The Long Sun

Told in a clean and straightforward fashion, this is the powerful story of a colonial family integrated into a doomed Indian nation. John and Lydia Billips and their three young children, Jackson, Sassy and ``the baby,'' are rescued from renegade Apalachees by members of the Tuscarora and are taken to their remote village in the Appalachian Mountains. The Billipses' new life seems like paradise while, over the next six years, the children grow up secure and cherished. The concept of the noble savage is stretched to its limits, as Lucas (herself of Cherokee descent) extolls the clan's reverence for nature, its deep spirituality and its insistence on honesty and trust. At the same time, she uses the family's acculturation to offer a primer on American Indian lore, from customs and ceremonies to tracking and basketry. But it's the early 1700s, and idyllic times are coming to an end for the Tuscarora as white settlers move inexorably west (``The white man is striding across the face of Mother Earth spreading evil, killing and burning and stealing''). When Sassy is abducted by two white brothers from Pennsylvania, a clash between the cultures becomes inevitable--but where do the Billipses' loyalties lie? The action never flags in this first novel, which, despite its heavy bias, will have readers caring deeply about its spirited characters. (Aug . )