A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter

Carter is a young mother, recently separated. She is curious, angry, and on a quest to find out what the heritage she only learned of in her teens truly means.

Allie is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born, and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother.

Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her join her ancestors in the Afterlife.

Genevive is determined to conquer her demons before the fire inside burns her up, with the help of thesister she lost but has never been without.

And Mam, in the Afterlife, knows that all their stories began with her; she must find a way to loose herself from the last threads that keep her tethered to the living, just as they must find their own paths forward.

This extraordinary novel, told by a chorus of vividly realized, funny, wise, confused, struggling charactersincluding descendants of the bison that once freely roamed the landheralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction. (From Viking)

• The best Canadian fiction of 2023
• 'The land had to have a voice:' Mtis author Michelle Porter discusses her debut novel

Michelle Porter also wrote the memoirScratching River, the nonfiction bookApproaching Fire,which wasshortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award in 2021and a book of poetry,Inquiries,which wasshortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She lives in Newfoundland and Labrador. Porter made the2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlistfor her storyFireweed. Before that, she'd also made the2017 CBC Poetry Prize longlistforSlicing Lemons in Apriland the2016 CBC Poetry Prize longlistforBetween you and home.

Interviews with Michelle Porter

The Next Chapter19:12Michelle Porter on A Grandmother Begins the Story

The Metis author Michelle Porter talks to Shelagh Rogers about her debut novel, A Grandmother Begins the Story, which features a multiplicity of voices, human and otherwise.