The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline,

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, is a welcome approach to stories set in a dystopian future. It’s a metaphor for both the environment and the people bound to the earth. The setting is Canada several decades in the future. Civilization has collapsed not from some single apocalyptic event but from factors present in our world today: global warming, corporate greed, and devastating pollution. A pervasive sense of hopelessness has set in and people have lost the ability to dream with a rise in suicide.The indigenous peoples of North America have retained the ability to dream. “Dreams get caught in the webs woven in your bones. That’s where they live, in that marrow there”. The authorities are extracting this ability to dream from the bones of the indigenous peoples.

The story is told in the 1st person by Frenchie, a young Metis boy as he escapes the Recruiters of the Canadian Department of Oneirology (study of dreams) who take the indigenous to “schools” where their dreaming ability is harvested. Frenchie finds a family with other indigenous people, also heading north to safety in the forests.

The heart and soul of the story is what Frenchie finds with his new family. The elders are keeping traditions alive, teaching the old ways: being one with the land, learning Language [of the People], keeping the Story [of the People] alive in memories. In turn, everyone tells their “coming-to” stories, how they found themselves there.

There is action but the story is about the deep bonds that form among the People and between the People and the land.

There is a lot to unpack here: the government finding yet another way to exploit indigenous peoples; a warning that the earth can be broken; respect for the land; and the importance of love and support of family. The author has a beautiful, lyrical, way of describing this. The reader, this one anyway, feels a connection with the characters. I wish I knew a Miigwans, the elder leader and storyteller.

The author herself is indigenous and has written an emotionally stirring and affecting story.