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Leslie Shimotakahara, Sisters of the Spruce, Caitlin Press, 2024, 234 pp.    

Set in the backdrop of World War One, Leslie Shimotakahara‘s Sisters of the Spruce is an intriguing tale of resilience and the human spirit.

Shimotakahara transports readers to a misty inlet on Haida Gwaii, where the looming shadows of the First World War cast a foreboding atmosphere over the landscape. The protagonist, fourteen-year-old Khya, finds herself thrust into a world of turmoil and upheaval as her family grapples with the harsh realities of life in a remote logging camp.

The islands are known for Sitka spruces, where Khya’s father Sannosuke emerges as a beacon of strength and leadership among the Japanese and Chinese workers. However, tensions escalate with the arrival of white loggers, threatening the fragile peace that Khya’s family has fought to maintain. When a betrayal shakes the foundation of their existence, Khya embarks on a daring quest with her only friend, a half-Chinese sex worker, to seek justice and redemption. As they navigate the treacherous forest, they confront deception, danger, and the complexities of morality. The rest of the story is based on how they deal with these challenges.

Leslie Shimotakahara won the Canada-Japan Literary Prize for her memoir, The Reading List. She is critically acclaimed for her fiction, which has earned recognition, including being shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award. Her writings have graced publications such as the National Post, World Literature Today, and anthologies like Changing the Face of Canadian Literature.

The cover is haunting, akin to the opening lines.

It was late by the time we got there. The sky had turned into a large shadow, which crept this way and that, and threatened to become all I could see. But animal alertness was keeping my brain bright awake, my limbs restless. (9)

The writing is evocative and poignant throughout captivating the reader’s imagination. Shimotakahara’s research blends historical authenticity with imaginative flair, drawing readers deeper into the world she has created. Amid Japanese, Chinese, and local characters in the Queen Charlotte Islands, Indian characters add an intriguing touch. Painting a vivid portrait of the rugged landscape and the characters who inhabit it, Shimotakahara makes that period come alive.

Be it Khya, her older sister Izzy, or Captain—the characters are compelling and have interesting arcs of their own running parallel to the central story. Through Khya’s eyes, Shimotakahara explores themes of resilience, identity, and the pursuit of justice, infusing her narrative with emotional depth and poignancy. With each page, Shimotakahara’s writing immerses readers in a tale of adventure, intrigue, and the enduring power of the human spirit.

As the protagonist, Khya is powerful and rebellious. While it can be argued that this was very much unlike the women of that time, it also needs to be accepted that rebellious women were always a part of this world since time immemorial. Her rebellion is reflected in everything she does or says including her friendship with a sex worker or the way she describes how she deals with the male attention and its aftermath.

After that, I became known as the crazy girl. The witch girl. The wolf girl. Don’t let her anywhere near you, or she just might nip off your nose or toes or some other appendage you value more dearly. (36)

There is a certain underlying anger palpable in Khya’s thoughts and actions. The story weaves across her anger and takes us to a point where we finally connect it so deeply, that one feels it throbbing through the veins.

Through powerful storytelling and fascinating world-building, Shimotakahara crafts a world where courage and compassion are the ultimate weapons against oppression. The narrative is piquant with authenticity and emotional depth. Reading about a time when bonds were based on trust and kindness of strangers made the world go around was refreshing.

Interestingly, she dedicates this novel to her grandmother who lived on the Queen Charlotte Islands in the 1920s. It was her lived experiences that inspired this story along with a diary maintained by her grandmother’s father, Sannosuke who migrated from Japan to British Columbia in 1894. In many ways, she pays homage to her ancestors’ stories with this book. However, as she mentions in the acknowledgments, Sisters of the Spruce is a work of fiction with a lot of creative liberties taken, based on the real experiences of her great-grandfather and grandmother. My favourite thing as a reader was to try separating fact from fiction.

The climax left me smiling for its raw genuineness as the beauty of female friendships keeps the story afloat till the end.

Sisters of the Spruce is a gripping tale of resilience, friendship, and the pursuit of justice in the face of adversity. It is a testament to the enduring power of hope and the indomitable spirit of those who dare to defy the odds. Shimotakahara’s storytelling prowess shines brightly in this evocative tale of adventure, survival, and the enduring bonds of kinship.

How to cite: Namrata. “Powerful Storytelling: Leslie Shimotakahara’s Sisters of the Spruce.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 23 May 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/05/23/sisters-of-the-spruce.

Namrata is the editor of Kitaab, a South Asian literary magazine based in Singapore, and the founder of Keemiya Creatives, a literary consultancy where she works with authors and publishers in various capacities. Namrata also hosts the Bookbot Theory, a podcast on book-marketing which aims to help authors make their books sell. A published author, an independent editor and a book reviewer, she enjoys writing stories and think-pieces on travel, relationships, and gender. She is a UEA-India chapter alumnus and has studied travel writing at the University of Sydney. Her writings can be found on various sites and magazines, including Kitaab, the Asian Review of Books, Contemporary South Asia Journal of King’s College-London, Mad in Asia, The Friday Times, The Scroll, Feminism in India, The Brown Orient Journal, Inkspire Journal, Moonlight Journal, The Same, Chronic Pain India and Cafe Dissensus.  Her short stories have been a part of various anthologies and she has also published two short story collections of her own. Namrata is currently working on her debut novel. 

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