After months of reading the best in Canadian fiction and non-fiction for adults, readers from over 100 Ontario libraries have chosen Katherena Vermette’s The Break as the 2017 Evergreen Award winner. It was also the local winner here in Lennox & Addington. 

A powerful intergenerational family saga, The Break showcases Katherena Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.

About The Break: When Stella, a young Métis 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. 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 Métis 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.

See the full news release from the Ontario Library Association here. 

Reserve your copy of The Break in print or e-book formats from the library by clicking here.