Old School Indian

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - INDIE NEXT PICK "[An] entrancing new voice . . . Aaron John Curtis will be your new literary obsession." --Marion Winik, The Boston Globe "An inspired novel by an author whose voice absolutely sizzles on the page." ―Nathan Hill, author of Wellness and The Nix

"With amazing dexterity, Aaron John Curtis's moving debut novel combines raucous humor with respect for ancestral traditions." ―Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

"Chock-full of humor and grief, packed with intriguing family lore, and written with a tremendous amount of heart."―Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Things There There meets All Fours in this irreverent coming-of-middle-age story about an Indigenous man's hunger for intimacy, healing, and a second chance.

Abe Jacobs is Kanien'kehá ka from Ahkwesáhsne―or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At eighteen, Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. He met the love of his life, started writing poetry, and began an open marriage.

Now at forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease―one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a marriage teetering on collapse, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge―a wry, recovered alcoholic prone to wearing punk T-shirts―isn't all that convincing. And Abe's time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic.

To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he's hidden ever since he left home and wrestling with the imprint left by his once-passionate marriage.

Delivered with crackling wit and heart-wrenching tenderness, Old School Indian is a striking exploration of the power and secrets of family, the capacity for healing and intimacy, and the ripple effects of history and culture. "A novel of pure heart and mastery." ―Morgan Talty, bestselling author of Night of the Living Rez and Fire Exit

A Kirkus Editor's Pick - A Most Anticipated Book of 2025: Cowboys & Indians Brit + Co Debutiful

Aaron John Curtis is an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which he'll tell you is the white name for the American side of Akwesasne. Aaron has judged for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance prizes, the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Since 2004, Aaron has been Quartermaster at Books & Books, Miami's largest independent bookstore. He lives in Miami.