‘Kingdomtide’ by Rye Curtis

‘Kingdomtide’ by Rye Curtis is set in the Bitterroot Range (Montana) in 1986. The story alternates between Cloris's account twenty years later in her unique voice and the life of Ranger Lewis and the people around her, who are often weird.

Cloris and her husband take a small plane to the mountains for a few days. The plane crashes, and only Cloris, who is 72 years old, survives. She is in the middle of nowhere with nothing around her. Still, she tries to find her way home.

Lewis is a park ranger in the Bitterroot Mountains and a heavy alcoholic. She’s also the only one who really wants to find Cloris, believing that the elderly woman has survived. At the same time, she’s fighting her past and her present.

It's a very unusual way of storytelling with lots of queer representation!

The only thing I didn’t like was the language at times. I understand why 72-year-old Cloris would use certain derogatory terms given her age and the time she grew up in, but I don't think inclusive terms would have taken anything away from her character.

CW: alcoholism, (child) sexual abuse