An Ordinary Violence

An Ordinary Violence

A Novel

Written by: Chartrand, Adriana

A chilling horror novel about a young Indigenous woman haunted by the oppressive legacies of colonization. 

Dawn hasn’t spoken to her brother, Cody, since he was sent to prison for a violent crime seven years ago. Now living in a shiny new Toronto condo, Dawn is haunted by uncanny occurrences, including cryptic messages from her dead mother, that have followed her most of her life. When the life Dawn thought she wanted implodes, she is forced to return to her childhood home and the prairie city that hold so much pain for her and her fractured family. 

Cody is unexpectedly released from prison with a mysterious new friend by his side, who seems to be the charismatic leader of a dangerous supernatural network. Trying to uncover their plans, Dawn follows increasingly sinister leads until the lines between this world and the next, now and then, and right and wrong begin to blur and dissolve. 

What unfolds is an eerie, incisive, and at times darkly funny horror novel about a young Indigenous woman reckoning with trauma and violence, loss and reclamation in an unsettling world where spirit realms entwine with the living—and where it is humans who carry out the truly monstrous acts.

A chilling horror novel about a young Indigenous woman haunted by the oppressive legacies of colonization. 

Dawn hasn’t spoken to her brother, Cody, since he was sent to prison for a violent crime seven years ago. Now living in a shiny new Toronto condo, Dawn is haunted by uncanny occurrences, including cryptic messages from her dead mother, that have followed her most of her life. When the life Dawn thought she wanted implodes, she is forced to return to her childhood home and the prairie city that hold so much pain for her and her fractured family. 

Cody is unexpectedly released from prison with a mysterious new friend by his side, who seems to be the charismatic leader of a dangerous supernatural network. Trying to uncover their plans, Dawn follows increasingly sinister leads until the lines between this world and the next, now and then, and right and wrong begin to blur and dissolve. 

What unfolds is an eerie, incisive, and at times darkly funny horror novel about a young Indigenous woman reckoning with trauma and violence, loss and reclamation in an unsettling world where spirit realms entwine with the living—and where it is humans who carry out the truly monstrous acts.

Published By House of Anansi Press Inc — Oct 31, 2023
Specifications 256 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in
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Excerpt
Written By

ADRIANA CHARTRAND is a mixed-race Native woman, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her father is Red River Métis (Michif), born and raised in the Métis community of St. Laurent, and her mother is a mixed white settler from Manitoba. Adriana has two degrees in film studies and has previously worked in the social work field. She lives in Toronto and works in the film industry.

Written By

ADRIANA CHARTRAND is a mixed-race Native woman, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her father is Red River Métis (Michif), born and raised in the Métis community of St. Laurent, and her mother is a mixed white settler from Manitoba. Adriana has two degrees in film studies and has previously worked in the social work field. She lives in Toronto and works in the film industry.

Creepy and unsettling, this assured debut addresses the ways violence, grief, and unprocessed trauma reverberate over years, keeping fractured psyches and relationships from mending.

” —Booklist

A chilling picture of trauma, grief, and violence that is anything but ordinary.

” —Library Journal

Well written, creepy, frustrating, and puzzling. There may be violence in this novel, but there’s nothing ordinary about it.

” —Drew Hayden Taylor, author of Take Us to Your Chief

What a book! It’s utterly enthralling and unsettling to your bones. A wonderful haunt that creeps into your psyche in the best possible way. I feel like I know Dawn, which only makes the story creepier. A tremendous debut, and I can’t wait to read more.

” —Jesse Wente, author of Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance

An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand is a compelling read that rockets off the page. From the first chapter, I was hooked and gleefully followed Dawn as she moved around the spaces she used to call home to figure out her new reality. The writing is poetic, truthful, and you can tell that Adriana has written a story from her heart. This book will be sure to surprise its readers!

” —Francine Cunningham, author of God Isn’t Here Today

An Ordinary Violence is surely a gripping and haunting novel, one that will hold you from the first word to the last, but what makes it so potent and memorable is the way Adriana Chartrand tells this story with such grace and humility. There is horror, and then there is horrorAn Ordinary Violence has both. This is an unforgettable novel.

” —Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez

Adriana Chartrand’s An Ordinary Violence is a hallucinatory slow-burn chiller, sharply observed and heartfelt in its depiction of family ties that bind like strips of wet rawhide. Dawn returns to her hometown to find it is in the grip of something uncanny and malevolent. As she visits old friends and familiar places, she grapples with ghosts from the past and demons on the rise to save her struggling father, her wayward brother, and herself. With this fresh and fearsome look at the contemporary Indigenous experience, Chartrand emerges at the forefront of our newest literary voices.

” —David Demchuk, author of The Bone Mother and RED X

An Ordinary Violence is a gripping debut novel that bewilders in the best way possible. Adriana Chartrand sparks a fire on the first page that steadily burns into a tremendous literary spectacle that transcends genre. I was riveted by the story and thoroughly impressed by the writing. This novel will stay with me for a long time.

” —Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Turning Leaves

An unsettling, lyrical, slow-burn of a novel that combines the best elements of atmosphere and horror. Weaving together a history of violence with spirituality and the supernatural, Chartrand has achieved something special here, a cacophony of style and genre that displays the immeasurable potential of Indigenous storytelling.

” —David A. Robertson, author of The Theory of Crows