The Backdrop for the story of WILD SORROW
Notes from author Sandi Ault

In my field expeditions doing research in the Southwest for the WILD Mystery Series, I came across the ruins of an abandoned Indian boarding school. The site, also near an ancient Puebloan ruin, intrigued me. Like Jamaica in WILD SORROW, I felt haunted by the sadness I felt around the place.

I continued my research into Indian Boarding Schools through the internet, reading books, studying government documents, and especially through interviews with Native Americans who had survived the schools. This was a sad and stirring process.

At the same time, I was intrigued by the plight of the mountain lion in the West. This species, a former resident of nearly this entire continent, has been extirpated in all but five of the lower continental United States. And even there, its survival is threatened by the push of development and loss of habitat. I felt that the theme for both Native culture and the mountain lion was at least similar, if not identical.

The story of WILD SORROW is not only one of a murder mystery, with its thriller-like elements, but also one of the vanishing West.

Today, only a few Indian boarding schools remain active. Many have been demolished or remain only as historical sites. However, the effects of these institutions still resonate through Native America, and perhaps also in the undercurrents of our society as a whole. The stories remain, and I have highlighted some of them in WILD SORROW.

For photos of Sandi and company on their research expedition for WILD SORROW, click here.