Indigenous Voices Series: Greg Sarris, returns to THE 222 with more stories and passion for Sonoma County as he presents his new novel, The Last Human Bear. In conversation with Jane Ciabattari, he will share back stories about the area from an Indigenous perspective in this unforgettable tale inspired by the Native women elders who shaped Greg in his youth.

The novel’s main character Mary Hatcher lives with a curse—or is it a power that could make her life whole? A Native Pomo woman who comes of age in 1930s California, Mary keeps trying to make sense of her enigmatic family. Strange rumors spread about her. Her stepmother may have taught her how to become a Human Bear, a shapeshifter who can menace and poison enemies. Two men may love her—or love who they think she is. A mystery even to herself, Mary learns to pass between Native and white societies, tenaciously carving her own path as an independent woman. But as she explores love and desire, family inherited and chosen, and the secrets of the natural world, one question gnaws at her: Is she fated to do harm? Wry and richly lyrical, The Last Human Bear follows Mary from the Great Depression to the twenty-first century, when she commits a haunting final act.