Books
Empire of Wild

by Cherie Dimaline
William Morrow, July 2020, $27.99

This beautifully crafted book follows the story of Joan, who has been searching for her husband, Victor, for nearly a year. After an argument, he left their home in Arcand, a Métis community in Ontario, Canada, and despite the fact that everyone has given up the search, Joan continues in her quest to find the man she loves.

When she hears his voice coming from a church revival tent in a Walmart parking lot, she knows it’s him—but he doesn’t recognize her. This isn’t a case of simple amnesia, however; Joan believes that he is possessed by a Rogarou, a fearful, werewolf-like creature of legend who has been shared in stories passed down by her French and First Nations’ ancestors.

Turning for help to a woman who still practices the Métis’ traditional ways, Joan risks everything to try to return her husband to his former self and to bring him home.

The author, who was raised in a Georgian Bay Métis community, knows her subject well. The reader can feel her love for this rural way of life and the close-knit relationships it engenders, but she doesn’t shy away from pointing out its flaws, either.

Though Joan had left Arcand, its pull on her was strong enough to make her return, and Cherie Dimaline’s exquisite writing helps the reader to understand the magic that still binds her to the land and to the generations that came before.

Joan is not just battling a traditional enemy, however, and the fight for Victor’s soul is made even more difficult by her run-ins with the church group that now claims Victor—a popular reverend—for its own. Whether she can defeat modern-day avarice as well as an ancient foe is a question that will keep readers turning pages well into the night.

Vanessa Orr
Teri Duerr
6998
Dimaline
July 2020
empire-of-wild
27.99
William Morrow