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“High Hawk is evocative and haunting. I didn’t want to put it down, despite the loneliness of it—a kind of beautiful, desolate, at times cold and very snowy loneliness, windblown and stark. Light and sky figure heavily, the horizon and a longing for some kind of place in the order of things. For connection, truth, but most of all for a way of belonging in the world. There’s a sense of the complexity of life but also of it getting away from you; of looking back at moments you let pass you by. It is a beautiful meditation on silence and speaking, passivity and action; and on parents, and love, and the fragility of our ability to protect our children—the way that’s amplified in some communities’ lives by compounding circumstances. High Hawk leaves us with no easy answers, but feeling as though we’ve just listened to a keening, plaintive song that carries over the prairie as dusk falls.”—Arianne Zwartjes, author, These Dark Skies, Reckoning with Identity, Violence, and Power from Abroad

"In High Hawk, author Amy Frykholm delivers a beautiful blend of the simple and the profound in a story of self-discovery and reckoning. The gorgeously-rendered small-town Midwest setting and nuanced characters are a perfect fit for fans of William Kent Krueger."—Amy Pease, author, Northwoods

"High Hawk is, at one of its hearts, a tale of two improbable love stories—one between a mother and son and another between two long separated friends. Spare and lyrical, Amy Frykholm somehow conjures entire worlds—both interior and exterior—from a few dozen words. The landscape she lays out in front of us holds deep meaning and heartbreaking secrets. The exquisitely constructed ending is one of the most poignant and satisfying I have read in years.”—Cara Wall, author, The Dearly Beloved, a Read with Jenna pick

“High Hawk starts out small, quiet, stark—with a child left on the doorstep of a Catholic priest on a South Dakota reservation in 1970—but then, with a grace as delicate and as natural as a feather, it rises above its specific place, its specific time, and soars over a windy liminal landscape, becoming a universal story of faith and free will, of community and authority, of different kinds of love, and of difficult moral choices: when to obey and when to break away, when to punish and when to forgive, when to reveal the truth and when to keep the silence. And the silence is not the same silence, for some silences corrupt and others heal, and the choices are rarely black and white—yet always the choices matter. The subtle compassion of the narrative put me in mind of the classic by Georges Bernanos, The Diary of a Country Priest, but Frykholm’s voice is all her own. Read it, and it will linger in your mind for days.”—Olga Grushin, author, Forty Rooms

“High Hawk, like any good novel, mirrors the complexity of real life. . .Frykholm offers a slight flicker of hope—of repentance, of honesty—a tiny light wavering amid the gathering darkness.”—Notre Dame Magazine

“Frykholm refuses to deliver a fantasy narrative in which mysteries are resolved and our tarnished heroes redeemed. . .[Father Joe and Alice] don’t find what they’ve been looking for, but they find something else, something that offers the possibility of wonder, perhaps even grace, in the bleakest of lives. . .The novel’s satisfying conclusion is a testament to the power of that kind of love, a selfless love for the things that are too sacred.”—Colorado Review

“Frykholm offers a satisfying mystery. . .and explores universal themes in less familiar territory: Belonging. Justice. Vocation. Family. . .High Hawk weaves these compelling themes through a narrative that is, at its core, about loneliness and love, the belonging of family and chosen family, and the grace of God that weaves it all together.”—The Presbyterian Outlook

“A story of depth and delicacy. . . . The writing is excellent; likewise, the pacing, narration, characters, the unfolding mystery. I enjoyed every moment of reading it, especially the profound insight into indigenous culture.”—Maryanne Hannan, Englewood Review of Books

“. . . an evocative, compelling story that boldly explores the harms done by systems and institutions, often in the name of protecting the vulnerable. . . . a powerful exploration of love, belonging, the connection we have to every living being, and the moral duty we have to others—especially the vulnerable who need our care. In other words, High Hawk is the perfect novel for such a time as ours.”—Melanie Springer Mock, Current Magazine