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Indigenous History Month
Books to add to your reading list this June and beyond.
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{"id":6813791027259,"title":"Clifford","handle":"clifford","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eFirewater \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Harold Johnson returns to his childhood home in a northern Indigenous community for his brother Clifford’s funeral, the first thing his eyes fall on is a chair. It stands on three legs, the fourth broken off and missing. So begins a journey through the past, a retrieval of recollections of his silent, powerful Swedish father; his formidable Cree mother; and his brother Clifford, a precocious young boy who is drawn to the mysterious workings of the universe. As the night unfolds, memories of Clifford surface in Harold’s mind’s eye. Memory, fiction, and fantasy collide, and Clifford comes to life as the scientist he was meant to be, culminating in his discovery of the Grand Unified Theory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExquisitely crafted, funny, visionary, and wholly moving, Clifford is an extraordinary work that embraces myriad forms of storytelling. To read it is to be immersed in a home, a family, a community, the wider world, the entire cosmos.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-03-23T13:10:53-04:00","created_at":"2022-03-23T09:19:13-04:00","vendor":"House of Anansi Press Inc","type":"","tags":["Adult BIPOC Voices","Book Club Pick","By (author) Johnson Harold R.","House of Anansi Press","pub date: 2018-08-28"],"price":1895,"price_min":1895,"price_max":2295,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":40205704724539,"title":"trade paperback","option1":"trade paperback","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487004101","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Clifford - trade paperback","public_title":"trade paperback","options":["trade paperback"],"price":2295,"weight":300,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487004101","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40205706690619,"title":"epub","option1":"epub","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487004118","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Clifford - epub","public_title":"epub","options":["epub"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487004118","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40205708394555,"title":"mobi","option1":"mobi","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487004125","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"Clifford - mobi","public_title":"mobi","options":["mobi"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487004125","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_5c929ffc-490a-4fab-8c9b-d5375b1065f3.jpg?v=1654445142"],"featured_image":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_5c929ffc-490a-4fab-8c9b-d5375b1065f3.jpg?v=1654445142","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":22170975109179,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"width":1575,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_5c929ffc-490a-4fab-8c9b-d5375b1065f3.jpg?v=1654445142"},"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"media_type":"image","src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_5c929ffc-490a-4fab-8c9b-d5375b1065f3.jpg?v=1654445142","width":1575}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eFirewater \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Harold Johnson returns to his childhood home in a northern Indigenous community for his brother Clifford’s funeral, the first thing his eyes fall on is a chair. It stands on three legs, the fourth broken off and missing. So begins a journey through the past, a retrieval of recollections of his silent, powerful Swedish father; his formidable Cree mother; and his brother Clifford, a precocious young boy who is drawn to the mysterious workings of the universe. As the night unfolds, memories of Clifford surface in Harold’s mind’s eye. Memory, fiction, and fantasy collide, and Clifford comes to life as the scientist he was meant to be, culminating in his discovery of the Grand Unified Theory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExquisitely crafted, funny, visionary, and wholly moving, Clifford is an extraordinary work that embraces myriad forms of storytelling. To read it is to be immersed in a home, a family, a community, the wider world, the entire cosmos.\u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_0":"9780887846960","AlsoRecommendedISBN_3":"9781487005771","AlsoRecommendedISBN_4":"9781770890152","BASICMainSubject":"BIO028000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"BIOGRAPHY \u0026 AUTOBIOGRAPHY \/ Cultural, Ethnic \u0026 Regional \/ Indigenous","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHAROLD R. JOHNSON\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of five works of fiction and five works of nonfiction, including \u003cem\u003eFirewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours)\u003c\/em\u003e, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Born and raised in northern Saskatchewan to a Swedish father and a Cree mother, Johnson served in the Canadian Navy and has been a miner, logger, mechanic, trapper, fisherman, tree planter, and heavy-equipment operator. