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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

A SEASON IN CHEZGH'UN

Darrel McLeod

The fiction debut of Governor General Award winning memoirist Darrel McLeod. For readers of Eden Robinson, Joshua Whitehead and with inspiration drawn from Ben Okr, Mario Vargas Llosa and Domenico Stamone, A SEASON IN CHEZGH'UN is a debut novel built upon Darrel's experience bridging cultures and searching for belonging in the face of internal contradictions and external conflicts.
Ames, a multi-faceted and conflicted Cree man from a tiny settlement in Northern Alberta, has a comfortable middle-class life in Kitsilano, a trendy neighborhood of Vancouver, teaching French Immersion to affluent kids. But he can't shake the feeling that he is meant for something more.
The untimely death of James's mother propels him to rediscover and reconnect with his roots. He finds a job as a school principal in a small and remote northern first nation community where poverty, illness, cultural disruption, and a legacy of abuse stir up ghosts from his past. During the single year he spends in northern B.C., James takes solace in the beauty of the Dakelh people he works with and the splendor of nature while doing his utmost to not let his own dark side dominate and destroy his career and entire life.

Darrel J. McLeod is the author of Peyakow and the bestselling Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction recipient and RBC Charles Taylor shortlisted Mamaskatch (Douglas & McIntyre), which was published in the US by Milkweed and had rights sales in both Germany and France. He is Cree from treaty eight territory in Northern Alberta. Before deciding to pursue writing in his retirement, McLeod was a chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He holds degrees in French literature and education from the University of British Columbia.
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Published by Douglas & McIntyre

Comments

“Honestly stunning. McLeod's clear writing lays bare his complicated ties to his family, his lovers and his country in amemoir that moved and haunted me.”

"Lyrically written and linked by family, compassion, forgiveness, and hope, Mamaskatch sings out as a modern-day celebration of healing."