real ones by katherena vermette

June and her sister, lyn, are NDNsreal ones.

Lyn has her pottery artwork, her precocious kid, Willow, and the uncertain terrain of her midlife to keep her mind, heart and hands busy. June, a Mtis Studies professor, yearns to uproot from Vancouver and move. With her loving partner, Sigh, and their faithful pup, June decides to buy a house in the last place on earth she imagined she'd end up: back home in Winnipeg with her family.

But then into lyn and June's busy lives a bomb drops: their estranged and very white mother, Renee, is called out as a "pretendian." Under the name (get this) Raven Bearclaw, Renee had topped the charts in the Canadian art world for winning awards and recognition for her Indigenous-style work.

The news is quickly picked up by the media and sparks an enraged online backlash. As the sisters are pulled into the painful tangle of lies their mother has told and the hurt she has caused, searing memories from their unresolved childhood trauma, which still manages to spill into their well curated adult worlds, come rippling to the surface.

In prose so powerful it could strike a match,real onesis written with the same signature wit and heart on display inThe Break,The StrangersandThe Circle. An energetic, probing and ultimately hopeful story,real onespays homage to the long-fought, hard-won battles of Michif (Mtis) people to regain ownership of their identity and the right to say who is and isn't Mtis.(From Hamish Hamilton)

real oneswas on the longlistfor the 2024 Giller Prize

• 12 Canadian books make longlist for 2024 $100K Giller Prize
• katherena vermette's 4th novel examines ownership of identity and family bonds
• 64 works of Canadian fiction to read in fall 2024

vermette is a Mtis writer from Winnipeg. Her books include the poetry collectionsNorth End Love Songsandriver womanand the four-book graphic novel seriesA Girl Called Echo. Her novels areThe Break,The Strangers,The Circle.

North End Love Songswon the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.The Breakwas a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. It was defended by Candy Palmater onCanada Reads2017.The Strangerswon the2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeand waslonglisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Other books by KatherenaVermette

Interviews with Katherena Vermette

The Sunday Magazine20:52Trauma, healing and justice: katherena vermette closes The Circle

When Mtis author and poet katherena vermette finished writing her debut novel, The Break, she had no idea the profound effect the characters she created would have on her life. Seven years later, vermette's third and final companion book in the series, The Circle, returns to two families struggling to hold things together when they're forced to reckon with deep wounds that have haunted them for years. Vermette joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss how, even though her books are fiction, the situations and choices that her characters face are very real for many Indigenous people in Canada.

Katherena Vermette releases last chapter in Strangers trilogy

1 year ago

Duration 2:02

Celebrated Winnipeg author Katherena Vermette is set to release her latest novel, The Circle, which is billed as the last instalment in her Strangers trilogy set in the Manitoba capital.

The Next Chapter12:41Katherena Vermette on The Break.

Katherena Vermette talks to Shelagh Rogers about The Break. The Break was the choice this spring for the virtual national book club, One E-read Canada.

17:18Katherena Vermette on The Strangers

Katherena Vermette talks to Shelagh Rogers about her latest novel, The Strangers.