The Break

A GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY AWARD FINALISTWhen Stella, a young mother in an Indigenous community, looks out her window one wintry evening and spots someone being attacked on the Break – a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house – she calls the police. By the time help arrives, all that is left of the struggle is blood on the snow. As the search for the victim intensifies, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly – police, family, and friends – tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night, uncovering secrets and resentments long buried and giving blazing testimony to the lived reality of people pushed out to the coldest edges of modern Canada.

Reviews of The Break

I love a book that takes me to a new place, a world I know nothing about – and so it is with The Break. * RTE Ireland * Reading The Break is like a revelation; stunning, heartbreaking and glorious. Absolutely riveting. * Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach * The lives of the girls and women in The Break are not easy, but their voices are complex, urgent, and unsparing. * Madeleine Thien * A tough, close-up look at a side of female life that's often hard to acknowledge: the violence girls and women sometimes display towards other girls and women. * Margaret Atwood * Unforgettable. * Lee Maracle, author of Celia's Song * A compelling account of the way violent crime warps the lives of several generations. * Sunday Times *