Embedded Files
by Karen Polinsky
by Karen Polinsky
In the 1880s, Millie Langlie, the daughter of a S’Klallam woman and a Norwegian mariner, lives within sight of the New Dungeness Light Station on the Strait of Juan de Fuca in present-day Washington state.
When Millie is six, her mother pierces her ears and gives her a pair of silver fish earrings that had belonged to a woman who had survived the Dungeness massacre. The earrings are said to be cursed but Millie cherishes them. They are her touchstone as she grows up, navigating her S'Klallam and Norwegian heritage to find her own place in the world.
Feel the sea mist and run through the verdant forests on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and be immersed in stories filled with true events and people, mixed with vivid S'Klallam tales and lore.
” . . . the writer has created an overall unity combining truth, human frailty and strength, and philosophical depth. She has taken Mary Ann Lambert’s knowledge and understanding to create a multi-dimensional picture of a place, a time and a mingling of people . . . The novel’s strength is its sensory detail as noted by a child of nature. It’s a book to be read word-by-word to savor its full depth and meaning.” — Review, Historical Novel Society
“Dungeness is a remarkable work. Karen Polinsky weaves a rich tapestry of fact and fiction, sprinkled with Northwest native art, language, and historical images, about the churning cultural changes of the Olympic Peninsula in the 1870s, seen through a young native girl’s experiences. But even more than this, Polinsky imbues her narrative with a deep and captivating sense of mystery. A wonderful work; deserves to be reprinted and spread broadly.” — Joe Upton, Alaska Blues: A Story of Freedom, Risk and Living Your Dream
Details
Details
Bink Books
238 pp. ● 6x9
$18.95 (pb) ● $9.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-960373-93-9 (pb)
FICTION / Historical / 19th Century / General
FICTION / Indigenous / Historical
FICTION / Native American
Publication date: August 25, 2026
Karen Polinsky, a former journalist and high school teacher, is currently a writer of plays, novels and non-fiction living in Portland, Oregon. Dungeness, now in its third edition, is her first book. Her second book, Ian’s Ride: A Long Distance Journey to Joy (2024, Mountaineers), is the biography of Ian Mackay, a quadriplegic, advocate for trails, and inspiring leader in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Karen has written more than a dozen staged plays, including her most recent: a drama with spoken word about Jan Kerouac, the only child of the King of the Beats. Karen enjoys camping and biking and hiking with her husband Michael and her border collie Pearl.
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