It is 1919, and Niska, the last Oji-Cree woman to live off the land, has received word that one of the two boys she saw off to the Great War has returned. Xavier Bird, her sole living relation, is gravely wounded and addicted to morphine. As Niska slowly paddles her canoe on the three-day journey to bring Xavier home, travelling through the stark but stunning landscape of Northern Ontario, their respective stories emerge—stories of Niska’s life among her kin and of Xavier’s horrifying experiences in the killing fields of Ypres and the Somme.
- ISBN10 0143056956
- ISBN13 9780143056959
- Publish Date 6 May 2008 (first published 18 April 2005)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint Penguin Canada
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 416
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780143056959