Indigenous writing and the residential school experience

"Enough alcohol silences the demons for a night; a gun and a single bullet silences demons forever. When a friend commits suicide and a former priest appears on television, the community is shattered. James and Jake confront their childhood abuse and break the silence to begin a journey of healing and rediscovery." - Publisher

"This is the first novel that, to my knowledge, deals with the experiences of natives who attended residential school in Canada and an extraordinary work it is. Robert Arthur Alexie sets his story in the western Northwest Territories, in the Mackenzie Mountains, which he calls the Blue Mountains. The natives there, the Blue People, encountered Anglican missionaries in 1850 who “took away their drums, songs and funeral practices.” In 1921, the natives sign a treaty, agreeing to have their children educated." - Anglican Journal

"A heartbreaking love story set against the beauty of the north. In 1972, John Daniel, an eleven-year-old Blue Indian from Aberdeen in Canada's Northwest Territories, and his six-year-old sister, Eva, were brought to live with a white couple in Alberta, having been removed from their parents by the Powers that Be. John promised he'd never go back. But in October 1984, at twenty-two, he broke that promise. A job with a drilling company brought him back to the land of his people, and Tina Joseph, to whom he was deeply attracted, encouraged him to confront the sad truths of his parents' lives." - Publisher

"An Ojibwe boy runs away from a North Ontario Indian School. He realizes too late just how far away home is. Along the way he?s followed by Manitous, spirits of the forest who comment on his plight, cajoling, taunting, and ultimately offering him a type of comfort on his difficult journey back to the place he was so brutally removed from." - Publisher

"Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn't want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission. Fuelled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can't stop running and moves restlessly from job to job - through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps - trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew. With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward." - Publisher

"Ryman McGregor and Abraham Scott have a lot in common. Both are Algonquin half-breeds unhappily attending St. Xavier's Residential School in Ontario and desperately seeking to escape the harsh hands of the abusive Jesuit priests. One night, the boys―along with Ryman's sister―decide to make a break for it, but RCMP trackers quickly pick up their trail. The runaways barely evade capture and begin the long journey to their respective homes. But years later Ryman's and Abraham's paths cross again. This time as corporals fighting in one of Canada's best military units in Europe during WWII." - Publisher

"Saul Indian Horse is in trouble, and there seems to be only one way out. As he journeys his way back through his life as a northern Ojibway, from the horrors of residential school to his triumphs on the hockey rink, he must question everything he knows." - Publisher