Jesse Thistle is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan,
and an assistant professor in Humanities at York University in
Toronto. From the Ashes was the top-selling Canadian book
in 2020, the winner of the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
for Nonfiction, Indigenous Voices Award, and High Plains Book
Award, and also a finalist for CBC Canada Reads. Jesse won a
Governor General’s Academic Medal in 2016, and is a
Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Scholar and
a Vanier Scholar. A frequent keynote speaker, he lives in
Hamilton, Ontario, with his wife, Lucie, and is at work on multiple
projects, including his next book. Visit him
at JesseThistle.com.
“A heartbreaking and honest debut.” The Globe and Mail
“Blown away by [this] eloquent memoir of Métis life and surviving
the streets . . . [a] strong contender for #CanadaReads.”
— EMMA DONOGHUE, New York Times bestselling author of
Room
“A memoir of resilience, spirit, and dignity from a gifted
storyteller. It is, at heart, also about the many shapes that love
can inhabit. When you plan to read this book, clear your schedule.
It will hold you in its grasp and won’t let you go, like a great
novel. It’s all the more remarkable that this is not fiction. This
book will stand out in my reading experience for a long time to
come.”
— SHELAGH ROGERS, OC, host and a producer of CBC Radio’s The
Next Chapter, and honorary witness for the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of Canada
“So fortunate to have the opportunity to read From The Ashes. . .
. You’ll be drawn into the life journey of someone who’s
struggled so deep yet has risen up to share with us what it means
to be human. A deeply moving read.”
— CLARA HUGHES, Olympian and author of Open Heart, Open
Mind
“This memoir haunts, gnawing at the soul as we walk with Jesse
through his many incarnations. . . . If you want a glimpse at why
some of our brothers and sisters end up on the streets, read this
book.”
— TANYA TALAGA, The Walrus
“In spare and often brutal prose . . . Thistle weaves a narrative
punctuated with joy and comedy and ultimately redemption.”
— Toronto Star
“An illuminating, inside account of homelessness, a study of
survival and freedom. Jesse Thistle delivers a painfully lyrical
book, a journey through the torrents of addiction and trauma,
masterfully sliding in humour and moments of heart-expanding human
connection. I found myself gasping out loud at parts, unable to put
the book down. Jesse’s story shows us that there is nothing that
cannot be transformed.”
— AMANDA LINDHOUT, bestselling co-author of A House in the
Sky
“In this page-turner of a memoir—raw, honest, gripping, wrenching,
and inspiring—Jesse Thistle gifts us with an intimate and bracing
look into the realities, traumas, and triumphs of Indigenous life
in today’s North America.”
— GABOR MATÉ, MD, bestselling author of In The Realm of Hungry
Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction
“A gritty memoir recounting the devastating long-term effects of
childhood abandonment. . . . The theme of estrangement is
powerfully portrayed in what is ultimately a story of courage and
resilience certain to strike a chord with readers from many
backgrounds.”
— Library Journal
“Candid and cutting, Jesse Thistle lays down his story with a
brutal beauty you’ll never forget. From the Ashes is a
guided tour through a broken heart just trying to keep beating,
both failing and succeeding spectacularly.”
— CHERIE DIMALINE, bestselling author of The Marrow
Thieves
“Jesse’s story is shocking, intriguing, and compelling. He goes
deep into the conflicting forces pulling him in different
directions, the pain of knowing how he was letting down his
grandmother, the terrifying sickness of addiction, and his own
uncertainty about how to break the cycle. All the decks were
stacked against him, yet he did learn to make the right choices. He
had every right to blame ‘the system,’ but he never resorted to
that easy strategy. His unexpected strength is remarkable.”
— CHARLOTTE GRAY, award-winning biographer and bestselling
author of The Promise of Canada
“The best stories are the ones that stay with you. From the
Ashes will stay with me for a long time. Maarsii to Jesse for
coming through to tell this story. It is an important one. The
revolutionary kind. The kind of story that changes how you look at
the world, that shows us how amazing human beings can be, so
capable, strong, resilient, powerful.”
— KATHERENA VERMETTE, bestselling author of The Break
“[This] powerful and moving memoir is also a scathing indictment of
the treatment of Indigenous people and the myriad ways systems fail
them.”
— Booklist
“This is a work that should not be mistaken for a redemption
story—it is a love story. About family. Community. A partner. Most
of all: this is a love story about Jesse Thistle. How he came to
love himself. Why he is worthy of love. And, importantly, how you
will love him when you are done reading. This book signals change:
in our understanding of worth, our compassion in the face of harm
and self-harm, and the power and possibility that can exist in
spaces we try to forget about. Jesse Thistle is amazing. His story
is stunning. We will talk about colonial and other violence
differently on Turtle Island because Jesse lived them and shared
them with us. With an openness, candour, and generosity that
is inspiring. Its uglybeautiful/hurtlove will resonate with you
long after you finish turning the pages. I am proud to call him
nisîmis (my little brother).”
— TRACEY LINDBERG, bestselling author of Birdie
“Stereotypes and conventional understandings are about to be
challenged. . . . In the world Thistle inhabits, poverty,
addiction, and homelessness are all one step over a line. Some are
pushed, some stumble, and some jump. . . . The places Thistle takes
us come together to illustrate a common theme: we look for home
wherever we can find it. Over the course of the book, Thistle
builds a better world for himself, one day and one decision at a
time. It is a remarkable transformation to witness, and the arc of
his story will make the reader want to cheer.”
— Quill & Quire, starred review
“Hits you like a punch in the gut. It’s an unflinching,
heartrending, and beautifully written story of survival against
seemingly impossible odds. But it’s also a book that should make
you furious. Thistle paints a vivid portrait of a country seemingly
incapable of doing right by Indigenous youth or by those struggling
with homelessness, addiction, and intergenerational trauma. That he
survived to tell this story is truly a miracle. Still, one question
haunts me after finishing this powerful and devastating book: How
do we ensure that the next generation isn’t forced to navigate a
broken system that takes their lives for granted and fails them at
every turn? My greatest hope, then, is that From the
Ashes will be the wakeup call Canada needs.”
— IAN MOSBY, historian and author of Food Will Win the War
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