Three Day Road

New York: Viking Press, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. New/New. A scarce new, signed first edition.
Collector's copy. Set inCanada and the battlefields of France and Belgium, Three-Day Road is a mesmerizing novel told through the eyes of Niska, a Canadian Oji-Cree woman living off the land who is the last of a line of healers and diviners, and her nephew Xavier.

At the urging of his friend Elijah, a Cree boy raised in reserve schools, Xavier joins the war effort. Shipped off to Europe when they are nineteen, the boys are marginalized from the Canadian soldiers not only by their native appearance but also by the fine marksmanship that years of hunting in the bush has taught them. Both become snipers renowned for their uncanny accuracy. But while Xavier struggles to understand the purpose of the war and to come to terms with his conscience for the many lives he has ended, Elijah becomes obsessed with killing, taking great risks to become the most accomplished sniper in the army. Eventually the harrowing and bloody truth of war takes its toll on the two friends in different, profound ways. Intertwined with this account is the story of Niska, who herself has borne witness to a lifetime of death-the death of her people.

In part inspired by the legend of Francis Pegahmagabow, the great Indian sniper of World War I, Three-Day Road is an impeccably researched and beautifully written story that offers a searing reminder about the cost of war.

About the author: Joseph Boyden's first novel, Three Day Road, was selected for the Today Show Book Club, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award, and the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Fiction. His second novel, Through Black Spruce, was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and named the Canadian Booksellers Association Fiction Book of the Year; it also earned him the CBA's Author of the Year Award. His most recent novel, The Orenda, won Canada Reads and was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award for Fiction. Boyden divides his time between Northern Ontario and Louisiana.

Reviews:
"[Three Day Road is] gripping, wrenching, eye-opening, illuminating, stirring, moral (not moralistic) fiction, rooted in closely observed fact....Boyden never demands credulity of his readers. Well-informed but non-specialist readers won't find themselves wondering if details are right, or feeling distracted by the obviousness of underlying research, or shaking their head over improbable coincidences....Three Day Road quickly takes on the texture of lived experience and feels uncannily as if its author has known these people and traversed both the Canadian wilderness and the killing fields of the Western Front with them....This novel is a remarkable achievement, and a breathtaking debut." T. F. Rigelhof, The Globe and Mail, April 23, 2005

"[Boyden" guides us through immensely complex stories with subtlety and grace." Murrough O'Brien, The Independent, August 14, 2005

ABEDESC
Winner of the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award. Set in Canada and the battlefields of France and Belgium, Three-Day Road is a mesmerizing novel told through the eyes of Niska-a Canadian Oji-Cree woman living off the land who is the last of a line of healers and diviners-and her nephew Xavier. "[Three Day Road is] gripping, wrenching, eye-opening, illuminating, stirring, moral (not moralistic) fiction, rooted in closely observed fact....Three Day Road quickly takes on the texture of lived experience and feels uncannily as if its author has known these people and traversed both the Canadian wilderness and the killing fields of the Western Front with them....This novel is a remarkable achievement, and a breathtaking debut." (T. F. Rigelhof, The Globe and Mail, April 23, 2005).