House Made of Dawn

Summary

Abel, a young Jemez Pueblo veteran returning from World War II, struggles to reenter the rhythms of his New Mexico community and later drifts through Los Angeles before circling back home. Momaday weaves Kiowa and Pueblo oral traditions, ceremonial language, and modernist fragmentation, refusing a linear narrative in favor of layered memory and song. The novel earns wide credit for opening mainstream American letters to a new generation of Indigenous writers.