Eliza Sunshine - By Michelle Good, 1 Each, $18.90
When Eliza comes home from her first year at residential school, she is barely recognizable to her Nhkom, Swan. Once bright-eyed and curious, Eliza is now stick-thin and silent, with roughly shorn hair and dull eyes. Swan gently leads Eliza on long walks through untouched prairie grasses, harvesting medicines, certain that the power of the land will heal her. As they walk, she shares stories of her own suffering when her traditional ways of being and living collided with the violence of encroaching settlers. For Eliza, Swan's stories help her face unspeakable adversity and remain true to herself.Decades later, Eliza and her daughter are at a crossroads. When Ella comes home from her first year at university wearing bell bottoms, braids and a beaded headband, Eliza is horrified. Eliza fought her whole life to be free of the oppression that comes with being Cree and she cant understand why her daughter would choose to proclaim her heritage so proudly, disregarding the consequences.Ella must decide how to build her life, how to keep the stories of her family alive when the world around her seems to want them hidden or buried.
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