Moon of the turning leaves

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Rice, Waubgeshig, 1979-

Edition:

First US edition.

Physical Description:

305 pages ; 24 cm.

Genre:

Apocalyptic fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Summary:

"When a community of Anishinabe people, with their natural resources dwindling, needs to find a new home, Evan Whitesky leads a dangerous mission back to their ancestral home in the Great Lakes region, during which they encounter other survivors, some who thrive on violence"--

Subject Term:

Ojibwa Indians -- Fiction

Survival -- Fiction.

Indigenous peoples -- Canada -- Fiction.

Indians of North America -- Fiction

End of the world -- Fiction.

Scouting (Reconnaissance) -- Fiction.

Publication Info:

New York, NY : William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2024]

Subject:

Ojibwa Indians -- Fiction

Survival -- Fiction.

Indigenous peoples -- Canada -- Fiction.

Indians of North America -- Fiction

End of the world -- Fiction.

Scouting (Reconnaissance) -- Fiction.

Great Lakes (North America) -- Fiction.

Apocalyptic fiction.

Thrillers (Fiction)

Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.

Survival skills

Aboriginal peoples

Aborigines

Indigenous populations

Native peoples

World, End of the

Frontier scouting

Military scouting

Scouts and scouting

Great Lakes

Laurentian Great Lakes

SAILS ISBN:

9780358673255

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... East Bridgewater Public Library	RICE, W. 2024	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fall River Main	FIC RIC	LOBBY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fiske Public Library	FIC RICE 2024	FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Lakeville Public Library	FIC RIC	NEW BOOK SHELF	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mattapoisett Free Public Library	RIC	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Free Public Library	FIC RICE	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norfolk Public Library	F RICE, W. MOO	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Plympton Public Library	FIC RIC	NEW FICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"Waubgeshig Rice's stories are good medicine. Moon of the Turning Leaves is a restorative balm for my spirit." -- Angeline Boulley, New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter

In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout.

For the past twelve years, a community of Anishinaabe people have made the Northern Ontario bush their home in the wake of the power failure that brought about societal collapse. Since then they have survived and thrived the way their ancestors once did, but their natural food resources are dwindling, and the time has come to find a new home.

Evan Whitesky volunteers to lead a mission south to explore the possibility of moving back to their original homeland, the "land where the birch trees grow by the big water" in the Great Lakes region. Accompanied by five others, including his daughter Nangohns, an expert archer, Evan begins a journey that will take him to where the Anishinaabe were once settled, near the devastated city of Gibson, a land now being reclaimed by nature.

But it isn't just the wilderness that poses a threat: they encounter other survivors. Those who, like the Anishinaabe, live in harmony with the land, and those who use violence.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Twelve years after the power went out worldwide (in 2018's Moon of the Crusted Snow), the Anishinaabe people of Shki-dnakiiwin ("New village") discover problems with their homestead in Rice's equally harrowing and hopeful sequel. Hoping to return to their ancestral home on the northern shore of Lake Huron, a party of six sets out to test whether it would be possible for the community to emigrate safely southward. Led by Evan Whitesky, the village founder, they follow in the footsteps of a similar mission, the members of which mysteriously went missing four years prior. Better armed and more cautious than their predecessors, the group navigates abandoned urban landscapes and a barren countryside hosting both friendly and hostile parties. Rice puts a refreshing, Indigenous perspective on postapocalyptic tropes, folding in both nostalgia for a world fading away ("I haven't had a pizza in thirteen years. That's the first thing on my list!" muses one member of the scouting party) and hope for a different future from a people who have survived similar harsh conditions in the past. The humanity and heart on offer here make this a showstopper. Agent: Denise Bukowski, Bukowski Agency. (Feb.)

Booklist Review

Over 10 years after the events of Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018), Evan Whitesky and those who followed him off the old rez have begun to use up their resources. They decide to move back to their ancestral homelands along the Great Lakes despite not knowing what's happening down south. Evan, along with five others including his own daughter, Nangohns, sets out to find a way home. Along the way, they encounter challenges and dangers both expected and not and learn more about what happened when the disaster struck. It's gratifying to see the growth of their survival skills and the reawakening of traditional lifeways. The teenage Nangohns, now her peoples' best hunter, is an ideal exemplar of the new generation of Anishinaabe, and seeing her step into her role as a leader is immensely satisfying. There's a kindness, a gentleness, and a deep respect at the heart of the culture Rice portrays, and it stands in refreshing contrast to the usual violence and cynicism of most dystopian fiction. Rice's evocation of the countryside is gorgeous and immersive; the land becomes an essential character in its own right. This is a pastoral travel tale of much grander scope than its predecessor and a powerful, remarkable follow-up.

Library Journal Review

Twelve years after an inexplicable blackout led to the collapse of society, a group of Anishinaabe people have established a small community in the bush in Northern Ontario. While they've managed to survive there, their natural resources are beginning to dwindle, and the elders are considering sending another scouting party south to see if their ancestral land along Lake Huron is habitable and if anyone else remains there. Previous Lake Huron scouts never returned home, but Evan Whitesky and his daughter Nangohns, along with four others, volunteer to make the potentially dangerous trip. Rice writes about this fraught journey with evocative, deliberate language as the travelers trek through the forest and eventually encounter the ruins of towns. He creates a constant, low-level tension that contrasts with the occasional pulse-pounding, harrowing moments, which will keep readers glued to the page. VERDICT Rice renders an achingly realistic portrayal of a broken, post-apocalyptic world that still manages to contain hope and beauty. While this story can be read as a stand-alone, readers will likely want to seek out Moon of the Crusted Snow, which is set at the beginning of the blackout.--Melissa DeWild