Sojourners and Sundogs

Author: Lee Maracle

Publisher: Press Gang Publishers

Year: 1999

Fiction

349 pages

True to the principles of Native American oratory, each of the stories in “Sojourner’s Truth” is layered with unresolved human dilemmas. From the tragic story of a boy’s attempt to escape residential school in Charlie, to the hilarious talk-back attitude of the young mother in Who’s Political Here, to the insights of a dead man looking back at his life in Sojourner’s Truth, Lee Maracle writes with love and humor about struggles, triumphs and the spirit of resistance. These are stories of the heart — daring and imaginative, crossing cultures and generations, weaving together history, fiction and a deep knowledge of Native lives.

In her novel “Sundogs,” Lee Maracle takes the reader on a cultural and spiritual journey into the heart of First Nations country. “Sundogs” is an intimate look at the lives of one family during the high intensity of the Mohawk Warrior Society’s defiant stand at Oka. From urban Vancouver to a small town in the Okanagan Valley and across the country on a desperate bid for peace between the govern- ment and the Mohawk Nation, Marianne, Sundogs’ heroine, finds her way through the confusion and disunity in her own life. In returning to the wisdom and beliefs of her ancestry, she comes to chart the course of her life anew.