The Strangers

Cedar has nearly forgotten what her family looks like. Phoenix has nearly forgotten what freedom feels like. And Elsie has nearly given up hope. Nearly.

After time spent in foster homes, Cedar goes to live with her estranged father. Although she grapples with the pain of being separated from her mother, Elsie, and sister, Phoenix, she's hoping for a new chapter in her life, only to find herself once again in a strange house surrounded by strangers.From a youth detention centre, Phoenix gives birth to a baby she'll never get to raise and tries to forgive herself for all the harm she's caused (while wondering if she even should). Elsie, struggling with addiction and determined to turn her life around, is buoyed by the idea of being reunited with her daughters and strives to be someone they can depend on, unlike her own distant mother. These are the Strangers, each haunted in her own way. Between flickering moments of warmth and support, the women diverge and reconnect, fighting to survive in a fractured system that pretends to offer success but expects them to fail. Facing the distinct blade of racism from those they trusted most, they urge one another to move through the darkness, all the while wondering if they'll ever emerge safely on the other side.

A breathtaking companion to her bestselling debutThe Break, Vermette'sThe Strangersbrings readers into the dynamic world of the Stranger family, the strength of their bond, the shared pain in their past, and the light that beckons from the horizon. This is a searing exploration of race, class, inherited trauma, and matrilineal bonds thatdespite everythingrefuse to be broken. (From Hamish Hamiton)

The Strangerswon the2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeand waslonglisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Katherena Vermette is a Mtis writer living inWinnipeg. Her other books include the poetry collectionsNorth End Love Songsandriver woman,the novelThe Breakand the four-book graphic novel seriesA Girl Called Echo.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.

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Why Katherena Vermette wrote The Strangers

"I love that idea thatwe come from that egg of our mother that actually was grown inside of our grandmother. I love that idea of how connected we are to our grandparents. I love the idea that we are born literally inside our grandmothers. We are housed inside of them as much as we are housed inside of our mothers.

I love that idea of how connected we are to our grandparents. I love the idea that we are born literally inside our grandmothers.- Katherena Vermette

"I always say I love 'mama drama.'I'm really attached. I have a fondness for mama drama. It's such an important relationship. It's such a fraught relationship. It's such a complicated relationship. There's so much there. And when we think about ourselves as humans walking around into this world and we think about how we're connected to each other I love grandmothers. I think grandmothers are kind of allowed to be a little more perfect than mothers. They get to be the funones ina lot more ways than mothers do.

"I wanted to explore those intergenerational effects of how things are passed down, of how we become who we are based on what we've learned, which is mostly from those whocame before us in one way or another."

Read more in her interview with The Next Chapter.

From the book

Interviews with Katherena Vermette

17:18Katherena Vermette on The Strangers

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

Other books by Katherena Vermette