A Syilx author from Falkland will be reading from his debut novel at the Vernon Public Library later this month.
Brian Thomas Isaac is the author of All the Quiet Places, which was longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, won the Indigenous Voices Award, was a finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, was longlisted for CBC Canada Reads and was named an Indigo Best Book of the Year.
The novel tells the coming-of-age story of Eddie Toma, a Syilx boy who lives with his mother and his little brother on the far edge of the Okanagan Indian Reserve. Eddie’s life is governed by the decisions of the adults around him. His mother is determined that he learn the ways of the white world by sending him to school in Falkland.
The book progresses to Eddie’s teen years, when his future seems more secure after he finds a job and his long-time crush on his white neighbour is reciprocated. But whenever things are looking up, circumstances beyond his control come crashing down around him.
The novel tells the story of what can happen when every adult in a person’s life has been affected by colonialism.
Isaac will read from his novel at an event organized by the Cherryville, Falkland, Lumby and Vernon Libraries at the Vernon Public Library Saturday, June 24, at 10:30 a.m.
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