Book- Starlight

Starlight by Richard Wagamese.

Frank Starlight has long settled into a quiet life working his remote farm, occasionally venturing into the unbroken country around his property to photograph the wild animals who thrive there. His contemplative existence comes to an abrupt end with the arrival of Emmy, a woman on the run who has committed a desperate act so she and her child can escape a life of abuse. Frank takes in Emmy and her daughter to help them get back on their feet, and, gradually, this accidental family grows into a real one. But Emmy’s violent ex-boyfriend isn’t content to just let her go. He wants revenge and is determined to hunt her down.

Starlight was unfinished at the time of Richard Wagamese’s death in March 2017, yet every page radiates with is masterful storytelling, intense humanism, and insights that are hard-earned as they are beautiful. With astonishing scenes set in the rugged back-country of the B.C. Interior, and characters whose scars cut deep even as their journey toward healing and forgiveness lifts us, Starlight is a magnificent last gift to readers from a writer who believed in the power of stories to save us.

Richard Wagamese (1955-2017), an Ojibway from the Wabaseemoong First Nation in northern Ontario, was recognized as one of Canada’s Foremost First Nations authors and story tellers. He authored fifteen books including his best selling memoirs One Native Life (2008) and One Story, One Song (2011), which received the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. His acclaimed novel Indian Horse (2012) was the 2013 People’s Choice winner in CBC’s Canada Reads competition. His final book, Embers (2016), a collection of Ojibway meditations, was shortlisted for a BC Book Prize.