For several years, Stephen Blue lived in the area where Oya, Miwok Medicine Woman takes place: EL Dorado County, California. There, Blue became entranced with the majestic landscape of the Sierras, and was intrigued by its settler past from the mid 1800s. During his research, however, Blue was shocked to discover the obvious erasure of the Miwok people from local gold rush history, and their extraordinary suffering during this period. Oya is a dramatized historiographical response to this silence: a female spiritual leader and storyteller who, with warrior spirit, bravely takes us on an exciting journey through a dark time.

This novel has it all: romance, adventure, historical accuracy, magic, tragedy, human triumph, and a voice from the past that is rarely spoken.