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The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
In a post-apocalyptic and far-future Canada, the ravages of global warming have stolen people's ability to dream. Dreamlessness leads to madness—but not in North America's Indigenous people. Their marrow, for whatever reason, holds the key, and now the rest of the world wants it. “Recruiters” chase down Indians and bring them to facilities called “schools” where their marrow is extracted. Of course, the unwilling “donors” die in the process. Orphan Frenchie is rescued from the Recruiters by Miigwans and a small band of other Indians from different nations. Five years later, Frenchie and his fellow travelers have bonded and their will to persevere is unbreakable—but the odds have never been more against them, and the truth of the dreamless is even more terrifying.
Review from Booklist:
Sixteen-year-old Frances “Frenchie” Dusome, one of a dwindling number of Métis, and his “found” family try to survive on the run from the Recruiters, whites who are capturing First Nations members to harvest their bone marrow and sell it as a remedy for the lost ability to dream. This dystopian novel is rich in atmosphere and texture, from the measured cadence that suggests the rhythms of ritual storytelling, to slang that situates it in a postapocalyptic North America, to the spare yet evocative descriptions of the effects of power and carelessness on the environment. It is a story told by an insider, for insiders, but done so well that even those on the outside gain some degree of understanding by reading it. Dimaline never depends on theatrics or gore to expose the callous and horrific problem at the root of her plot; rather, her details convey the matter-of-fact nature of cruelty, and her characters express the consequences. A subtext to the plot casts a spotlight on the effects of co-opting bits and pieces of a culture without fully understanding how they fit into a seamless whole: How long can we borrow or steal from others without losing ourselves in the process? Put this book, written by a Canadian First Nations author, in your library, and make it known.
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