
In the 1890’s, a wave of Dutch settlers migrated en masse to the Dakota Territory, and settled in an area that was home to the Sioux nation. The two ethnic groups were about as different as they could be, both in lifestyle and in religious beliefs. They lived near each other in an uneasy fashion, each suspicious of the other.
In this historic novel, the author creates the character of Jan Ellerbroek, who moves into the area and marries a white woman, Dalitha, who has lived among the Lakota Indians (a sub-culture of the Sioux nation) so long that she is more like them than the Dutch. She has been a devoted school-teacher to the Indian children for many years. Her husband Jan is not as comfortable with the native people as his wife is, though.
Continue reading “Touches The Sky – by James Calvin Schaap (2003)”