Essays on A Yellow Raft in Blue Water: A Novel

Rayona is the daughter of Christine, a teenage girl who got pregnant out of wedlock, and Elgin, an older man who didn’t want to marry her. Rayona grows up on a reservation in Montana, and her mother is always moving them around to different places. When Rayona is 15, her mother dies of cancer and she is sent to live with her father. Elgin is a very strict man, and he doesn’t approve of Rayona’s friends or her boyfriend. When Rayona gets into a fight with her father, she runs away and ends up living with her Aunt Ida. Ida is a very religious woman, and she doesn’t approve of Rayona’s lifestyle either. Rayona eventually goes back to live with her father, but the relationship between them is still strained. Rayona is a smart and determined young woman, and she eventually goes to college and becomes a successful journalist.