Description: The story begins with French (Francis) who is 11 and on the run from the Recruiters. Recruiters are basically white folks and traitors who are capturing Indigenous people and mining them for their bone marrow. The novel is set in a time when the world is almost destroyed by global warming, and clearly shit is going down.
Favourite Moment: French meets up with a group heading north. At one point they find an abandoned luxury lodge and sneak in for the night. French has the hots for Rose and she sneaks into his bed. But the group isn’t used to all sleeping in separate bedrooms and they feel safer together. French’s night of passion ends quickly when the youngest RiRi sneaks into bed.
I slide my arm out from under Rose, an almost painful separation, and climbed over Slooper, almost stepping on Chi-Boy, who was stretched out beside the bed, a discarded pillow under his head. Beside him was Wab. There were a few inches between them, but their breathing was matched, an even greater intimacy than touch.
So we were all here, crammed into one room, all of us besides Miig.
“Morning, French. I see we ended up having a slumber party last night.”
Spoke too soon.
page 74, “the four winds”
Watch The Marrow Thieves defended on CBC Canada Reads.
Download the Teacher’s Guide (good as a reading guide too).
Learn more about Cherie and her other books.
This is a futuristic, dystopian novel rooted in First Nation culture and history. Author Cherie Dimaline deserves all the awards and praise this book garnered.
Perfect for fans of Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel and Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson. I found this book spooky and unsettling but also beautiful.