Description
Glass Beads, a book of twenty short stories that interconnect the friendships of four First Nations people - Everett Kaiswatim, Nellie Gordon, Julie Papequash, and Nathan (Taz) Mosquito. The collection evolves over two decades against the cultural, political, and historical backdrop of the 90s and early 2000s. These young people are among the first of their families to live off the reserve for most of their adult lives, and must adapt and evolve. In stories like Stranger Danger, we watch how shy Julie, though supported by her roommates, is filled with apprehension as she goes on her first white-guy date, while years later in Two Years Less a Day we witness her change as her worries and vulnerability are put to the test when she is unjustly convicted in a violent melee and must serve some jail time. As well as developing her characters experientially, Dawn Dumont carefully contrasts them, as we see in the fragile and uncertain Everett and the culturally strong and independent but reckless Taz. As the four friends experience family catastrophes, broken friendships, travel to Mexico, and the aftermath of the great tragedy of 9/11, readers are intimately connected with each struggle, whether it is with racism, isolation, finding their cultural identity, or repairing the wounds of their upbringing. Dawn Dumont is a Plains Cree writer, comedian and actor born and raised on the Okanese First Nation, Saskatchewan, Canada. Glass Beads has been selected in the Young Adult/Adult Category Longlist for First Nation Communities READ 2018