Trickster Drift

THE DARK AND HUMOUROUS CONTINUATION OF JARED MARTIN'S STORY FROM SON OF A TRICKSTER – THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF A TRILOGY

WINNER OF THE 2019 BC BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION

A BEST BOOK OF FALL 2018: NOW MAGAZINE, CHATELAINE MAGAZINE, TORONTO STAR, CBC.ca/books THE GLOBE AND MAIL, and A LOAN STARS TOP 10 PICK

2017 WRITERS' TRUST FELLOWSHIP RECIPIENT

a novel by Eden Robinson

“Robinson handles the new instalment of Jared’s story with ease and grace, her trademark good humour and often-disturbing imagination in equal display…. The third novel can’t come soon enough.” — THE TORONTO STAR

“Robinson balances realist, coming-of-age subject matter against a supernatural horror-fantasy plot with a comic tone…. Robinson understands, like few writers do, how comedy (when committed to fully) can enhance and deepen un-funny emotions such as horror, sadness and pain.” — THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Eden Robinson’s Trickster Trilogy is like nothing that has ever come out of the American Indian community. It is an edgy, dark, modern-day Native teenage boy’s tale, set in a world that mixes fantasy, gaming devices, and popular culture with the aboriginal spirit world, drugs, and alcoholism. It combines aboriginal belief systems and severely dysfunctional family dynamics with horror and mordant humour.

Jared, seventeen, has quit drugs and drinking. But his troubles are not over: he’s being stalked by David, his mom’s ex. And his mother, Maggie, a living, breathing badass as well as a witch, can’t protect him.

As the son of a Trickster, Jared is a magnet for magic—he sees ghosts, he sees monsters, he sees the creature that creeps out of his bedroom wall and wants to suck his toes. He also still hears the Trickster in his head, and other voices too. And when crisis hits, Jared can’t ignore his true nature any longer.

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The Career of Eden Robinson

90,000 words
Finished books available

RIGHTS SOLD

Canada: Knopf, October 2018
World English Audio: Audible
French Canada: Groupe Ville Marie Littérature, November 2024

ABOUT EDEN ROBINSON

(Photo: Red Works)

Eden Robinson is the author of the bestselling Trickster trilogy, starting with Son of a Trickster (2017), a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a CBC Canada Reads contender. The sequel Trickster Drift (2018) won the Ethel Wilson BC Book Prize for Fiction. The third volume, Return of the Trickster (2021), was called “a gift” by the Vancouver Sun and “funny, tender, and emotionally true” by the Toronto Star. But it is her first novel, Monkey Beach (2000), winner of the Ethel Wilson BC Book Prize and a finalist for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award, that is a perennial bestseller and is required reading in schools and universities; 100,000 copies are in print in Canada. Recently Book Riot listed Monkey Beach as one of 22 must-read books by indigenous authors.

In 2017 Eden won the $50,000 Writers Trust of Canada Fellowship. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of British Columbia in 2018. She served on the five-member Scotiabank Giller Prize jury in 2020. In 2022 she was awarded the Blue Metropolis First Peoples’ Literary Prize in Montreal. Currently she is serving on the jury for the Carol Shields Literary Prize for Fiction. A member of the Haisla and Hieltsuk First Nations, she lives in Kitimat, in northern British Columbia near Alaska.

PRAISE FOR SON OF A TRICKSTER AND TRICKSTER DRIFT

“Son of a Trickster is her best work. It’s heartbreaking, it’s hilarious, it’s subversive, it’s harsh, it’s brutal, and so deeply tender.” 
—MIRIAM TOEWS

“The first in a trilogy, Son of a Trickster is an incredibly engaging, coming-of-age story of an indigenous teen in northern British Columbia. Eden Robinson’s almost magical ability to blend wry humor, magical realism and teenage reality will have you holding your breath for the next in the series.”— THE NEW YORK TIMES, “Summer Reads from Canada”

“The book is full of light and love. Robinson has a loopy and wonderful sense of humour, expressed not justy by her trademark laughter but her delightful author's bios.” — THE GLOBE AND MAIL

“Robinson handles the new instalment of Jared’s story with ease and grace, her trademark good humour and often-disturbing imagination in equal display…. The third novel can’t come soon enough.” — THE TORONTO STAR

“[A] riveting sequel…. Robinson has created a smart, funny and very likeable character in Jared and the reader will yearn for his success and fear for him as the evitable pull to embrace his power is realized.” — PIQUE

“The mix of sharp comedy, quick character sketches, and unsettling horror is note-perfect.” — QUILL & QUIRE

“Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson is an amazing second entry into her Trickster trilogy. Here we follow Jared, still as coy and as frank as ever, from the small town of Kitimat through to the depths of Vancouver’s urbanity. The magic is very much alive here as Jared melts into a life of tricksters, witches, shape-shifters, and monsters that sometimes look all too much like us.” — JOSHUA WHITEHEAD, author of Jonny Appleseed

“Canadian Haisla/Heiltsuk writer Eden Robinson has delivered the second in her Trickster trilogy—the first installment, Son of a Trickster, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Trickster Drift is even better. It’s an enlightening, entertaining and very funny novel.” — NOW (Toronto)

“My favourite book of 2019 is Trickster Drift. Eden’s amazing writing style shines through brilliantly, once again: the Words fly off the page—which allows the reader to experience the characters, scenes and plot vividly because the mechanics of reading don’t ever get in the way. Eden’s characters are vibrant and real—I actually expect to bump into a few of them the next time I’m in Vancouver.”
 — DARREL J. MCLEOD, author of Mamaskatch, CBC Books