What do you think made your book stand out as Indigo’s #1 Literary Fiction Book of the Year, and why do you think it resonates with readers everywhere? 

“I think it might be due to the oral history storytelling style of the stories of the three women. Choosing to tell this in first person has the characters each telling their story to the next generation. I think that gives more depth and veracity to the characters and gives a more substantive understanding of the role of oral history. I think the fact that this is a book based on the lives of real people at a critical time for Indigenous people in Canadian history also piques readers’ interests.”  

What do you hope readers take away from this book? 

“So many things! Mostly, I hope readers will be moved to question the version of Canadian history that has been force-fed to multiple generations, such that there is a huge gap between what really happened and how it is framed. I hope Canadians will be moved to consider why there is such a distance to bridge between how Indigenous people understand the history of this country and how non-Indigenous Canadians do. Mostly, I hope people will open their minds and make an effort to see history through an Indigenous lens.”  

What kind of conversation do you hope this book starts? 

“Any conversation that will help Canadians understand that a genocide took place in our country, the impacts of which still have devastating impacts on Indigenous people and communities. It is the past, after all. People need not feel guilt about it, but we do need to grapple with the fact of it. That will allow us to come together and build a better future.”

If you could tell readers one thing before they read the first page of your book, what would it be? 

“While the novel is based on the stories of women in my family, it is not just that, but representative of the travails of Indigenous women generally throughout Canada’s history. The treatment Indigenous women received during the colonial period created the foundation for the brutality Indigenous women still experience today. But it also a story of great love between mothers and daughters, of love for the land and for our ancient ways of being.”