9 books by Indigenous authors to read during Native American Heritage Month

by Carson Faust

🎧 Audiobook

When a young girl goes missing, the ghosts of the past collide with her family’s secrets in a mesmerizing Native American Southern Gothic. Steeped in Indigenous folklore and drawing from the author’s own family history, Faust’s literary debut examines what it means to be haunted—both by the supernatural and by terrors of our own making.

by Aaron John Curtis

🎧 Audiobook

Abe Jacobs, a Mohawk man facing a terminal illness and a broken marriage, returns to his reservation after decades away, where a reluctant healing ritual sparks a profound journey of self-discovery, family, and hope.

by Danica Nava

🎧 Audiobook

A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this USA Today bestselling rom-com.

When Ember Lee Cardinal’s job hunt stalls, one little lie about her identity lands her the dream gig—and a sizzling office romance. But as secrets spiral and blackmail looms, Ember must decide: keep the lie or risk losing everything. 

by Shane Hawk

🎧 Audiobook

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night as it can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

by Amanda Peters

🎧 Audiobook

In 1962, a four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family, and remain unsolved for nearly 50 years.

by Jon Hickey

🎧 Audiobook

On the eve of a high-stakes tribal election, a young Anishinaabe political fixer is pulled into a ruthless battle for power in this gripping literary debut. As protests ignite and secrets unravel, he must choose between ambition and the only family he has left. It’s an unforgettable story about the search for belonging—to an ancestral and spiritual home, to a family, and to a sovereign people at a moment of great historical importance.

by Morgan Talty

🎧 Audiobook

Haunted by the life he left behind, Charles Lamosway watches his secret daughter grow up across the river until her sudden disappearance forces him to confront the truth, his past, and what family really means.

From the award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez, Morgan Talty's debut novel is a masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another.

by Brandon Hobson

Fifteen years after a police shooting shattered the Echota family, an approaching bonfire forces them to confront grief, memory, and the stories that bind us. 

Steeped in Cherokee myths and history, this is a novel about a fractured family reckoning with the tragic death of their son long ago—from a National Book Award finalist. 

by Mona Susan Power

🎧 Audiobook

Spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to present day, this haunting novel weaves the stories of mothers, daughters, and the dolls that guard their secrets—revealing resilience, love, and the echoes of a brutal history.

This gorgeous, quietly devastating, and ultimately hopeful story shines a light on the echoing damage wrought by Indian boarding schools, and the historical massacres of Indigenous people.