I've read a lot of WWII novels but this is the first one I've read from the perspective of Canadian native Americans. It was getting rave reviews so I picked it up on Audible. It's the story of two Ojibwe Cree boys, Xavier Bird and Elijah Whiskey-Jack, and Xavier's aunt Niske. As Xavier returns from the war missing a leg and addicted to morphine for the pain, Niske paddles him back home in her canoe and the story is told back and forth between his flash backs to the war and her recounting stories of her youth and his childhood to try and bring him back from his addiction. Xavier and Elijah are modeled loosely on real life Ojibwe sniper Francis Pegahmagabow, and brutal and bloody descriptions of their experiences as soldiers and snipers at Ypres and the Somme definitely do not glorify war.

I enjoyed the story as it's a native perspective of the war that is rarely told. However, apparently Boyden is not actually a first nations author, so his perspective of the characters is still an outsider's. It would be more interesting to read an account from an actual member of the tribes being represented in the novel. Although the story was interesting and moving, something about Boyden's writing didn't quite grip me, so not sure if I will pursue his other works in the near future.