This novel takes place in the 1990s and centres around 14-year-old Aaron Gourlay, who was assigned male at birth. Aaron has been denied gender-affirming care and survives a suicide attempt. We are then introduced to Al Klassen, who performs a near-fatal radical procedure on Aaron. Saltus deals with the prejudiced views, small-town attitudes, and challenges LGBTQ2+ youth face in their lives. This book moves from one story to the next, introducing various characters and their struggles and challenges. This book can be connected to English Language Arts and Health curriculum.

Caution: Abuse, suicide, discrimination, and other traumas.

304 pp., 5.5 × 8.5"

Tara Gereaux (Métis and European heritage)

Source: Association of Book Publishers of BC - Canadian Indigenous Books for Schools (2021-2022)

Tara Gereaux is a Métis from the Qu’Appelle Valley who spent her childhood years in Fort Qu’Appelle and her teen years in Winnipeg. She studied screenwriting at York University and Creative Writing and UBC and has worked as a researcher, writer, and story editor in film and television. Gereaux’s fiction and creative non-fiction has been published in several Canadian literary magazines, and she won Event Magazine’s 14th Annual Creative Non-fiction Competition as well as several other screenwriting and non-fiction awards. Size of a Fist is her first novel. Gereaux lives in Regina.

Tara Gereaux's profile page

• Short-listed, ReLit Award (Novel)

“The portrayal of small-town life is layered and profound in this novel set on the Prairies in the ’90s.”

<i>Prairie Books Now</i>

“Tara Gereaux is a beautiful writer. This is a big story of a small town, told in prose that is humane, compassionate, and achingly honest.”

Helen Humphreys

“Calm, measured and fearless, Gereaux skillfully, and with compassion, depicts a community in the aftermath of trauma. Based on true events, this work of fiction is both haunting and human. Gereaux’s strength is in her characters—you can’t help but feel their torments as if they were your own.”

Lisa Bird-Wilson