Beyond Their Years: Five Native Women's Stories

by John Steckley

Beyond Their Years tells the life stories of five Native Canadian women, reconstructed using a variety of historical sources:

Kateri Tegakwitha (She moves Things);
Thanadelthur (Marten Shaking);
Shanawdithit or Nancy April;
Nahnebahwequay (Upright Woman) or Catharine Sutton; and
Tarema (Carrying a Lake) or Mary McKee.

Each biography is drawn from a different native culture, spread geographically from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland; collectively the stories cover the period from 1656 to 1992. This path breaking book shatters stereotypes by showing the power that native women had in their communities. The images of squaw and Indian princesses can now be replaced by a more realistic view of women diverse in personality and life history. Readers of this book will find the variety and richness of these women's lives to be truly absorbing. Beyond Their Years describes the struggles of each woman to preserve and protect her community.

Genres: Indigenous

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Three O'Clock Press]

Beyond Their Years tells the life stories of five Native Canadian women, reconstructed using a variety of historical sources. Each biography is drawn from a different native culture, spread geographically from Saskatchewan to Newfoundland; collectively the stories cover the period from 1656 to 1992. This path breaking book shatters stereotypes by showing the power that native women had in their communities. The images of squaw and Indian princesses can now be replaced by a more realistic view of women diverse in personality and life history. Readers of this book will findthe variety and richness of these women's lives to be truly absorbing. Beyond Their Years describes the struggles of each woman to preserve and protect her community.