In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Culleton

Pages: 228

Intended Audience: Mature teens and up

Genre: Canadian; social issues

Notes for Parents: Contains mature content, including violence. Not for sensitive readers.

The Back Cover

There was no back cover description, so this is from Mcnallyrobinson.com:

Two young sisters are taken from their home and family. Powerless to change their fortunes, they are separated, and each put into different foster homes. Yet over the years, the bond between them grows. As they each make their way in a society that is, at times, indifferent, hostile, and violent, one embraces her Métis identity, while the other tries to leave it behind. In the end, out of tragedy, comes an unexpected legacy of triumph and reclamation.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

The author is Métis and was born in Manitoba. The youngest of four children, she grew up in foster homes. After a short time living in Toronto, where she attended college, she returned to Winnipeg. Following the death of two sisters to suicide, she decided to write In Search of April Raintree. First published in 1983, it has become a Canadian classic. There is a version, simply titled April Raintree, that has been edited for high school aged readers.

What’s good?

This is the gritty and tragic story of two Métis sisters growing up in Manitoba’s foster care system. The story begins in the 50s when they are young and living with their alcoholic parents, and follows them as they navigate the foster system, and eventually into adulthood where relationships, identity, racism, violence, and difficult choices draw the sisters together and also push them apart. The reality of living in a community that marginalizes the poor and Métis is portrayed with unforgiving starkness, and the lasting effects of cultural displacement and the cycle of abuse is explored. The characters are well-drawn, the pace is steady, and it’s easy to read.

Best Part: the relationship between the two sisters.

What isn’t good?

The writing style is very simplistic, and the dialogue is a bit stilted. There are a few moments in the story when the action feels contrived and the narration lacks authenticity.

Worst part: nothing was terrible.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻

This was not an easy story to read. While it’s a fictional story, it’s clearly based on very real issues that continue to be relevant even now, thirty years after the book’s original publication. Some scenes are so raw, they are disturbing, and some are so real, they are heartbreaking. Recommended.

Culleton, Beatrice. In Search of April Raintree. Winnipeg: Pemmican Publications, 1983.