She is the beloved, indomitable fifteen-year-old in Michael Dorris' best-selling novel for adults, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. She returns, a year older but much wiser, in this year's critically acclaimed companion book, Cloud Chamber. Now, in his first novel for young readers with a contemporary setting, Michael Dorris introduces Rayona Taylor as an eleven-year-old, and imagines the events and relationships that shaped this unforgettable young woman. When her mom's occasional "hard nights" away from home become more frequent, Rayona's father decides she needs a place to stay - although not with him. A couple of under-the-table foster-care placements later, he has no choice but to take her to stay with his mother, aunt, and grandmother in Kentucky, relatives Rayona has never met. The surprises that await Rayona there lead her to comment to herself, "I'll never again be able to look out a small window and see my whole world from it...."
Author
Michael Dorris was a novelist, short story writer, nonfiction writer, and author of books for children The first member of his family to attend college, Dorris graduated from Georgetown with honors in English and received his graduate degree in anthropology from Yale. Dorris worked as a professor of English and anthropology at Dartmouth College. Dorris was part-Native American through the lineage of his paternal. He founded the Native American Studies department at Dartmouth in 1972 and chaired it until 1985. In 1971, Dorris became the first unmarried man in the United States to adopt a child. His adopted son, Reynold Abel, was diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome and his condition became the subject of Dorris' The Broken Cord,(the pseudonym "Adam" is used for his son in the book). In 1981, Dorris married aspiring writer Louise Erdrich. Throughout their relationship, Erdrich and Dorris edited and contributed to each other's writing. In 1991, Dorris' adopted son, Reynold Abel, died after being hit by a car. In 1996, Louise Erdrich separated from Dorris. On April 10, 1997, Dorris committed suicide in Concord, New Hampshire.