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and managed a private practice for several years before becoming a Crown prosecutor. Johnson is a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. He is now retired from the practice of law and writes full time.\u003c\/p\u003e","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"BIOGRAPHY \u0026amp; AUTOBIOGRAPHY \/ Cultural, Ethnic \u0026amp; Regional \/ Native American \u0026amp; Aboriginal","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"BIOGRAPHY \u0026amp; AUTOBIOGRAPHY \/ Personal Memoirs","BISACSubject_0":"BIO028000","BISACSubject_1":"BIO026000","ContributorBio_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHAROLD R. JOHNSON\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of five works of fiction and five works of nonfiction, including \u003cem\u003eFirewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours)\u003c\/em\u003e, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Born and raised in northern Saskatchewan to a Swedish father and a Cree mother, Johnson served in the Canadian Navy and has been a miner, logger, mechanic, trapper, fisherman, tree planter, and heavy-equipment operator. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and managed a private practice for several years before becoming a Crown prosecutor. Johnson is a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. He is now retired from the practice of law and writes full time.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Johnson, Harold R. (CA)","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eFirewater \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Harold Johnson returns to his childhood home in a northern Indigenous community for his brother Clifford’s funeral, the first thing his eyes fall on is a chair. It stands on three legs, the fourth broken off and missing. So begins a journey through the past, a retrieval of recollections of his silent, powerful Swedish father; his formidable Cree mother; and his brother Clifford, a precocious young boy who is drawn to the mysterious workings of the universe. As the night unfolds, memories of Clifford surface in Harold’s mind’s eye. Memory, fiction, and fantasy collide, and Clifford comes to life as the scientist he was meant to be, culminating in his discovery of the Grand Unified Theory.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExquisitely crafted, funny, visionary, and wholly moving, Clifford is an extraordinary work that embraces myriad forms of storytelling. To read it is to be immersed in a home, a family, a community, the wider world, the entire cosmos.\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781487004101","excerpt_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487004101\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=excerpt\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Height":"8","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"House of Anansi Press","MetaKeywords":"experimental fiction; canadian prairies; embers ojibway meditations richard wagamese; indian horse; leanne betasomsake simpson; bipoc; family tree; regret; alternate history; physics; bush; theoretical theory; cosmology; imaginative; canlit; indigenous literature; indigenous stories; all the way jordan tootoo; you don't have to say you love me sherman alexie; tanya talaga; book club","NumberOfPages":"264","OtherText_Accolades_0":"Clifford is a luminous, genre-bending memoir. Heartache and hardship are no match for the disarming whimsy, the layered storytelling shot through with love. The power of land, the pull of family, the turbulence of poverty are threads woven together with explorations of reality, tackling truth with a trickster slant.","OtherText_Accolades_0_Auth":"Eden Robinson, author of Son of a Trickster","OtherText_Accolades_1":"Clifford is a story only Harold Johnson could tell. By turns soft and harsh, intellectual and emotional, Johnson weaves truth, fiction, science, and science fiction into a tapestry that is rich with meaning and maybes. A natural storyteller, Johnson seeks imagined pasts and futurity with equal parts longing and care. This work allows readers and writers the possibility of new and ancient modes of storytelling.","OtherText_Accolades_1_Auth":"Tracey Lindberg, author of Birdie","OtherText_Accolades_2":"Harold R. Johnson is a wonderful writer, and Clifford is his best work yet. For fans of Jack Finney and Richard Matheson, this terrific book is a wonderfully human tale of memory both bitter and sweet, as well as a poignant exploration of time’s hold over all of us.","OtherText_Accolades_2_Auth":"Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Quantum Night","OtherText_Accolades_3":"Clifford is unlike anything I’ve read — it is at once a story of science and magic, love and loss, and a case for the infinite potential of humanity. It is a book of profound wisdom — an unpacking of the deepest truths of science in an effort to transform the pain of grief and regret into healing and forgiveness.","OtherText_Accolades_3_Auth":"Patti Laboucane-Benson, author of The Outside Circle","OtherText_Back_cover_copy_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBESTSELLING AUTHOR:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eHarold R. Johnson is the bestselling author of Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAN INDIGENOUS MEMOIR THAT DEFIES STRICT CLASSIFICATION:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eClifford is a departure for Johnson, using as its foundation memoir but also applying other forms of storytelling: fiction, fantasy, science writing, philosophy, Indigenous storytelling techniques. It is a unique, boundary-defying work that combines Johnson’s skill and background as a writer of nonfiction and science fiction.