Five children, Kenny, Clara, Maisie, Lucy and Howie, are taken from their families as small children and sent to a residential school in British Columbia. The abuse they suffer there marks them for life. Michelle Good follows them after their release as teenagers, when they are on their own in Vancouver in the 1960s, dealing with poverty, addiction, racism and the lasting effects of what was done to them. Over the decades, the characters find different paths, from activism to violence, and different ways to heal or fail to.
Readers wanting to understand the lasting damage of Canada's residential school system will find a human, clear-eyed novel. It is a tough read, but it offers a portrait of survival and of friendship between people who share a hidden history.
Inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2020
- Language
- EN
