IRES Library Book Spotlight: VenCo by Cherie Dimaline

VenCo by Cherie Dimaline is an empowering queer story for the witchy, anarchist, anti-imperialist reader. The story follows Lucky St. James and her grandmother Stella, both Métis women living in Toronto. Lucky unearths an ancestral object beneath her apartment, opening her spiritual connection which then kickstarts her journey of reclaiming her own power, magic, and ancestral knowledge to take down the powers that are exacerbating the climate crisis. Lucky, alongside the women she finds herself drawn to, are called to address the threats of climate change, patriarchy, and colonization. This story follows an Indigenous woman, on the brink of poverty and homelessness, and sees her step into powers she never before thought she possessed. 

This book spoke to me in ways that fanned my fire for being anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist. You hear from the perspectives of the Native women within this coven and understand that we are all called on to face the climate crisis head on. As matriarchs, beginners, elders, and as skeptics we are all called by our ancestors to follow the ways of the natural world. The story you find in this book will ask you to check your biases surrounding community, step into an immersed setting of Indigenous lifeways, and ask you to follow your own power and intuition to do your part in combatting capitalism and its powers that threaten Mother Earth. 

I recommend this book to someone who needs the fire lit under them that still feels like a warm hug. You will leave this book having felt you have spoken to a queer elder. While this story is supernatural in nature, and outlandish in its plot devices, I have been moved by this compelling story. After reading this book as a queer person, I have found myself in spaces that address impacts of the climate crisis. I found power and wisdom in this book to address politicians to push back on acts and legislation that disempower the people and harm Mother Earth. You will gain a beautiful perspective steeped in anticolonialism and Indigenous anarchism that will help inform your next move in battling the climate crisis we all face. 

This book is for romantics who refuse to see the world in entire negatives and allows the reader to look within to allow themselves to reflect the journey of Lucky St. James. You can find it at the IRes library and I hope you take the time to immerse yourself in this transformative story. :)