\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSTRONG PHYSICS\/COSMOLOGY ANGLE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eHarold’s brother Clifford was passionate about science and in this work, he imagines Clifford coming up with the Grand Unified Theory of the universe. Johnson himself came up with the theory, after reading countless books on physics, and he thinks it’s one that may have merit.\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA POSITIVE INDIGENOUS STORY:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eClifford is at the forefront of the new Indigenous works we’ll begin to see: positive stories, complex imaginative stories, stories that exemplify the diversity of Indigenous cultures.\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Description_for_R_0":"\u003cp\u003eClifford showed me how the knights in the old days jousted.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“See this.” It was a post he’d dug into the ground a little taller than my five-year-old self, with a board nailed to the top at right angles. One nail — because nails were precious and not to be wasted ¾ and a bit of plywood on one end. The other end of the board, an eight-foot two-by-four, that he didn’t trim off, either because he didn’t want to spend time sawing it, or because he would get in trouble for wasting wood, was left jutting out on the other side of the post. “That piece of plywood is the shield. Now I’m going to come down the hill on that bicycle. That's my horse. And this” — a pole about six feet long — “is my lance.”\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e“You watch.” He took me by the shoulders and stood me off to the side. “Now you’re going to see how it was done.”\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHe came off that bit of hill on that bicycle that didn’t have any tires, just bare metal rims that rattled as he picked up speed. The hill, because the bicycle didn’t have any petals and he needed the assistance of gravity. One end of his lance tucked up under his arm, the other end — “You have to hit the shield right dead centre. That’s the way they did it”— out in front of the bicycle that had a fair bit of hurry as he came past me.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnd he did it.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eI was the witness.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe lance did hit the shield right dead centre. A solid hit.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe shield spun away, pivoted on the single nail driven into the top of the post, and the other end of the board spun around, exactly like he planned it, exactly like he told me it was going to work. Except I don’t think he expected the long end of the two-by-four to come around so quickly and catch him on the back of the head.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eI pick up the hoop. That’s all it is, a piece of plastic tubing, big enough to fit over a five- — maybe I was six or seven — year-old boy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eClifford’s bubble maker.\u003c\/p\u003e","OtherText_Previous_review_q_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW COPIES\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eBooklist\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW COPIES\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eSchool Library Journal\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eBooklist\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003eHorn Book\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","OtherText_Review_0":"The story’s meditations on loss, family, and fateful actions prove absorbing from the opening page.","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Toronto Star","OtherText_Review_1":"A brilliant mix of realism and fantasy.","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"London Free Press","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"A moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.","PrizeCodeText_0":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_1":"Short-listed","PrizeCode_0":"01","PrizeCode_1":"04","PrizeName_0":"Saskatchewan Book Awards: University of Saskatchewan Non-Fiction Award","PrizeName_1":"Saskatchewan Book Awards: Rasmussen, Rasmussen \u0026amp; Charowsky Indigenous Peoples’ Writing Award","PrizeYear_0":"2018","PrizeYear_1":"2018","ProductFormDescription":"trade paperback","PublicationDate":"2018-08-28","Publisher":"House of Anansi Press Inc","ShortDescription":"A moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.","Subtitle":"A Memoir, A Fiction, A Fantasy, A Thought Experiment","Width":"5.25","WidthCode":"in"}
Clifford
A moving tribute to an older brother that traverses the thresholds of memoir, fiction, and fantasy and reimagines what could have been.
