The Break [Paperback]

When Stella, a young M?tis 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 M?tis 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 Winnipegs North End is exposed.

A powerful intergenerational family saga,The Breakshowcases Vermettes abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in literary fiction.

U.S. OUTREACH:

• The Breakwill be available on NetGalley and Edelweiss. We will do a targeted mailing to indies as well as to key Native American public figures and media outlets throughout the United States.

REVIEW COPIES:

• Publishers Weekly
• Booklist
• Kirkus Reviews

Katherena Vermettes debut novel,The Break, takes a tough, close-up look at an extended family in Winnipeg, tackling along the way a side of female life thats often hard to acknowledge: the violence of girls and women sometimes display towards other girls and women, and the power struggles among them. In The Break, the characters may bel3*