The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

During the summer before college, Lou, who is Métis and white, works for her family at an ice-cream stand in a prairie town in Canada. Her mother is away selling beadwork on the powwow circuit when Lou learns that her biological father has left prison and insists on meeting her; he raped Lou’s mother when she was sixteen. Lou does not share this with her family or friends as her uncles worry about the business. Her reconnection with former best friend King offers a way to address their sudden break from three years earlier. The novel also deals with secrets, shame, fear, and trauma rooted in racism against Indigenous people.