Book Discussion: Real Ones

This event is in the past

Over the next four weeks, read Real Ones by Katherena Bermette , then meet with others to share thoughts and impressions in a librarian-led discussion.

Lyn and her sister, June, are NDNs--real ones. But a bomb drops into their busy lives: their estranged and very white mother, Renee, is called out as a "pretendian." Under the name Raven Bearclaw, Renee had recently begun to top the charts in the Canadian painting scene for having a wholly new take on the Woodlands tradition, winning awards and recognition for her fraudulent work. The news is quickly picked up by the media and sparks an enraged online backlash. As the sisters are pulled into the painful tangle of lies their mother has told and the hurt she has caused, searing memories from their unresolved childhood trauma, which still manages to spill into their well curated adult worlds, come rippling to the surface.

Real Ones offers us a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story that runs parallel with the long-fought, hard-won battles of Métis people to regain ownership of their identity and the right to say who is and isn't Métis.

A limited number of print copies are available; visit the service desk at your local BPL location to pick one up.