Cheryl Parisien wrote her historical fiction book The Unweaving as a way to embrace her Métis heritage

Growing up, Cheryl Parisien always knew she was Métis, but she was taught to keep her identity under wraps.

"It wasn't something to really be proud of," she told CBC Books in an interview. 

A few years ago, however, she decided to research Métis history, her heritage and genealogy, which led to her getting her citizenship with the Manitoba Métis Federation.

As she read through the history books, she was captivated by the story of the Red River Métis, and wondered why there wasn't a novel about the impact of Confederation from a Métis perspective.

And so, the idea for The Unweaving was born. 

The historical fiction novel is set in Red River in 1869 as surveyors from the Dominion of Canada come to town. The Unweaving tells the stories of the Rougeau family and how they each react differently to the changes around them. 

"I hope the characters feel real," Parisien said. "I hope people will learn something about this time through an emotional way."

In her own words, she described how she drew inspiration from her family's story in her novel. 

Researching Red River

"My parents are both from this small town. It's called Sandilands. It's tiny. It's in southeastern Manitoba. It's in the bush. It's in the Sandilands Provincial Forest. I spent a lot of time there growing up. Both sets of grandparents lived there. And I never understood why there is this tiny little town in the middle of the bush.

"Why were we here, when I knew that we'd started out in Winnipeg, Red River. And so I learned that we lived on river lots in Saint Norbert. (The family was big, so there's lots of extended family. So I'm sure they were in other parts too, but I was mostly focusing on my actual direct ancestors because those were the names I had in my genealogy.)

These are real people that I'm really connected to.- Cheryl Parisien

"So I learned which river lot they lived on. And then I was really diving into, 'Well, what was it like to live during that time?' That's when I was sort of reading all those historical books. That's when I found names. That's when I found out about Norbert Parisien, who is a real person who was killed, lynched, and he's a character in the book. 

"He's actually like a distant, like great, great, great uncle. I was like, 'Oh my God, these are real people that I'm really connected to.' And that really sparked it for me."

The tides of change

"So I was trying to figure out how do you go from living your life in a good time period … like it's stable, it's a thriving community, all of that, to when that all disappears, when all these things happen, the surveyors come and like everything kind of goes to, you know…

"I don't know for sure how we ended up in the bush, but this was sort of my imagining of what made sense. And I thought it was sort of a compelling story. Like some of the family names are my family names. The character names are names from my family tree. So I used that. I had dates and I had places and I had river lots.

I tried encapsulate through one family what it might have felt like to be alive at that time.- Cheryl Parisien

"Of course, there's no records or anything like that because most people couldn't read or write. So I had to sort of extrapolate and I tried to imagine like all the different types of families and all the different types of people. And it's not a monolith, right? So people would agree or not agree. And so I tried encapsulate through one family what it might have felt like to be alive at that time."

Writing process

"I work full time, so I usually write in the evenings and on the weekends. And if I ever had vacation time, I would always try to do some of it there. I was working to deadline because I had a contract, so I couldn't just put it off. 

"Many times, I would smudge before I would sit down to write. I wanted to have a good clear headspace and I wanted to make sure that I was honouring my ancestors and the community. I wanted to make sure that I was telling the truth but also doing it in a good way.

"I felt like I owed honour and respect to those who had gone before, and I really felt like I wanted to draw on them when I was working. I tried to put that into my headspace. 

I wanted to make sure that I was telling the truth but also doing it in a good way.- Cheryl Parisien

"Of course, I wrote an outline. Of course, I knew the major benchmarks of where we wanted to get, all the major plot points. But then how I got there ended up being completely different. Sometimes I would have an idea of what I wanted to say and then I would sit down and start writing and something different would come out."

Cheryl Parisien's comments have been edited for length and clarity.