Author: Elsie Paul

I’ve know about this book for a long time and I’ve had it on my bookshelf for several months. I think I was putting off reading it because I thought it would be difficult.

Much of it was difficult to read and, at times, it made me very angry. The colonial treatment of our First Nations was horrible. It takes a very special group of indigenous people to forgive us for what was done but none of us should ever forget.

Elsie is in no way judgemental in the book. Her mother was a residential school survivor but from a young age Elsie was raised by her grandparents. Elsie is named after an aunt who was taken to residential school but when she became ill she was sent home and died only a few days later. Elsie spent two years in residential school but her grandparents moved to the bush whenever the scoops were taking place. They only returned to their village after the “quota” of children had been filled.

There is no way to rate this book. I’m going to leave it on my shelf with my other important books.