Anzel, a widow in her sixties, lives quietly on her small farm with her grandfather, a Carrier elder from Northern BC. Grandpère and Anzel pass the time playing fierce cribbage games, cutting firewood and tending the vegetable garden. As the days pass Grandpère tells his life story, sharing heart-breaking memories: the death of his family in a devastating epidemic, his son's murder at the hands of a horse thief, and his battle and eventual triumph over alcohol. When their extended family visits on holidays and weekends, Grandpère, with the tenderness of an elder, tells the children of the Carrier traditions and values. Their days together are happy and simple, and when Anzel meets Jim, a caretaker at the local pensioner's home, life seems complete again. But one day a taxi arrives from town. Its passenger is Angel, a frightened thirteen-year-old stranger who claims to be Anzel's granddaughter. Her father, she says, was Anzel's youngest son Ben, who was killed in a car crash 14 years prior. Angel's mother, alone and pregnant with Ben's child, ran away to the city to raise the child far from the disapproving eyes of her family. But after years of poverty and loneliness, she succumbed to the streets of Vancouver. Angel, neglected and abused at the hands of her mother's new boyfriend, follows the trail to her father's family. When Anzel takes in this unknown granddaughter, she and her family must act quickly to protect her. Romain's first novel, Grandpère is a tender story of determination, loss, and family love.

Janet Romain is Métis-Canadian. She was born in Vancouver, but has lived most of her life in northern BC. She worked in a variety of jobs from short-order cook to lumber grader, but eventually bought land out in the country. She has three grown children and currently lives with her husband near Fort Fraser. She is surrounded by gardens and wildlife, just a stone’s throw from where she grew up. Grandpère is her first book while Not My Fate: The Story of A Nisga’a Survivor is her second book with Caitlin Press.

Janet Romain's profile page

"Grandpère is a marvel to read and woven with such beauty and tenderness. Romain’s writing is a tribute to the power of family, love’s blessings and time’s healing ways. I never wanted it to end ... An instant classic."

—Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed and The Moon of Letting Go

Grandpère: A Novel

Romain’s novel intersects the lives of five generations of a First Nation/Métis family in Northern BC. It highlights the tragedies and heartbreaks of the First Nations people over the last 100 years: loss of land, language, culture, and senseless deaths from disease, accidents and alcohol. Anzel, a self-sufficient widow, lives on a small farm with her feisty 98-year old grandfather. As they carry out the daily chores, Grandpère tells Anzel his life story, which she records for her family. One day Angel, the 13-year-old daughter of Anzel’s deceased son Ben arrives, abandoned by her drug-addicted mother. With the love of Anzel and extended family, Angel flourishes. The happy ending for everyone includes a description of Grandpère’s passing into the spirit world, when and how he wished.

Romain is Métis.

Caution: Includes references to drugs, alcohol and rape.

Grandpère: A Novel

Romain’s novel intersects the lives of five generations of a First Nation/Métis family in Northern BC. It highlights the tragedies and heartbreaks of the First Nations people over the last 100 years: loss of land, language, culture, and senseless deaths from disease, accidents and alcohol. Anzel, a self-sufficient widow, lives on a small farm with her feisty 98-year-old grandfather. As they carry out the daily chores, Grandpère tells Anzel his life story, which she records for her family. One day Angel, the 13-year-old daughter of Anzel’s deceased son Ben arrives, abandoned by her drug-addicted mother. With the love of Anzel and extended family, Angel flourishes. The happy ending for everyone includes a description of Grandpère’s passing into the spirit world, when and how he wished.

Romain is Métis.

Caution: Includes references to drugs, alcohol and rape.