<p><b>A New York Times Notable book! One of Barack Obama\u2019s favorite books of 2022! Winner of Canada Reads 2023!<\/b><br><b><br>\u201cAn exceptionally beautiful book about loneliness, labor, and survival.\u201c\u2014Carmen Maria Machado<\/b><br><br>Before there was Kate Beaton, <i>New York Times <\/i>bestselling cartoonist of <i>Hark! A Vagrant<\/i>, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beaton, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta\u2019s oil rush\u2014part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can\u2019t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed.<br><br>Beaton\u2019s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, <i>Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands<\/i> is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<p><b>A New York Times Notable book! One of Barack Obama\u2019s favorite books of 2022! Winner of Canada Reads 2023!<\/b><br><b><br>\u201cAn exceptionally beautiful book about loneliness, labor, and survival.\u201c\u2014Carmen Maria Machado<\/b><br><br>Before there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":75032,"template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[17202],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74952","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","5":"product_language-eng","6":"product_subjects-comics-graphic-novels","7":"product_subjects-nonfiction","8":"product_subjects-biography-memoir","9":"biblio_share_tag-comics-graphic-novels-nonfiction-biography-memoir","10":"product_cat-book-awards-2023","11":"entry","13":"first","14":"outofstock","15":"taxable","16":"shipping-taxable","17":"purchasable","18":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n