Becoming a Matriarch
Helen Knott
Category: Memoir & Biography,
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER IN CANADA
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CBC BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR
CO-WINNER OF THE 2024 GEORGE RYGA AWARD FOR SOCIAL AWARENESS IN LITERATURE
WINNER OF THE 2024 JIM DEVA PRIZE FOR WRITING THAT PROVOKES
FINALIST FOR THE 2024 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION
All her life, Helen Knott has been surrounded by strong women. She has looked to the women in her family and the larger Indigenous community for guidance, absorbed their stories and admired their independence. But Helen’s path hasn’t been easy and when her mother and grandmother died within six months of each other, she drew upon lessons from her ancestors and the land to discover her inner power and refashion her future.
Exploring their struggles and her own with young motherhood, daughterhood, grief and sobriety, Knott offers an inspiring meditation on how we repair ourselves in the face of tragedy, trauma and injustice; on what it is to be a woman – and become a matriarch.
Reviews
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'A masterpiece of grief and joy, loss and rediscovery, flight and return, and, above all, a paean to the beautiful, eternal and all-encompassing power of matriarchy' Dr Gabor Maté, author of The Myth of Normal
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'Helen Knott tells the story of the women in her family pushing up against the boundaries of gender, race, and class, and shows us that another way of living is possible. Her sentences are poetic and dazzling – readers will surely return to them again and again' Billy-Ray Belcourt, author of A Minor Chorus
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'Vivid and lyrical, Helen Knott explores grief, love, addiction and recovery, as she navigates the story of a self. She weaves the inheritance of trauma with the inheritance of indigenous medicine to create a compelling narrative of healing and deep joy' Carmel Mc Mahon, author of In Ordinary Time
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'In this moving memoir, Helen Knott anchors the dream world of her indigenous ancestors to the harsh reality of being a matriarch in the modern world. Her writing weaves humour in between raw, visceral honesty – I couldn’t tear myself away from it' Priya Joi, author of Motherland
