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by Highway
Kiss of the Fur Queen is a powerful and beautiful tale of siblings and tricksters, culture and trauma, and finding yourself in a world that tries to tell you who you are.
Born into a magical Cree world in snowy northern Manitoba, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis are all too soon torn from their family and thrust into the hostile world of a Catholic residential school. Their language is forbidden, their names are changed to Jeremiah and Gabriel, and both boys are abused by priests.
As young men, estranged from their own people and alienated from the culture imposed upon them, the Okimasis brothers fight to survive. But wherever they go, the Fur Queen—a wily, shape-shifting trickster—watches over them as they fulfill their destiny to become artists.
"Highway's novel vibrates with the force of the collision of two cultures, the long history of a people living at one with nature, and the violence of their enforced conversion to Christianity. Emotionally complex, witty, symphonic and sad, Kiss of the Fur Queen is a remarkable novel, filled with blood, guts, life and love." —Vancouver Sun
"In his first novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen, noted playwright Tomson Highway tells the story of two Cree brothers who were severely abused at a Catholic residential school, and he uses the full transformative power of magic and myth, as well as a compelling traditional novel plot, to restore to them their dignity and, by implication, that of their people." —Toronto Globe and Mail
This information about Kiss of the Fur Queen (American Indian Literature and Critical Studies Series) (Volume 34) was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Cree playwright and author Tomson Highway holds seven honorary doctorates and has taught and performed at universities across North America and Europe. Among his many literary, dramatic, and musical works are two award-winning plays, The Rez Sisters and Dry-Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing; three children's books; and a musical drama, Rose.
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