways, but she doesn’t want to be alone, wanting to be a warrior and hunter for the Apaches. Her goal is to fight the Spaniards when they attack again.

The story of Cloud Dancer is a brilliant historical novel filled with Native American events and details for the passionate historical fiction reader. The romance added to the story, without lessening the historical significance.

I stumbled upon Cloud Dancer in my search for historical fiction and was so glad I did. I appreciated the research P.A. Bechko devoted to her book and I aspire to write my own historical novel with as much skill and expertise.