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{"id":6815263981627,"title":"The Break","handle":"the-break","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA powerful intergenerational family saga, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-03-24T12:06:43-04:00","created_at":"2022-03-24T09:45:54-04:00","vendor":"House of Anansi Press Inc","type":"","tags":["Adult Audiobooks","Adult Bestseller","Adult BIPOC Voices","Adult Course Adoption","Book Club Pick","By (author) Vermette Katherena","Feminist Reads","House of Anansi Press","Literary Fiction","pub date: 2016-09-17","Thrillers \u0026 Mystery"],"price":1895,"price_min":1895,"price_max":3499,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":40209189634107,"title":"trade paperback","option1":"trade paperback","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487001117","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Break - trade paperback","public_title":"trade paperback","options":["trade paperback"],"price":2295,"weight":400,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487001117","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40209191764027,"title":"epub","option1":"epub","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487001124","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Break - epub","public_title":"epub","options":["epub"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487001124","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40209194123323,"title":"mobi","option1":"mobi","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487001131","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Break - mobi","public_title":"mobi","options":["mobi"],"price":1895,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487001131","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":40209195106363,"title":"Digital Audio, MP3","option1":"Digital Audio, MP3","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487004361","requires_shipping":false,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"The Break - Digital Audio, MP3","public_title":"Digital Audio, MP3","options":["Digital Audio, MP3"],"price":3499,"weight":0,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487004361","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_d0c5faab-0ec1-4ff9-a049-2af3c779bf7b.jpg?v=1649016145"],"featured_image":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_d0c5faab-0ec1-4ff9-a049-2af3c779bf7b.jpg?v=1649016145","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":21889261535291,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"width":1575,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_d0c5faab-0ec1-4ff9-a049-2af3c779bf7b.jpg?v=1649016145"},"aspect_ratio":0.656,"height":2400,"media_type":"image","src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_d0c5faab-0ec1-4ff9-a049-2af3c779bf7b.jpg?v=1649016145","width":1575}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA powerful intergenerational family saga, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.\u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_2":"9781487001278","AlsoRecommendedISBN_3":"9781487001711","AlsoRecommendedISBN_6":"9781770899377","BASICMainSubject":"FIC019000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"FICTION \/ Literary","BiographicalNote":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKATHERENA VERMETTE\u003c\/strong\u003e is a Métis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Métis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her first book, \u003cem\u003eNorth End Love Songs\u003c\/em\u003e (The Muses Company), won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Her NFB short documentary, \u003cem\u003ethis river\u003c\/em\u003e, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples Festival and a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Break\u003c\/em\u003e, is the winner of three Manitoba Book Awards and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and it was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and CBC Canada Reads.\u003c\/p\u003e","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"FICTION \/ Literary","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"FICTION \/ Indigenous","BISACSubject_0":"FIC019000","BISACSubject_1":"FIC059000","ContributorBio_0":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKATHERENA VERMETTE\u003c\/strong\u003e is a Métis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Métis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her first book, \u003cem\u003eNorth End Love Songs\u003c\/em\u003e (The Muses Company), won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry. Her NFB short documentary, \u003cem\u003ethis river\u003c\/em\u003e, won the Coup de Coeur at the Montreal First Peoples Festival and a Canadian Screen Award. Her first novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Break\u003c\/em\u003e, is the winner of three Manitoba Book Awards and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and it was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and CBC Canada Reads.