Three Day Road
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: February 21, 2017 3:10 PM | Last Updated: July 12, 2017
Joseph Boyden
Joseph Boyden's haunting first novel tells the story of two Cree snipers scarred by their experiences on the battlefields of France and Belgium in the First World War. The book was inspired in part by the real-life aboriginal First World War hero Francis Pegahmagabow, and drew both popular and critical acclaim for its unflinching depiction of war's terrible toll.
Three Day Road won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize in 2005 and the Books in Canada/Amazon.ca First Novel Award in 2006. It was a Canada Reads contender in 2006, when it was defended by Nelofer Pazira.
From the book
He is already a hero to them. I can see that. Me, I can feel the eyes of the section on me. They try to figure out what makes me different from them, from Elijah. I know I am a better shot than Elijah, that it was me who taught him the ways of the bush. But they are drawn to Elijah and his easy smile. Me, I won't give in to this army's ways so easy. I learn their English but pretend I don't. When an officer speaks to me I look at him and answer in Cree.
From Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden ©2008. Published by Penguin Canada.