Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Fiction General

The Back Of The Turtle

by (author) Thomas King

Publisher
HarperCollins
Initial publish date
Sep 2014
Category
General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781443431620
    Publish Date
    Sep 2014
    List Price
    $33.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781443431637
    Publish Date
    Feb 2017
    List Price
    $22.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781443431644
    Publish Date
    Sep 2014
    List Price
    $11.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781443446464
    Publish Date
    Dec 2014
    List Price
    $24.99

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

Winner of the 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction!

This is Thomas King’s first literary novel in 15 years and follows on the success of the award-winning and bestselling The Inconvenient Indian and his beloved Green Grass, Running Water and Truth and Bright Water, both of which continue to be taught in Canadian schools and universities. Green Grass, Running Water is widely considered a contemporary Canadian classic.
In The Back of the Turtle, Gabriel returns to Smoke River, the reserve where his mother grew up and to which she returned with Gabriel’s sister. The reserve is deserted after an environmental disaster killed the population, including Gabriel’s family, and the wildlife. Gabriel, a brilliant scientist working for Domidion, created GreenSweep, and indirectly led to the crisis. Now he has come to see the damage and to kill himself in the sea. But as he prepares to let the water take him, he sees a young girl in the waves. Plunging in, he saves her, and soon is saving others. Who are these people with their long black hair and almond eyes who have fallen from the sky?
Filled with brilliant characters, trademark wit, wordplay and a thorough knowledge of native myth and story-telling, this novel is a masterpiece by one of our most important writers.

About the author

Thomas King, who is of Cherokee and Greek descent, is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, scriptwriter, and photographer. His first novel, Medicine River, won several awards, including the PEN/Josephine Miles Award and the Writers Guild of Alberta Award, and was shortlisted for the 1991 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. It was also made into a CBC television movie. Green Grass, Running Water, his second novel, was shortlisted for the 1993 Governor General's Award and won the 1994 Canadian Authors Award for fiction. His highly praised short story collection, One Good Story, That One, was a Canadian bestseller, and his collection of Massey Lectures, The Truth About Stories, won the 2003 Trillium Book Award. He has also written three acclaimed children's books: A Coyote Columbus Story, Coyote Sings to the Moon, and Coyote's New Suit. Thomas King lives in Guelph, Ontario, and is an Associate Professor of English (teaching Native literature and creative writing) at the University of Guelph.

Thomas King's profile page

Editorial Reviews

“Gracefully written, this is a fable-like morality tale. With King’s trademark flashes of humour, irony and deadpan delivery, The Back of the Turtle is populated with wounded characters who are trying to heal in the wake of an environmental disaster.”

<em>Toronto Star</em>

“King’s writing is sharp, the characters are well-drawn, and his topic is suitably grave.”

<em>National Post</em>

Other titles by

Related lists