An Impossible Blue

The stunning new novel by esteemed author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, whose last novel, Noopiming, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Award.

An Impossible Blue opens with the beginning of mourning: cherished Nishnaabe elder Akiwenzii has died, and his dear friend Moss is inconsolable. Akiwenzii was her scaffolding in the world, and now she must remake herself and her place in this bewildering present moment. In startling, beautiful, unvarnished prose, An Impossible Blue traces the eventful year that follows the old ones death. Moss moves internally from profound disbelief to a tender hope for renewal, while in the external world she travels across landscapes and waterways, remembering Akiwenziis legacy of storytelling and care. Meanwhile, in a parallel journey, Akiwenzii spends the year grieving his own earthbound existence and remaking his life in the sky-world.
An Impossible Blue bends genres, blends myth with the contemporary, and traces Nishnaabe webs of social structure to build a layered meditation on grief. But this is also a novel about renewal, hard-won and hopeful, for both Moss and Akiwenzii, as it shows the re-worlding that arises for these characters and their community in the aftermath of pain and devastation. A brilliant work by one of our most talented writers, the novel seamlessly weaves narrative skill with philosophical depth to bring us a story that is at once generous, expansive, and revelatory.