Kiss of the Fur Queen is one of those novels that was able to make me smile on one page and then break my heart a couple later.

The book itself, although technically “fiction”, isn’t imaginary at all. Which is what makes it so hard to wrap one’s mind around after it’s over. The entire book in it’s events are based upon real things that happened to the author Tomson Highway as he was growing up as a First-Nations member in Manitoba. Tomson Highway experienced first hand abuse during this time in the residential school system, and knowing this fact made each part of his novel that much harder to read. When Gabriel was inappropriately touched by the priest as he slept, that was real. It may have not happened to Highway directly, but it did happen to young boys or girls in the school system. And when the two brothers felt that their families would no longer understand them or their situation, those feelings were true. Many children became cut off from their old lives and were left to be conflicted from who they were and who they were told they should be. Highway, like his two protagonists’, first language is Cree. Upon entering the school system Cree was banned. There was no transition from Cree to English, the children were simply forced to never use their native tongue or names. Both boys grew up to pursue a career in the fine arts. Jeremiah had his music and Gabriel his dance. This can easily be traced back to Highway for his success in writing.

Throughout the novel, I went back and forth from what the Fur Queen meant to Highway in comparison to his characters. At the start of the novel, the Fur Queen, was a beautiful young woman who was a symbol of glory for Abraham. For this sons, however, the Fur Queen is a playful unattainable figure who appears in and out of their lives. I feel that this “Fur Queen” is meant to act as some form of light or hope for the boys. In the midst of their situation, there is a lively element that inspires them to keep going on. Perhaps this is the same small grain of hope that Highway held on to so dearly during his time in the Residential School system. If that’s the case, then this novel is almost a memoir.