The Power of Faith, Hope, and Love

Being a Native American in the 1920s wasn’t easy. It was even harder to be female, and a minority, living on a reservation. This inspirational story is based on true life events of a strong and beautiful young mixed-blood Anishinabe woman, growing up on the White Earth Reservation, who faces not only the challenges of racial discrimination, sexism, and the economic challenges of the Depression, but who must also overcome the traumatic repercussions of being brutally raped as a teenager. Frenchie is subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia, and must live the rest of her life with the stigma of mental illness. But Frenchie is not a woman who can be so easily reduced to a handful of diagnoses and labels. Despite the difficulty of coping with mental illness, Frenchie is determined to live a full life, and she embraces a full range of experience, from the pain of lost love to the tender grace of motherhood. Journey with Frenchie as she finds the courage to call upon and use the resources available to her: the support and love of family, friends, and community…and most of all, her own extraordinary inner power, which is finally brought to full flower with the help of a Midewewin medicine man and his sacred megis shells.

Catherine Alexander is a member of the White Earth Mississippi Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. She spent several years working as a registered nurse on the Leech Lake and White Earth reservations, where she researched the Anishinabe culture, religion, and history. She holds a BSN from Winona State University, and an MSN from the University of North Dakota. She currently resides in southeastern Minnesota with her husband.