In Tyson Stewart’s propulsive debut novel, a troubled young pilot seeks to reconnect with his Anishinaabe relatives — including his long-absent, nefarious father, who proposes a dangerous but lucrative business venture that’ll test both their limits.
Gerry Smith grew up in a small town about fifty-five kilometres from Temagami, the hometown of his long-absent father, Dale King. But he’s never met the once-legendary hockey player. Even after Gerry, as an adult, reconnects with his Anishinaabe relatives on his dad’s side of the family, Dale remains a mystery — a missing puzzle piece and a mythic villain. It’s not until his late twenties, juggling a commercial pilot career, a troubled marriage, and a young son of his own, that Gerry gets a call from Dale. Meeting for the first time in a dodgy sports bar in Toronto, Dale pitches Gerry on a dangerous but lucrative business venture, setting in motion an unlikely partnership that will test how far both father and son will go in the name of family.
Drawing on both Anishinaabe storytelling and film noir influences, The Return of the Nish explores the tragedy of lost opportunities, the cyclical nature of time, and how people and places return to us in new lights.
- A decade-spanning family saga about mending relations and reconciliation
- In contrasting Dale’s journey from pro hockey to drug trafficker with Gerry’s growth from a lost, resentful kid to a man seeking reconnection with his Anishinaabe roots, the author shows how authentic behaviours keep a community going, while choices motivated by greed can turn people unrecognizable.
- Inspired by authors Waubgeshig Rice and Thomas King and playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, debut author Stewart delivers a propulsive Indigenous noir about precarity, loss, and missed chances, as well as the reclamation of identity, family, and community.
- A professor of cinema culture, media narratives, and Indigenous cultural expressions, Stewart also draws influence from filmmakers such as Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Cronenberg (Crash), Scorsese (GoodFellas), Corbin (Wild Indian), and Naponse (Every Emotion Costs), as well as the antagonistic father-son relationship from the original Star Wars trilogy.
