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As Long as the Rivers Flow

Brand: Vintage Canada

$33.42 - $34.92
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UPC:
9780307398758
Maximum Purchase:
2 units
Binding:
Paperback
Publication Date:
2011-11-01
Release Date:
2011-11-01
Author:
James Bartleman
Language:
english
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From the accomplished memoirist and former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario comes a first novel of incredible heart and spirit for every Canadian.

The novel follows one girl, Martha, from the Cat Lake First Nation in Northern Ontario who is stolen from her family at the age of six and flown far away to residential school. She doesn't speak English but is punished for speaking her native language; most terrifying and bewildering, she is also fed to the school's attendant priest with an attraction to little girls.

Ten long years later, Martha finds her way home again, barely able to speak her native tongue. The memories of abuse at the residential school are so strong that she tries to drown her feelings in drink, and when she gives birth to her beloved son, Spider, he is taken away by Children's Aid to Toronto. In time, she has a baby girl, Raven, whom she decides to leave in the care of her mother while she braves the bewildering strangeness of the big city to find her son and bring him home.


From the Hardcover edition.