Bones of a Giant
"ON PAR WITH THE BRILLIANCE OF JAMES WELCH'S WINTER IN THE BLOOD AND RUBY SLIPPERJACK'S LITTLE VOICE" — RICHARD VAN CAMP, ON ALL THE QUIET PLACES
a novel by Brian Thomas Isaac
In the summer of 1968, Grace Toma, her young son Lewis, and her friend Isabel are living in a three-room shack near the Salmon River in a remote corner of the Okanagan Indian reserve in south-central British Columbia, working to renovate their home and clear their land. Because of their location, Lewis attends a white school in Falkland and the family has very little interaction with the reserve community. Lewis misses his brother Eddie, who is working in the oil fields in Alberta.
That summer, Grace and Isabel go to Washington state as itinerant workers to earn money to complete their home improvements. While in the States, Grace learns that the Indian Agent and the Chief have signed over to her ex-husband Jimmy the land that her mother left to her.
Lewis moves in with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, and becomes immersed in the lives of the family, discovering for the first time the larger reserve community and the history embedded in the land he walks on.
When Grace and Isabel and Lewis return home in the fall, they are surprised and happy to find Eddie there, showing off his hot new car -- until he totals it and ends up in jail. The police visit and announce that Jimmy’s car has been found at the bottom of Okanagan Lake, but Jimmy’s whereabouts are unknown. The threat of losing the land remains.
During that summer, Lewis experiences racism first-hand, and he comes to value his family and community. He realizes that it is through connection and belonging that one finds the identity, strength, and courage to survive and thrive.
Brian and the rest of the 2023 Giller Prize jury
ABOUT BRIAN THOMAS ISAAC
brianthomasisaac.com
Brian Thomas Isaac was born in 1950 on the Okanagan Indian Reserve near Vernon, BC. After completing grade eight, he found work in the oil fields and in construction, and eventually retired as a bricklayer. At the age of fifty, without any formal training, he began to write. Seventeen years later he completed his first novel, All the Quiet Places, which became a national bestseller, won a 2022 Indigenous Voices Award, and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and CBC’s Canada Reads. He is currently a member of the jury for the 2023 Giller Prize. Brian and his wife live in West Kelowna, where he enjoys time with his three grandchildren and is completing his second novel.
