Ravensong - A Novel

Set along the Pacific Northwest Coast in the 1950s, Ravensong tells the story of an urban Native community devastated by an influenza epidemic. Stacey, a 17-year-old Native girl, struggles with the clash between white society’s values and her family’s traditional ways, knowing that her future lies somewhere in between. Celia, her sister, has visions from the past, while Raven warns of an impending catastrophe before there is any reconciliation between the two cultures. In this passionate story about a young woman’s quest for answers, author Lee Maracle speaks unflinchingly of the gulf between two cultures: a gulf that Raven says must be bridged. Ravensong is a moving drama that includes elements of prophecy, mythology, cultural critique, and even humour.New and updated, this edition features a preface by Lee Maracle.

"In Maracle's seminal work, Raven bears witness to one of the last epidemics in a small, Indigenous village with its new, white neighbours and their strange ways. Comic and mundane moments jostle together as Ravensong brings the reader on a stunning journey to a time and place before the women scattered and the matriarchy stopped being the center of village life. Maracle's profoundly communal approach to storytelling is generous, earthy, and wise, a breath of bracing sea air. From her cedars to her ravens, her ocean and her characters, Maracle's world is alive, bursting and singing." - Eden Robinson, author of Son of a Trickster and Monkey Beach

Lee Maracle is a Professor of Aboriginal Studies at the University of Toronto and an award-winning author and poet. She has received a “Writer of the Year” award from Circle Craft, a North American Native writer’s circle and the JT Stewart Award for her body of work. She has an Honorary Doctorate from St. Thomas University and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.