National Bestseller
An intimate and personal debut collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Berry Pickers.
The stories in Waiting for the Long Night Moon explore the Indigenous experience from an astonishingly wide spectrum in time and place—from contact with the first European settlers, to the forced removal of Indigenous children, to the present-day fight for the right to clean water. Amanda Peters portrays the dignity of traditional Indigenous life, the humiliations of systemic racism, and the resilient power to endure by melding traditional storytelling with her signature style of evocative, spare prose.
A young man returns from residential school only to realize he can no longer communicate with his own parents. A young woman finds purpose and healing on the front lines as a water protector. An old man remembers his life as he patiently waits for death. And a young girl nervously dances in her first Mawi’omi. The collection also includes the Indigenous Voices Award–nominated story “Pejipug (Winter Arrives)" as well the Indigenous Voices Award-winning title story.
At times sad, sometimes disturbing, but always redemptive, the stories in Waiting for the Long Night Moon will remind you that where there is grief there is also joy, where there is trauma there is resilience and, most importantly, there is power.
“Amanda Peters masterfully takes on complex and challenging subjects such as grief, loss, love, rage and resistance with a range of confident prose, from the subtle and understated to the poetic and resonant." — Michelle Good, author of Five Little Indians
“A sharp and compassionate collection that navigates the topographies of loss and resistance, never losing sight of how the land returns our senses, and heals.” — Carleigh Baker, author of Last Woman
“Amanda Peters establishes herself as an essential new voice in Canadian Literature.” — Alexander MacLeod, author of Animal Person
"Stunning....Peters’ award-winning debut created an audience ready for anything she writes, and they won’t be disappointed by her memorable stories." — Booklist (starred review)
"Both heart-wrenching and triumphant, these stories span an astonishingly wide spectrum of the Indigenous experience—from the humiliations of systemic racism to the enduring strength and dignity of Indigenous life. Peters reminds us, time and again, that where there is trauma, there is resilience, where there is grief, there is joy, and where there is loss, there is love and the promise of a future that rises from within the human experience." — Morgan Talty, author of Night of the Living Rez