First published 2001
Noah Krainik lives in the harsh wilderness of northern Manitoba with his mother and cousin. At fourteen, he spends his days with Pelly Bay, his cheerful best friend, exploring the remote landscape where Cree Indians, trappers, missionaries, and people fleeing modern life make their homes. The frozen land shapes their daily existence in ways city dwellers never experience. When disaster upends Noah's world, he must leave everything familiar behind. He travels south to Toronto, where the urban bustle overwhelms him at first. Noah finds work at the Northern Lights movie theatre, a place that becomes central to his transformation. A Cree family moves into the theatre's projection booth, creating an unlikely living situation. His father, absent for years, suddenly reappears in his life. These encounters force Noah to confront his past and his identity. The theatre becomes the stage where he wrestles with questions about family, belonging, and what it means to become a man.
Genres: literary-fiction, coming-of-age, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Manitoba, Toronto
Period: 20th-century
236 pages · Paperback · Picador