A Grandmother Begins the Story
A Novel
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4.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From award-winning Métis author Michelle Porter, a powerfully funning and moving story told not just by five generations of Métis women, but also by the land, the bison that surround them, and two utterly captivating dogs.
Carter is a young mother on a quest to find the true meaning of her heritage, which she only learned of in her teens. Allie is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her get to her ancestors in the afterlife. And Geneviève is determined to conquer her demons—before the fire inside burns her up—with the help of the sister she lost but has never been without. Meanwhile, Mamé, in the afterlife, knows that all their stories began with her; she must find a way to cut herself from the last threads that keep her tethered to the living, just as they must find their own paths forward. And a young bison wants to understand why he keeps being moved and whether he should make a break for it and run for his life.
This extraordinary novel, told by a chorus of vividly realized, wise, confused, struggling characters attempting to make sense of this life and the next, heralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A century’s worth of Métis women search for belonging and identity in this spellbinding novel. Five generations of the Goulet family—from Mamé, who looks over her descendants from the afterlife, to Carter, a twentysomething navigating life as a single mother—find heartbreak and fortitude in their Indigenous heritage. Author Michelle Porter’s prose is lyrical and relatable, filled with warmth, sorrow, and humor. Her characters walk off the page, and their triumphs and tragedies, both big and small, speak to the problems facing all women. Porter also gives life to the natural world—some chapters are told from the perspective of a penned bison named Dee, drawing parallels between Indigenous struggles and those within the animal kingdom. A Grandmother Begins the Story is a fantastic read about life and death and the bonds that are stronger than both.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Memoirist Porter (Scratching River) imbues her well-crafted debut novel with her Métis culture's storytelling traditions. Among the many characters who narrate are the spirit of matriarch Mamé, who's having trouble getting settled in the afterlife; her octogenarian daughter Geneviéve, finally dealing with her alcoholism; Carter, Geneviéve's great-granddaughter, a young woman who was given up for adoption as a baby and is now coming to terms with being Métis and getting to know her biological mother and grandmother; Dee, a young bison who ignores her elders as she searches for the male bison that fathered her calf; and Bets, Geneviéve's car, who cares for Geneviéve as they drive to a rehab facility. The author juggles the myriad story lines with élan, touching on family relationships in the human and animal world, the pull of the living on the spirits of the dead, and the stories and songs passed down from generation to generation. This brings a web of interconnected voices to vivid life.
