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Scattered bones

Scattered Bones is a story of the complicated, fragile and sometimes fatal relations between Indigenous people and settlers in Northern Saskatchewan in the 1920s. Aboriginal spiritual traditions are beginning to cross paths with the construction of a residential school, and ancient acts of violent vengeance are shaping the trajectory of events in the town 200 years later. Based on historical events, Siggins creates a fictional version of the real-life Pelican Narrows, weaving a colorful tale resplendent with its own cavalcade of dynamic, diverse characters - from greedy merchants to the well-meaning but ineffectual clergy - whose stories play out against the backdrop of a visit from a condescending celebrity writer. The conflicts between Aboriginals and settlers, Protestants and Catholics, young and old, traditional and progressive, material and spiritual, all shape life in the little Northern community. Ever eloquent, Siggins proves herself more than capable of creating compelling, thought-provoking fiction with Scattered Bones.

Book  - 2016
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1 copy / 0 on hold

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Browse Related Items

  • ISBN: 9781550506693
  • Physical Description 249 pages ; 23 cm
  • Publisher Regina, Saskatchewan : Coteau Books, [2016]

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Syndetic Solutions - Publishers Weekly Review for ISBN Number 9781550506693
Scattered Bones
Scattered Bones
by Siggins, Maggie
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Publishers Weekly Review

Scattered Bones

Publishers Weekly


Canadian author Siggins, well known for her nonfiction works (including the Governor General's Award-winning Revenge of the Land), deftly turns her hand to historical fiction for the first time to tell the story of the arrival of the 1924 Canadian government's Treaty Party at Pelican Narrows, a small Northern Saskatchewan town inhabited by both European settlers and Rock Cree people. Siggins uses the fanfare that surrounds the arrival of the Treaty Party to explore the characters' histories, seamlessly weaving together tales of immigration, religious missions, band elections, a sweat lodge, winter hunts, a vision quest, and even government assimilation policies. She manages to give a 360-degree view of this remote community in a work that defies all genre categorization: part romance, part mystery, part tragedy, part revenge plot. This is in part because she tells the story from the point of view of seven different narrators, each with a distinct perspective on their community, religion, and the Canadian project of colonization. Disturbing without being upsetting, this novel will delight readers seeking diversion but doesn't whitewash the iniquities of Canada's past. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.