People of the Whale: A Novel

Separated from his wife by an ill-fated decision to serve in Vietnam, Native American Thomas Witka fathers a child with another woman, returns home to find his tribe in a moral conflict over a whale hunt, and struggles to reconcile his feelings about the son he left behind, in a novel from a Pulitzer Prize finalist that includes reading-group guide. Reprint.
“Deeply ecological, original, and spellbinding. . . . (A] hauntingly beautiful novel of the hidden dimensions of life.” --Booklist, starred review
Raised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decision to hunt a whale, both a symbol of spirituality and rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to see tragedy befall the son he left behind.