After getting word that her closest thing to living family, Elijah, is coming back from the war, she paddles the three-day journey to meet him in town. Niska’s voice is one of two narratives that complete the novel. She rejected European beliefs and culture and continues to thrive in the bush in a manner befitting her and her traditions. Niska, an Oji-Cree medicine woman, is the remnant of her native relatives who refused to assimilate in the 19th century. Set in 1919, following the end of World War I, the novel takes place in the wilderness of Northern Ontario and on the battlefields of France and Belgium. The book was generally critically well received. This novel follows the journey of two young Cree men, Xavier and Elijah, who volunteer for that war and become snipers during the conflict. Joseph’s maternal grandfather, as well as an uncle on his father’s side, served as soldiers during the First World War, and Boyden draws upon a wealth of family narratives. Three Day Road is the first novel from Canadian writer Joseph Boyden. (Penguin Group Canada trade paperback edition)
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