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Vermette, Katherena (CA)","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning and heartbreaking debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA powerful intergenerational family saga, \u003ci\u003eThe Break\u003c\/i\u003e showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781487001117","excerpt_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487001117\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=excerpt\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","guide_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487001117\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=guide\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Height":"8","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"House of Anansi Press","MetaKeywords":"richard wagamese; billy ray belcourt; larose louise erdich; moon of the crusted snow; tanya tagaq; literary thriller; gifts for mom; book club","NumberOfPages":"360","OtherText_Review_0":"Vermette is a staggering talent. Reading The Break is like a revelation; stunning, heartbreaking and glorious. From her exquisitely rendered characters to her fully realized world and the ratcheting tension, I couldn’t put it down. Absolutely riveting.","OtherText_Review_0_Src":"Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach","OtherText_Review_1":"The narrator of this story is dead. He misses feeling the skin of others, but he likes being about memory. It’s who we are siem. Katherena Vermette rendered the women of the North End gorgeous in her poetry: North End Love Songs. In The Break, she renders them sweet, beautiful battlers who love under the most horrific of circumstances. She points no fingers, just plots the story, person by person, memory by memory, until it is clear that we must give up the feeling of hopelessness that haunts the lives of these women. The Break is itself a beautiful love song of desire to live a full and rich life as cherished women — even when we cannot have that. We can hope. Resilient as the star world from which they arise these women reconcile with their lives without giving in to the horrors they have faced. Vermette captures the reader from beginning to end. She creates unforgettable characters with honor, respect and a deft hand. In so doing she holds the reader’s tender love in her capable hands and weaves us right into the story. The Break is unforgettable.","OtherText_Review_10":"A visionary debut novel.","OtherText_Review_10_Src":"CBC Books","OtherText_Review_11":"Stunning . . . [Vermette] chooses her words with a poet’s precision.","OtherText_Review_11_Src":"Literary Review of Canada","OtherText_Review_12":"One of the great Indigenous novels.","OtherText_Review_12_Src":"First Nations Voice","OtherText_Review_13":"Katherena Vermette’s debut novel, The Break, takes a tough, close-up look at an extended family in Winnipeg, tackling along the way a side of female life that’s often hard to acknowledge: the violence of girls and women sometimes display towards other girls and women, and the power struggles among them. In The Break, the characters may be Métis, but the motivations and emotions are surely universal. This is an accomplished writer who will go far.","OtherText_Review_13_Src":"Margaret Atwood","OtherText_Review_14":"A debut novel brimming with grace and wisdom, that puts the spotlight on the systemic violence being committed in our country, [The Break] is both a wake-up call and a call-to-arms. Vital.","OtherText_Review_14_Src":"Globe and Mail","OtherText_Review_15":"It’s a timely novel that will keep you turning the pages and make you think well after you’ve turned the final one.","OtherText_Review_15_Src":"Niagara This Week","OtherText_Review_1_Src":"Lee Maracle, author of Celia’s Song","OtherText_Review_2":"The lives of the girls and women in The Break are not easy, but their voices — complex, urgent, and unsparing — lay bare what it means to survive, not only once, but multiple times, against the forces of private and national histories. Katherena Vermette is a tremendously gifted writer, a dazzling talent.","OtherText_Review_2_Src":"Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing","OtherText_Review_3":"Fiction is capable of helping us to comprehend difference and otherness, and The Break offers clear insight ino people struggling to secure a place in the world.","OtherText_Review_3_Auth":"Candace Fertile","OtherText_Review_3_Src":"Quill and Quire","OtherText_Review_4":"Katherena Vermette’s poignant novel, set in Winnipeg’s North End, opens with a violent crime that becomes the backdrop for a story of great depth and compassion. This masterfully written narrative shifts among the intergenerational voices of the women of one extended Indigenous family. The Break is a powerful, persuasive novel about the strength and love that bind these women to each other and to the men in their lives. The traditions and wisdom of a community are honoured, as is the exquisite individual humanity of each character. Although this is a novel of social importance, it transcends politics, taking the reader on a journey to the heart of what it means for one person to care about another, survive trauma, and endure.","OtherText_Review_4_Src":"2016 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize Jury Lauren B. Davis, Trevor Ferguson, and Pasha Malla","OtherText_Review_5":"The Break manages to be political even when it isn’t. It’s a book that explores social issues without ever preaching, or even seeming to be about them at all. It examines the only element of those issues that matter: their human impact. It’s astonishing in its empathy... She doesn’t pull her punches or dress up her truths. The Break leaves it all bare, and it demands to be read.","OtherText_Review_5_Src":"The Uniter","OtherText_Review_6":"Vermette is skilled at writing with a language that is conversational and comfortable and with a poetic ease that makes the hard things easier to swallow. The result is a book that is at times emotionally demanding, funny, suspenseful, and always engaging.","OtherText_Review_6_Src":"The Winnipeg Review","OtherText_Review_7":"Vermette offers us a dazzling portrayal of the patchwork quilt of\r\npain and trauma that women inherit, of the \"big and small half-stories\r\nthat make up a life.