Moon of the Turning Leaves
Moon Series Book 2
ISBN 9780735281592
eISBN 9780735281585
ASIN B0BZ3L7RGD
Book one in this series, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was the book club book at work. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to read this one. But I took a while between the two volumes. I picked up book 1, Moon of the Crusted Snow, a few years ago when my son was doing an indigenous literature course in school. There was an independent assignment and I picked up a few of the books digitally so my son could try and pick. I thought that book one was a very powerful story. I could hardly put it down both books in the series and devoured each in under 24 hours.
The description of this volume is:
“Twelve years after the lights go out . . .
An epic journey to a forgotten homeland
The hotly anticipated sequel to the bestselling novel Moon of the Crusted Snow.
In the years since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy, Evan Whitesky has led his community in remote northern Canada off the rez and into the bush, where they’ve been rekindling their Anishinaabe traditions, isolated from the outside world. As new generations are born, and others come of age in a world after everything, Evan’s people are stronger than ever. But resources around their new settlement are drying up, and elders warn that they cannot stay indefinitely.
Evan and his teenaged daughter, Nangohns, are chosen to lead a scouting party on a months-long trip down to their traditional home on the shores of Lake Huron—to seek new beginnings, and discover what kind of life—and what danger—still exists in the lands to the south.
Waubgeshig Rice’s exhilarating return to the world first explored in Moon of the Crusted Snow is a brooding story of survival, resilience, Indigenous identity, and rebirth.”
The first volume was broken into three sections each associated with a season, this volume is one section, and the main story spans just over a year:
About the author we are informed:
“Waubgeshig Rice grew up in Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, in the southeast of Robinson-Huron Treaty territory. He’s a writer, listener, speaker, language learner, and a martial artist, holding a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge (2011), and the novels Legacy (2014) and Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018). He appreciates loud music and the four seasons. He lives in N’Swakamok—also known as Sudbury, Ontario—with his wife and three sons.”
Growing up my father collected signed numbered Ojibwa prints, mainly by Daphne Odjig. He also read a number of Books about indigenous culture which in the 1970’s and 80’s was maybe unusual. I remember in my teens reading a collection of tales from the sweat lodge and also a collection about the trickster. It was not long after I overcame my dual form of dyslexia and read anything I could get my hands on. In many ways reading this series and this book was like a return to that time in my own youth. Those stories had a lasting impression upon me. And these will as well. I typically try and alternate fiction and non-fiction and also try not to read the same author back to back. After finishing this story it took a great deal of effort not to start this second volume immediately.
This is another powerful story, or really stories that are very well told. The pacing is again excellent. The drama builds slowly and tragedy strikes on more than one occasion and in different ways. The use of dreams or visions is less integral to this second story, as is a deeper understanding the old ways.
I have mentioned this series to a few friends, and I struggle with really describing it. It is a volume that deeply moved me. In some ways it reminds me of Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter and Refuge An Unnatural History by Terry Tempest Williams and from my own tradition Letter to the Future by Michael D. O'Brien.
The story leaves a reader with a sense of melancholy but also hope, hope and a future. The second story leaves you still wanting to find out what happened next. And I can only hope there will be a third instalment. This is a masterfully written, written story. It is an excellent read and I can easily recommend it.
Books by Waubgeshig Rice:
Legacy
Midnight Sweatlodge
Drum Making : A Guide For The Anishinaabe Hand Drum
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Moon Series:
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Contributed to:
Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices
The Antiracist Kitchen: 21 Stories
The Indigenous City Edit
Telegrams from Home: Vol. 3 What Happens Now?
Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow (Forward)
A Perfect Likeness: Two Novellas (Forward)
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