Scattered Bones

March 28, 2016
Canadian author Siggins, well known for her nonfiction works (including the Governor General's Awardâwinning Revenge of the Land), deftly turns her hand to historical fiction for the first time to tell the story of the arrival of the 1924 Canadian government's Treaty Party at Pelican Narrows, a small Northern Saskatchewan town inhabited by both European settlers and Rock Cree people. Siggins uses the fanfare that surrounds the arrival of the Treaty Party to explore the characters' histories, seamlessly weaving together tales of immigration, religious missions, band elections, a sweat lodge, winter hunts, a vision quest, and even government assimilation policies. She manages to give a 360-degree view of this remote community in a work that defies all genre categorization: part romance, part mystery, part tragedy, part revenge plot. This is in part because she tells the story from the point of view of seven different narrators, each with a distinct perspective on their community, religion, and the Canadian project of colonization. Disturbing without being upsetting, this novel will delight readers seeking diversion but doesn't whitewash the iniquities of Canada's past.