"Raven Stole the Moon" is one of Garth Stein's early works, now re- touched and reissued. This novel, like "Racing in the Rain," is about marriage and grief.

Jenna cannot get over her grief of her drowned son.... she tries drugs and alcohol. She tries forgetting. Her marriage rips at the seams. Her husband, Robert, thinks he is over the death and it is time for her to act like a grown up and also forget the pain.

Jenna runs away to the place of the tragic incident: Alaska. She meets a shaman,a dog, a young and vulnerable man, also ripped apart. Worse, she learns about the kushtaka, a clan of Tlingit spirits who take humans into their world if they can. Shapeshifters,they take the form of otters, dogs, and humans who are in the spirit world.

Read this book only if you possess the willing suspension of disbelief. There are lots of turnabouts with bad guys and good guys, other worldly experiences, and deep emotions to rip you raw.

"How Raven Stole the Moon" is educational, satisfying, and fast-paced revealing a beautiful culture and a beautiful, wild place as well as people caught in a web that threatens to destroy all they have loved.