Prairie Edge by Métis/Ukrainian author Conor Kerr is a thought-provoking and important read. The crime novel places a heavy lens on the Land Back movement and investigates how Indigenous people are treated in healthcare, foster care and the Canadian justice system.
Kerr hails from Edmonton and is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. He personally connects his lived experience to his novels. In Prairie Edge, Kerr’s appreciation for the land around him shines through his writing.
The storyline follows the crash course two Métis cousins, Ezzy and Grey, are put on when they attempt to help bison reclaim downtown Edmonton, forcing the readers and characters to grow and change as the novel progresses and reveals dark and serious challenges.
The book is separated in long chapters that alternate perspectives between cousins. Ezzy, battling his own internal conflicts and past throughout the novel is a complex character, and that contrasts with Grey’s loud and strong personality.
Grey is deeply connected to her Indigenous heritage, but challenges the performative activism she observes in her community, sparking the motivation behind the cousin’s journey to bring justice to the bison herds of Edmonton.
Most of the story’s development is set in motion due to Grey’s relentless and sometimes hypocritical outlook.
The story’s progression for the first half of the book is slow and builds gradually, until the rug of stealing bison from national parks and releasing them in urban areas is pulled from under the reader’s feet. The bison are released, and so is an amalgamation of problems the cousins have to navigate.
The story’s slow pacing and Kerr’s writing provides the reader with a great amount of depth for every character mentioned, even if they are only present for one or two pages. An example of this is Joe, a character imperative to Ezzy’s healing.
When speaking to Ezzy about the generational trauma that affects his family so deeply, Joe gives him a piece of advice that impacts readers emotionally: “Nothing takes away that love. It’s out there. It exists even if it’s something we cant see or touch. Just having that energy and connection on the wind is what matters. It’ll find you eventually.”
Emphasizing the Land Back movement, the book recognizes the importance of the land.
Ezzy and Grey’s outlook on the land are defined differently, but still contribute tremendously toward their growth as characters.
Ezzy’s connection to the land is defined by having grown up in the city. He notes: “There was no connection to nature in the beat-up concrete avenues and alleys of forgotten neighbourhoods.”
His relationship with the land, like many other Indigenous people, is strained due to the colonization of Turtle Island. Ezzy describes settlers taking Indigenous land as: “A new game for prairie survival we weren’t allowed to participate in.”
Grey grew up surrounded by nature on a Métis settlement and finds the land as the only source of consistent strength in her life.
Prairie Edge is a riveting read that captures the reader’s attention for all the right reasons.