The Dependent is a true story written by a military wife married to a paratrooper who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for fourteen years before his army career came to a crashing halt-a freak accident near Armed Forces Base Trenton left him paraplegic and their future in shards. Danielle, a fiercely independent university student, meets Steve, an ambitious infantry private. Much of the first years of their marriage are spent apart, as Steve's infantry unit is sent overseas for duty in Croatia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. With each tour of duty, the emotional distance between them intensifies. After four tours, Steve finally comes home to stay, but little changes: their marriage remains a difficult ménage-à-trois made up of a man, a woman, and the military. In this deeply candid depiction of their marriage before and after a life-altering trauma, each chapter unveils an intimate portrait of marriage-one in which Danielle and Steve must navigate shifting roles and learn to co-exist in a space where the collateral damage of military service is absolute. The Dependent is a brave and modern love story revealing immeasurable loss and grief and the journey to lasting hope and forgiveness.

Danielle Daniel est une artiste métisse multidisciplinaire. Elle a écrit Parfois je suis un renard pour encourager son jeune fils à découvrir ses racines autochtones. Enseignante pendant de nombreuses années, Danielle travaille maintenant comme professeur d'art à temps partiel au Canada et aux États-Unis. Elle habite dans le nord de l'Ontario.

Danielle Daniel is an author and artist whose first picture book, Parfois je suis un renard, won the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and was shortlisted for the First Nation Communities Read Award for aboriginal literature. A former elementary school teacher, Danielle is pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing through the University of British Columbia. Danielle lives in Sudbury, Ontario.

Danielle Daniel's profile page

• Short-listed, Northern Lit Award - Louise de Kiriline Lauwrence Award for Non Fiction

"With candour and honesty, Danielle Daniel shares her painful journey as she discovers that marrying a solider means she also married the military, and that she is outranked at every turn. Her struggle to "soldier on", made only harder by the tragedy of her husband's accident, is heartbreaking, yet her determination--and ultimately, her transformation--is inspiring." -Shannon Moroney, author, Through the Glass (National Bestseller) "The playing with time and story, the giving and withholding of detail, is stunningly accomplished, which is only underlined by the book's incredible, miraculous and beautiful ending, which is also its beginning, a fantastic, complicated and beautiful love story..." - Kerry Clare, blogger, book reviewer, author, Mitzi Bytes