Easy to read, historically accurate, geographically covering many places and spanning over millenia, this book challenges the reader's beliefs on deep existential topics, such as creativity, violence, learning, destiny, family, evolution, faith, redemption. The characters are witty and relatable. The originality of the plot is impressive. A soul's journey that manages to be at the same time deeply spiritual and worldly, meaningful and funny, unpredictable yet naturally changing.
Some stories are universal. They play out across human history. And time is the river which will flow through them.
It starts with a family, a family which will mutate. For now, it is a father, mother and two sons. One with his father's violence in his blood. One who lives his mother's artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will change their fate. It is a beginning.
Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of two thousand years - they will meet again and again at different times and in different…
Spanning over several generations, the book draws surprising links between the natural world of trees and people whose livelihood is somehow connected to them. The main characters are presented in great details, each life/ timespan may be seen as a separate story. It is interesting how the timeline starts in a remote future and goes back to the most distant past, then slowly reemerges back to the future. A nice touch also comes from the gaps in the story, every now and then, which creates room for the reader to imagine, question, ponder. Mysterious, yet displaying a wide range of emotions, actions and unexpected plot twists.
'The truth is that all family lines, from the highest to the lowest, originate somewhere, on some particular day. Even the grandest trees must've once been seeds spun helpless on the wind, and then just meek saplings nosing up from the soil.'
2038. On a remote island off the Pacific coast of British Columbia stands the Greenwood Arboreal Cathedral, one of the world's last forests. Wealthy tourists flock from all corners of the dust-choked globe to see the spectacle and remember what once was. But even as they breathe in the fresh air and pose for photographs amidst the greenery,…
Magical realism, multiple characters and voices, including personified animals, places and objects, are woven together into a memorable story of family, trauma, healing, cultural legacy and natural wisdom. The fresh perspectives of the non-human characters add an unforgettable touch of spiritual interconnectedness, giving people a surprising stage for their personal predicaments. Original, funny, existential.
Written like a crooked Metis jig, A Grandmother Begins the Story follows five generations of women and bison as they reach for the stories that could remake their worlds and rebuild their futures.
Carter is a young mother, recently separated. She is curious, angry, and on a quest to find out what the heritage she only learned of in her teens truly means.
Allie, Carter's mother, is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born, and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met…
Lia, a tenacious woman who has been working successfully on her own for many years, starts a new project, one that is very dear to her: A teahouse where tired people would be able to rest and to find their balance. Having faced several challenges that had tested her will and her confidence in her own path, Lia now wants to help other people who are in need of support. She surrounds herself with talented people, together with whom she turns her dreams into reality, and, day after day, the teahouse becomes a sanctuary for innocence.
But not everything is as it seems… some visitors hide dark intentions. Attracted by the brightness and the beauty of the teahouse and giving in to their predatory nature, they attack in subtle and ferocious ways. How will Lia manage to defend the harmony of the present from these disturbing forces?
