Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway

Interesting, solidly researched historical fiction. Depressing in the general oppression of women and the epidemic deaths, but I think it paints a realistic picture, and is highly sympathetic to the preservation of native culture.

Minuk questions attitudes towards women both in her tribe and in the ways of the white missionaries. She lives a year in her life that is full of both the usual things in the Yu'pik way of life, and new things the missionaries have introduced like reading and finally disease. In the end, she stays with her tribe though she has the choice to leave and break some of the restrictions she faces as a woman. She doesn't quite ever answer some of the questions about what is right for women, however.