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Treat Them as Buffalo

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What to expect

An electrifying anti-Western from an exciting new Indigenous writer. As teenage boys begin to disappear from a great plains Métis community, a young man attempts to uncover the evil force lurking out of sight.

In 1885, Nikosis “Niko” Eriksen spends his days playing buffalo hunter, even though it’s been many years since a member of his tribe has actually seen one of the once-ubiquitous animals. But when beloved Cousin goes missing, things start to fall apart. With law enforcement failing—indeed refusing—to investigate the disappearance, the community members take matters into their own hands, rallying around the leadership of a sawn-off shotgun-slinging rancher named Kate McCannon.

The resultant women-led coalition of freedom fighters strikes back against the Mounted Police as they investigate the boys’ disappearance and take their futures into their own hands. But violence continues to haunt Niko, and boys continue to disappear. As he leaves his boyhood behind and draws closer to finding Cousin, Niko’s investigation points to a harrowing revelation about his own heritage, which heels closer to violence that any boy would wish to know.

Written with the pace and punch of Outlawed and the inventiveness of The Only Good Indians, Treat Them as Buffalo delivers a gripping portrait of a young man coming of age before his time. 

Critics Review

"Treat Them as Buffalo is a harrowing adrenalin rush, a wild river of a story. My heart clenched in worry for the young narrator, a Métis tribal member named Nikosis, determined to rescue his dear relative at a time of kidnappings and violence. The book is billed as an anti-Western, sidestepping well-worn tropes and caricatures. The author succeeds on all fronts—Blair Palmer Yoxall is a force!"—Mona Susan Power, author of A Council of Dolls
“Blair Palmer Yoxall enters the foray of Indigenous literatures equipped with the oratories of Louis Riel and Métis matriarchies. With excellent control over historical fiction and his inquisitive child narrator, Niko, Yoxall creates a world of Lac-aux-Trois-Pistoles that is rich with verisimilitude and the duelling emotional states of hope and rage. For fans of Blood Meridian and Prairie Edge, Treat Them as Buffalo is a refreshing addition to our canons with its historical weaving that makes so precedent the political issues of Indigenous peoples today.” —Joshua Whitehead, author of Jonny Appleseed and Making Love with the Land
“Treat Them As Buffalo is raw, rowdy, and unflinching in its portrayal of a Métis community under siege amid the tumult of the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Yoxall’s vivid storytelling immerses us in 12-year-old Niko’s world of friendship and feasts, buried secrets and hard truths, trust and betrayal. Brilliantly turning the Wild West myth on its head, the novel refuses to look away from the terrible cost of colonial violence on children and families. Unforgettable.”—Thomas Wharton, author of Wolf, Moon, Dog
“Blair Palmer Yoxall's debut novel is a fierce and beautiful work, a page-turning adventure that is impossible to put down. Yoxall brings to life a world filled with revolution, brutality and madness. It is narrated by Niko, a young Métis child who is coming to understand the violence of his history and also the depth of his own bravery and sensitivity. He is a boy raised by a family of women. And the women are wild with resilience and pride, and are glorious monsters, who terrorize those who try to steal the legacy of their children.”—Heather O’Neill, author of The Capital of Dreams
Author Blair Palmer Yoxall
Narrator Izzy Bull Bear
Duration 7 hours and 43 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781668650394
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hachette Audio
Genre Adventure fiction, Adventure fiction: Westerns
Availability US

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