A haunting, lyrical dystopia pulsing with faith, fury, and fragile hope.
The second novel in Smith-Nochasak’s Taggak Journey trilogy finds River stepping beyond her grandmother’s world to fulfill her destiny of renewal. Having left her grandmother Flo’s swamp behind, River travels north through the charred wilderness of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, accompanied by her cousin Tag, a master of shadow running, and Dr. Andrea Parker, a grief-stricken chronicler haunted by loss. As they move through fire, hunger, and loss, their journey becomes more than escape. When the last light fades, will belief be enough to save them?
Andrea’s voice lends the novel its intimacy and ache. Once a veterinarian, now a reluctant prophet, she stitches her narrative from confession and memory, each fragment softened by guilt and compassion. Through her, Smith-Nochasak explores how love endures catastrophe, and how storytelling itself becomes an act of survival. A descendant of the originator of shadow running, Tag connects what was once sacred to what now teeters on collapse. River, brave, curious, and quietly determined, is a girl who sees light where others see only ruin. The trio’s strained but steadfast connection drives the narrative forward. What sets this novel apart from typical dystopian fiction is its depth of moral insight and emotional clarity. Rather than divide its world into good and evil, life and death, Smith-Nochasak fills it with haunting ambiguity—people wounded by loss yet still reaching for light. Through River’s story, she turns devastation into renewal, urging readers not just to watch the world fall but to imagine it healed.
Bleak, visionary, and profoundly human, it’s a haunting story that lingers long after the final page.
Pub date August 27, 2025
FriesenPress
ISBN 978-1038348784
Length 234 pages
Price $32.52 (USD) Hardcover, $20.99 Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition