A Glacier's Guide to Dying - Hardcover

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by Michelle Porter (Author)

A young Métis man searching for his missing father finds himself arguing with a dying glacier in this compelling and hopeful novel about the burdens and blessings of inheritance, from the award-winning author of A Grandmother Begins the Story.

Robbie has spent most of life wondering about his real father, Mike, who long since left their family due to his struggles with visions and mistrust of the modern world. Robbie can't forget how much he felt connected to him from his few visits, and not just because they share two differently colored eyes. But now, as he rescues his mother from encroaching wildfires, he's determined to also find his father. Robbie takes off to find answers, and when his uncle confesses that he last dropped Mike off at a glacier, he and his uncle head climb up the mountain of ice to see if Mike might still be there, and whether he's still alive.

On the slopes of a huge glacier, Robbie, starts hearing the ancient voice of the glacier itself giving him guidance. Has he accessed a deep connection to the land, or is he succumbing to the same illness that had wreaked havoc on his father's life?

Michelle Porter brings her profoundly moving sensibility and disarmingly funny voice to a powerful contemporary story of identity and belonging, loss and healing, within families and with the immortal land itself.

Author Biography

Michelle Porter's debut novel, A Grandmother Begins the Story, won the 2024 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and was a finalist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Her previous books include the memoir Scratching River and Approaching Fire, a work of creative nonfiction about her great-grandfather, a fiddler from the Red River, which was shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award. She is the descendent of a long line of Métis storytellers and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. She lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, where she teaches creative writing and Métis Literature at Memorial University.

Number of Pages: 272

Dimensions: 1.03 x 8.46 x 5.76 IN

Publication Date: November 03, 2026