The Break

International bestseller The Break is the first in Katherena Vermette's heart-rending, utterly immersive Indigenous family saga that includes The Strangers and The Circle, now in B-format with a series tie-in cover.

When Stella, a young Metis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break - a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house - she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime. But when they arrive, no one is there; scuff marks in the compacted snow are the only sign anything may have happened.

In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim - police, family, and friends - tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Metis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg's North End is exposed.

About the Author

Katherena Vermette (she/her) is a Red River Metis (Michif) writer from Treaty 1 territory, the heart of the Metis Nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Vermette received the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry for her first book, North End Love Songs. Her first novel, The Break, won several awards including the Amazon First Novel Award, and was a bestseller in Canada. Her second novel, The Strangers, won the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, named Indigo's 2021 Book of the Year, and was a #1 national bestseller. Her work in children's literature includes the graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. Vermette lives with her family in a cranky old house within skipping distance of the temperamental Red River. Her latest novel is The Circle.