THE BONES OF A GIANT

A stand-alone sequel to All the Quiet Places. This is historical fiction set in the 1950s and 1960s in the remote bush, and tells the story of an isolated family who have no neighbors, no phone, no running water, and no electricity. It is not the literature of grievance, but of survival against all odds.

In 1968 the impoverished Toma family of the Syilx First Nation lives in a three-room shack an isolated, heavily wooded area in the British Columbia bush, far from the rest of the community. Fifteen-year-old Lewis' older brother Eddie disappeared two years ago, leaving a cloud of pain and grief hanging over the family. They don't know if he is dead or alive. Bones of a Giant chronicles their struggle to hold on to their land and to keep their family together over one tumultuous summer. Lewis is invited to stay over at his cousins' house to help with chores, where he becomes immersed in the lives of the family, discovering for the first time the larger reserve community and the history embedded in the land he walks on. He falls in love, experiences racism first-hand, and is struck by deep personal sorrow as he grows up and finds his identity in the shadow of his missing brother. In parallel, Grace struggles to keep her property in the face of mounting costs of living, illegal prospectors trespassing on her land, and the reappearance of her abusive ex-husband Jimmy, who believes the land is his by law. She must fight to keep her home and family safeuntil she and Lewis receive shocking news about Eddie. Bones of a Giant is the story of young Indigenous people growing up and learning to value family and community in the face of deep injustice and suffering. It is through connection and belonging that Lewis and his loved ones find the identity, strength, and courage to survive and thrive. BRIAN THOMAS ISAAC was born in 1950 on the Okanagan Indian Reserve near Vernon, BC. After completing grade eight, he found work in the oil fields and in construction, and eventually retired as a bricklayer. At the age of fifty, without any formal training, he began to write. Seventeen years later he completed his first novel, All the Quiet Places (2021), which became a national bestseller, won an Indigenous Voices Award, and was a finalist for the Governor General's Award and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and CBC's Canada Reads, and was named one of ten best books of the year in Canada. Brian Thomas Isaac served on the jury for the 2023 Giller Prize.