\" These are the stories our mothers, sisters and\r\nfriends have told us - the stories we absorb into our bloodstream\r\nuntil they might as well be our own.\r\n\r\n..a stunning debut - a novel whose 10 voices, Greek chorus-like, span\r\nthe full range of human possibility, from its lowest depths to its\r\nmost brilliant triumphs, as they attempt to make sense of this tragic\r\ncrime and of their own lives. \"The Break\" is an astonishing act of\r\nempathy, and its conclusion is heartbreaking. A thriller gives us easy\r\nanswers - a victim and a perpetrator, good guys and bad guys. \"The\r\nBreak\" gives us the actual mess of life.","OtherText_Review_7_Src":"The Globe and Mail","OtherText_Review_8":"With adeptness and sensitivity, Vermette puts a human face to issues that are too-often misunderstood, and in so doing, she has written a book that is both one of the most important of the year and one of the best.\r\n \r\nThough Katherena Vermette is not an emerging writer – she has written seven children’s books and won a Governor General’s award for her poetry collection North End Love Songs – for many, this novel will be their first encounter. And it will be a revelation. Vermette is a fully matured literary talent confronting some of our society’s fundamental problems through understated prose that exudes wisdom and emotion. Every page hides beauty amid suffering; love winning out over violence and hate. Stella, at one point in the novel, thinks about “[a] story that didn’t happen to her but that she keeps and remembers.” The Break is like that; it is a story that will stick with you a long time.","OtherText_Review_8_Src":"The National Post","OtherText_Review_9":"In Vermette’s poetic prose, The Break offers a stark portrayal of the adversity that plagues First Nations women in this country — and the strength that helps them survive.","OtherText_Review_9_Src":"The Toronto Star","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"A stunning debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.","PrizeCodeText_0":"Short-listed","PrizeCodeText_1":"Short-listed","PrizeCodeText_2":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_3":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_4":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_5":"Winner","PrizeCodeText_6":"Short-listed","PrizeCode_0":"04","PrizeCode_1":"04","PrizeCode_2":"01","PrizeCode_3":"01","PrizeCode_4":"01","PrizeCode_5":"01","PrizeCode_6":"04","PrizeName_0":"Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize","PrizeName_1":"Governor General's Literary Award","PrizeName_2":"Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction","PrizeName_3":"Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award","PrizeName_4":"McNally Robinson Book of the Year","PrizeName_5":"Amazon.ca First Novel Award","PrizeName_6":"Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Literature","PrizeYear_0":"2016","PrizeYear_1":"2016","PrizeYear_2":"2017","PrizeYear_3":"2017","PrizeYear_4":"2017","PrizeYear_5":"2017","PrizeYear_6":"2017","ProductFormDescription":"trade paperback","PublicationDate":"2016-09-17","Publisher":"House of Anansi Press Inc","ShortDescription":"A stunning debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.","teachersguide_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487001117\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=teachersguide\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Width":"5.25","WidthCode":"in"}
The Break
A stunning debut novel about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End.
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This is what we mean when we describe a work of art as being timeless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike the river they speak to, these poems return again and again to the same source in search of new ways to reconstruct what has been lost. Vermette suggests that it’s through language and the body ― particularly through language as it lives inside the body ― that a fragmented self might resurface as once again whole. This idea of breaking apart and coming back together is woven throughout the collection as the speaker contemplates the ongoing negotiation between the city, the land, and the water, and as she finds herself falling into trust with the ones she loves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVermette honours the river as a woman ― her destructive power and beauty, her endurance, and her stories. These poems sing from a place where “words \/ transcend ceremony \/ into everyday” and “nothing \/ is inanimate.”\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2022-03-23T13:02:34-04:00","created_at":"2022-03-23T09:17:54-04:00","vendor":"House of Anansi Press Inc","type":"","tags":["Adult BIPOC Voices","Adult Environmentalism","Adult Poetry","Adult Special Edition","By (author) Vermette Katherena","House of Anansi Press","pub date: 2018-09-25"],"price":3500,"price_min":3500,"price_max":3500,"available":true,"price_varies":false,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":40205700956219,"title":"hardcover special edition","option1":"hardcover special edition","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":"9781487003487","requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":null,"available":true,"name":"river woman special hardcover edition - hardcover special edition","public_title":"hardcover special edition","options":["hardcover special edition"],"price":3500,"weight":140,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":null,"barcode":"9781487003487","requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_0edc4418-f0a0-4ce9-a8b1-1d84cd8959b7.jpg?v=1655626785"],"featured_image":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_0edc4418-f0a0-4ce9-a8b1-1d84cd8959b7.jpg?v=1655626785","options":["Title"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":22243438493755,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.8,"height":3341,"width":2673,"src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_0edc4418-f0a0-4ce9-a8b1-1d84cd8959b7.jpg?v=1655626785"},"aspect_ratio":0.8,"height":3341,"media_type":"image","src":"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0264\/3374\/9051\/products\/BNCImageAPI_0edc4418-f0a0-4ce9-a8b1-1d84cd8959b7.jpg?v=1655626785","width":2673}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGovernor General’s Award–winning Métis poet and acclaimed novelist Katherena Vermette’s second collection, \u003ci\u003eriver woman\u003c\/i\u003e, explores her relationship to nature — its destructive power and beauty, its timelessness, and its place in human history.