This House Is Not a Home

After a hunting trip, a family in Canada's north returns to an empty space where their home once stood, forcing them to assimilate into settler-colonial society. This House Is Not a Home is an intergenerational coming-of-age novel that follows Kǫ̀, a Dene man who grew up on the land before being taken to residential school. He struggles to connect with his family, who have been dispossessed of their land, and presents a clear trajectory of how settlers dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their land. It is a call for land back.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 29 November 2022
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing Co Ltd

After a hunting trip one fall, a family in the far reaches of so-called Canada's north returns to nothing but an empty space where their home once stood. Finding themselves suddenly homeless, they have no choice but to assimilate into settler-colonial society in a mining town that has encroached on their freedom.

An intergenerational coming-of-age novel, This House Is Not a Home follows Kǫ̀, a Dene man who grew up entirely on the land before being taken to residential school. When he finally returns home, he struggles to connect with his family: his younger brother whom he has never met, his mother because he has lost his language, and an absent father whose disappearance he is too afraid to question.

The third book from acclaimed Dene, Cree, and Metis writer Katłįà, This House Is Not a Home is a fictional story based on true events. Visceral and embodied, heartbreaking and spirited, this book presents a clear trajectory of how settlers dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their land - and how Indigenous communities, with dignity and resilience, continue to live and honour their culture, values, inherent knowledge systems, and Indigenous rights towards re-establishing sovereignty. Fierce and unflinching, this story is a call for land back.

Weight: 254g
Dimension: 215 x 141 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781773635620