Touches the Sky

A Novel

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Touches the Sky delves into the timeless theme of clashing cultures that alternately alienate and intrigue. Jan Ellerbroek, an 1890s Dutch settler, is both mesmerized and disturbed by the "ghost dances" of the Lakota Indians he and his wife live among. The Sioux insist they dance for the Messiah who will save them from those who would steal their land, culture, and hearts. But can the same God of Jan's pious people be found in such mystery and frenzy?
Already tense, the atmosphere crackles when a Dutch hired hand is found shot to death. The settlers accuse the Sioux, and fear escalates. But the Sioux insist on their innocence, knowing their honor-and much more-is at stake.
Absorbing as well as profound, this sensitive story probes the making of the West, the depths of humanity, and a God whom the main character admits "can seem as vast and unknown as the prairie."


Endorsements

"From the first words to the last pages, this novel has its eye on history and manages an understanding of two cultures that claimed the same land. Jan Ellerbroek, a Dutch immigrant to the Dakota Territory, narrates the arrival of the white man and his Christian faith to the Great Plains. His wife, Dalitha Ward, who has taught among the Sioux, helps unwrap the mystery of the important, late 19th century phenomena of the Ghost Dance. With courage and bravery on both sides, Ellerbroek struggles for fairness in a clash of cultures so tremendous, the shock waves are still picked up. He also offers resolution with a new life, Touches the Sky, born of both cultures. This book faces issues that don't have easy answers: Who has a hold on the truth of a nation's history, and how truth can take different forms."-Diane Glancy, Native American playwright, poet, author of Stone Heart: A Novel of Sacajawea

"James Schaap captures that frightened and doubtful little child inside each one of us and clothes him in buckskins. It is not enough that the main character, Jan Ellerbeck, must deal with the death of his wife and children, and the demands of Dutch immigrant society. Also throw in racial predjudice, Old West reservation politics, predestination, starvation, cracked melting pots, murder on the prairie, interracial love affairs, the 7th Cavalry, the Ghost Dance cult and the mystery of faith. And that's just the start of this Great Plains cyclone of a story. Good luck putting this one down."-Dr. David Mulder, internal medicine physician for 11 years on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

"I don't think faith, or its absence, has been so raw, so problematic, or so interesting since Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Schaap's Ghost Dancers, Sioux warriors, and lapsed Calvinists make for a surprising cast of true believers and apostates. I'm not sure whether, in the end, I've read a mystery, a morality play, or a Western--but it is a great, passionate yarn."-Rev./Dr. John Suk, editor in chief, The Banner magazine


The Author

  1. James Calvin Schaap

    James Calvin Schaap

    James Calvin Schaap, a professor of English at Dordt College and president of the Chrysostom Society, is the award-winning author of twenty-two books. He lives in Sioux Center, Iowa.

    Continue reading about James Calvin Schaap

Reviews

The beauty of his prose and a compelling story make Schaap's latest effort a standout.This lyrical book will appeal to readers who enjoy good westerns as well as those whose tastes run to more literary novels." --Library Journal 9/1/03