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAward-winning Métis poet and novelist Katherena Vermette’s second book of poetry, \u003ci\u003eriver woman\u003c\/i\u003e, examines and celebrates love as decolonial action. Here love is defined as a force of reclamation and repair in times of trauma, and trauma is understood to exist within all times. The poems are grounded in what feels like an eternal present, documenting moments of clarity that lift the speaker (and reader) out of the illusion of linear experience. This is what we mean when we describe a work of art as being timeless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike the river they speak to, these poems return again and again to the same source in search of new ways to reconstruct what has been lost. Vermette suggests that it’s through language and the body ― particularly through language as it lives inside the body ― that a fragmented self might resurface as once again whole. This idea of breaking apart and coming back together is woven throughout the collection as the speaker contemplates the ongoing negotiation between the city, the land, and the water, and as she finds herself falling into trust with the ones she loves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVermette honours the river as a woman ― her destructive power and beauty, her endurance, and her stories. These poems sing from a place where “words \/ transcend ceremony \/ into everyday” and “nothing \/ is inanimate.”\u003c\/p\u003e"}
{"AlsoRecommendedISBN_0":"9781487001278","AlsoRecommendedISBN_1":"9781487007799","AlsoRecommendedISBN_2":"9781487008376","BASICMainSubject":"POE015000","BASICMainSubjectLiteral":"POETRY \/ American \/ Native American","BISACSubjectLiteral_0":"POETRY \/ American \/ Native American","BISACSubjectLiteral_1":"POETRY \/ Subjects \u0026 Themes \/ Nature","BISACSubjectLiteral_2":"POETRY \/ Canadian \/ General","BISACSubject_0":"POE015000","BISACSubject_1":"POE023030","BISACSubject_2":"POE011000","ContributorRole_0":"By (author)","Contributor_0":"Vermette, Katherena (CA)","Description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGovernor General’s Award–winning Métis poet and acclaimed novelist Katherena Vermette’s second collection, \u003ci\u003eriver woman\u003c\/i\u003e, explores her relationship to nature — its destructive power and beauty, its timelessness, and its place in human history.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAward-winning Métis poet and novelist Katherena Vermette’s second book of poetry, \u003ci\u003eriver woman\u003c\/i\u003e, examines and celebrates love as decolonial action. Here love is defined as a force of reclamation and repair in times of trauma, and trauma is understood to exist within all times. The poems are grounded in what feels like an eternal present, documenting moments of clarity that lift the speaker (and reader) out of the illusion of linear experience. This is what we mean when we describe a work of art as being timeless.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLike the river they speak to, these poems return again and again to the same source in search of new ways to reconstruct what has been lost. Vermette suggests that it’s through language and the body ― particularly through language as it lives inside the body ― that a fragmented self might resurface as once again whole. This idea of breaking apart and coming back together is woven throughout the collection as the speaker contemplates the ongoing negotiation between the city, the land, and the water, and as she finds herself falling into trust with the ones she loves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVermette honours the river as a woman ― her destructive power and beauty, her endurance, and her stories. These poems sing from a place where “words \/ transcend ceremony \/ into everyday” and “nothing \/ is inanimate.”\u003c\/p\u003e","EAN":"9781487003487","excerpt_0":"https:\/\/biblioshare.org\/BNCservices\/BNCServices.asmx\/Samples?token=fcf85c1c1b298e99\u0026amp;ean=9781487003487\u0026amp;SAN=\u0026amp;Perspective=excerpt\u0026amp;FileNumber=0","Height":"8.5","HeightCode":"in","Imprint":"House of Anansi Press","NumberOfPages":"112","OtherText_ShortDescription_0":"This specially designed and bound hardcover First Edition of Katherena Vermette's poetry collection river woman is limited to 50 copies.","ProductFormDescription":"hardcover special edition","PublicationDate":"2018-09-25","Publisher":"House of Anansi Press Inc","ShortDescription":"This specially designed and bound hardcover First Edition of Katherena Vermette's poetry collection river woman is limited to 50 copies.","Subtitle":"Special Edition","Width":"5.5","WidthCode":"in"}
river woman special hardcover edition
This specially designed and bound hardcover First Edition of Katherena Vermette's poetry collection river woman is limited to 50 copies.