Carey F. Whitepigeon's debut novel, Daughter of Dawn and Darkness: Book 1, Spark Aflight, tells the tale of a 17-year-old woman straddling two familial cultures. In this case, her parents not only come from different cultures but from entirely different planets!

"(The protagonist) Vivian grew up amongst her father’s people and knows nothing about her mother’s planet and people," said Whitepigeon, who grew up in Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and three children. "After receiving a letter from her maternal uncle, she becomes obsessed with getting to know more about that side of her family.”

Vivian travels from her home planet, which had been settled by descendants of Native American tribes, to her mother's planet, New Dawn. It's a strange place filled with magic and treachery, and Vivian becomes a pawn in a political game and the target of kidnappers and murderers. It's up to her to hone her magic skills in order to save her mother's world.

A member of the Potawatomi tribe, Whitepigeon said she wanted with Daughter of Dawn and Darkness "to imagine a future where Native American tribes established societies based on their values.”

She based some of the book's cultures on the Three Fires of the Anishinaabe: Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potawatomi. “I researched my tribe, which has very similar customs and languages to its two sister tribes," Whitepigeon said. "I didn’t grow up on a reservation and neither did my family, so I had to learn all of this for the book. In a similar way, Vivian has to learn about her origins and must figure out how to get along in the culture of her mother’s people.”

Whitepigeon hopes the book will strike a chord with people of all ages, especially young adults like Vivian who may be struggling to find their place in the world. “It’s a boundary-crossing book in the way that >A Wrinkle in Time was,” Whitepigeon said.

Finding time to write is often a challenge for authors, especially ones holding down full-time jobs and raising families. Whitepigeon says she started writing the book in 2010 and credits the tremendous support of her family and friends -- both virtual and in real life -- for helping her complete her novel. “After attending ConClave (an annual science fiction convention held in southeast Michigan), some friends and I formed an online writers’ group. Someone in that group was doing the NaNoWriMo and I jumped in.”

Her family also helped. “My dad is a professional speechwriter; my aunts are teachers and librarians, and they all helped me along in the writing and editing process," Whitepigeon said. "I started the book when my daughter was eight and now she is 14 -- and she read the last draft of it!”

After spending six and a half years working on the book, Whitepigeon said, “It was time. I wanted to set it free out in this world!”

And on New Dawn and beyond.

Patti Smith is a special education teacher and writer who lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and cats.

Carey F. Whitepigeon launches "Daughter of Dawn and Darkness" with a reading and signing at Nicola's Books, 2513 Jackson Ave., Ann Arbor, on Sunday, June 4, at 3 pm.