Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen masterfully takes us by the hand (even though we may be reluctant at times), walks us to locked doors, and opens them wide, showing us the brutal violence of colonization. Highway’s story invites the reader to see, taste, smell, and hear what happens when two young Cree boys, Champion and Ooneemeetoo are ripped from their lives, dislocated in a myriad of ways, to be schooled and disciplined as white, as Catholic. This is a brave narrative that cannot help but disrupt readers most profoundly. In revealing the hidden secrets of abuse, cultural annihilation, and sexual exploitation, Highway evokes a path to question asking, to leave-taking, to transformation, and perhaps to healing. –Jacqui Gingras