''Dreams Like Thunder'' is a 1992 novel written by

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

author

Diane Simmons Diane Simmons (born 1948) is an American author. She won the Oregon Book Award in for her novel ''Dreams Like Thunder'', and the Ohio State University Prize in Short Fiction for ''Little America''. She teaches English at the City University of New ...

. It won the

Oregon Book Award The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually by Literary Arts to honor the "state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers. ...

for fiction in 1993. Its story takes place over a few days in summer 1959, on a farm in

Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is the eastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is not an officially recognized geographic entity; thus, the boundaries of the region vary according to context. It is sometimes understood to include only the eight easternmost ...

, and concerns a family visit by relatives who have been living in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The protagonist is confronted with information about her grandfather, one of the valley's first settlers, massacring local Native Americans. A review in the ''

Oregon Historical Quarterly The ''Oregon Historical Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed public history journal covering topics in the history of the U.S. state of Oregon, for both an academic and a general audience. It has been published continuously on a quarterly schedule by th ...

'' described the grandmother as "the most vivid, complex, and vital character."

References

1992 American novels Novels set in Oregon {{1990s-hist-novel-stub