Frameworks

Dash is a young man who is struggling with his identity. Growing up as Metis in the Canadian West he faces his share of hardship and uncertainty. To sustain him he has only his mothers love and guidance and a growing interest in art. One evening when Dash is 19 years old his mothers support is abruptly taken from him and he is left alone. Sinking into drug and alcohol abuse he makes a decision to travel east. His journey takes him along the Trans Canada Highway making brief stops in Regina Winnipeg Kenora White River and Sioux Ste. Marie until he reaches his ultimate destination of Toronto. Here he fights with his demons meets Jesse - a social worker and an artist herself - and they begin a more intimate relationship. Dash finds a job as a bicycle courier and with Jesses ongoing help begins to recover a sense of who he is. But as they pursue their relationship a darkness closes in on them that they must deal with before they can move on. Told in both first and third person narration the novel introduces a series of unique characters and settings as it unfolds and wends its way across parts of Canadas expansive yet interconnected landscapes. Frameworks moves fluidly from past to present and back again blending together a story of loss courage resilience and hope.