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First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style
This poignant and powerful collection of short stories provides revealing glimpses into the life experiences of an Aboriginal woman, a university professor, an activist and a single mother. With lyrical eloquence, Lee Maracle takes the reader on a deeply stirring and emotional journey that is at times humorous and heart-wrenching but not soon to be forgotten.
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
313 people want to read
About the author
Lee Maracle
33 books282 followersBorn in Vancouver, British Columbia, she grew up in the neighbouring city of North Vancouver and attended Simon Fraser University. She was one of the first Aboriginal people to be published in the early 1970s.
Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to aboriginal people and aboriginal literature. She is an award-winning poet, novelist, performance storyteller, scriptwriter, actor and keeper/mythmaker among the Stó:lō people.
Maracle was one of the founders of the En’owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia and the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.
Maracle has given hundreds of speeches on political, historical, and feminist sociological topics related to native people, and conducted dozens of workshops on personal and cultural reclamation. She has served as a consultant on First Nations’ self-government and has an extensive history
in community development. She has been described as “a walking history book” and an international expert on Canadian First Nations culture and history.
Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Southern Oregon University and has served as professor of Canadian culture at Western Washington University. She currently lives in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She most recently was the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph.
Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to aboriginal people and aboriginal literature. She is an award-winning poet, novelist, performance storyteller, scriptwriter, actor and keeper/mythmaker among the Stó:lō people.
Maracle was one of the founders of the En’owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia and the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.
Maracle has given hundreds of speeches on political, historical, and feminist sociological topics related to native people, and conducted dozens of workshops on personal and cultural reclamation. She has served as a consultant on First Nations’ self-government and has an extensive history
in community development. She has been described as “a walking history book” and an international expert on Canadian First Nations culture and history.
Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Southern Oregon University and has served as professor of Canadian culture at Western Washington University. She currently lives in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She most recently was the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 17, 2025
Someone get this book back in print! Lee Maracle- what a force. Opened my eyes and my heart.
February 17, 2026
I don't read a lot of short story collections. But I'm always interested in what the late Lee Maracle had to say about Canada, colonization and being in the modern world.
I liked First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style , which uses the self-titled opening story to tell a different kind of mythologic story about how men and women come together, all infused with Maracle's wry perspective.
"Goodbye Snauq" explores the challenges of living on and near your ancestral land without control and autonomy to live as your ancestors did, the disconnect that comes with that, and how community and art can capture part of it.
"Blessing Song" is about mothers, daughters and whales, which hold a rich place for Coast Salish people. I love whales, too, so this was a favourite.
"Erotica" explores a woman finding sexual gratification after an unsatisfying first marriage. Also a favourite of mine.
"The Cafe" brims with writing, attraction, ambition and pedestrian reality.
In "Laundry Basket," a woman carves out time for her artistic pursuits within a limiting marriage and discovers her creative power. Another story I loved.
"Tiny Green Waves" is among the collection's most challenging stories. On the surface, the narrator accompanies three colleagues to an academic event and refuses to engage in their gossip. In the depths, the narrator explores her own complicity with colonization, environmental destruction and capitalism.
Maracle writes: "No one in my lineage imagined despots. No one in my lineage imagined genocide of trees, people, stone, or anything else. In our original culture, no one could imagine a whole people who did not have the perfect right to be, to enjoy the gifts of life."
As a settler, I cannot claim the same. It's impossible not to think about people dying for capitalist or colonizing agendas in Gaza, the Sudan, and Congo as I was reading, and the interconnected death capitalism continues to wreak on people who want what we all want: to live safe, good lives.
"Cedar Sings" tells the story of the Salish Coast's environmental destruction through Raven and Cedar.
In "Scarlet Requiem," red sugar maples, a recurring image in this collection, mourn the loss of a mother with the small child left behind.
"The Canoe" tells the story of a father and son struggling to come together after the family's wife and mother has died. The way Maracle writes about grief is evocative and moving.
In my review for My Conversations with Canadians: Essais Series, Book 4 , I talked about the pivotal role that Maracle played and continues to play for Indigenous writers coming up behind her.
She's a unique voice, writer, and thinker and her perspective is worth your time.
I liked First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style , which uses the self-titled opening story to tell a different kind of mythologic story about how men and women come together, all infused with Maracle's wry perspective.
"Goodbye Snauq" explores the challenges of living on and near your ancestral land without control and autonomy to live as your ancestors did, the disconnect that comes with that, and how community and art can capture part of it.
"Blessing Song" is about mothers, daughters and whales, which hold a rich place for Coast Salish people. I love whales, too, so this was a favourite.
"Erotica" explores a woman finding sexual gratification after an unsatisfying first marriage. Also a favourite of mine.
"The Cafe" brims with writing, attraction, ambition and pedestrian reality.
In "Laundry Basket," a woman carves out time for her artistic pursuits within a limiting marriage and discovers her creative power. Another story I loved.
"Tiny Green Waves" is among the collection's most challenging stories. On the surface, the narrator accompanies three colleagues to an academic event and refuses to engage in their gossip. In the depths, the narrator explores her own complicity with colonization, environmental destruction and capitalism.
Maracle writes: "No one in my lineage imagined despots. No one in my lineage imagined genocide of trees, people, stone, or anything else. In our original culture, no one could imagine a whole people who did not have the perfect right to be, to enjoy the gifts of life."
As a settler, I cannot claim the same. It's impossible not to think about people dying for capitalist or colonizing agendas in Gaza, the Sudan, and Congo as I was reading, and the interconnected death capitalism continues to wreak on people who want what we all want: to live safe, good lives.
"Cedar Sings" tells the story of the Salish Coast's environmental destruction through Raven and Cedar.
In "Scarlet Requiem," red sugar maples, a recurring image in this collection, mourn the loss of a mother with the small child left behind.
"The Canoe" tells the story of a father and son struggling to come together after the family's wife and mother has died. The way Maracle writes about grief is evocative and moving.
In my review for My Conversations with Canadians: Essais Series, Book 4 , I talked about the pivotal role that Maracle played and continues to play for Indigenous writers coming up behind her.
She's a unique voice, writer, and thinker and her perspective is worth your time.
January 1, 2018
I was expecting a stereotypical set of women's short stories but this is not that.
As usual I am so taken by her skill as a story teller - a true storyteller not dictated to by the rules of writing or literature but beyond that.
As usual I am so taken by her skill as a story teller - a true storyteller not dictated to by the rules of writing or literature but beyond that.
June 24, 2022
Popsugar 2022 reading challenge #3
Wonderfully written. A collection of short stories depicting Coast Salish lifestyle for women -- covering a wide array of topics. I am a big fan of Lee Maracle's work and think this is a great addition to my pile of Maracle books. Poignant, evocative, and yes -- sometimes angry (as one reviewer suggested) because how can indigenous peoples not express themselves with anger sometimes? How can women not express themselves in anger sometimes? Very *true* depictions of women. I very much enjoyed this series of short stories and hope others will give them a read as well.
Wonderfully written. A collection of short stories depicting Coast Salish lifestyle for women -- covering a wide array of topics. I am a big fan of Lee Maracle's work and think this is a great addition to my pile of Maracle books. Poignant, evocative, and yes -- sometimes angry (as one reviewer suggested) because how can indigenous peoples not express themselves with anger sometimes? How can women not express themselves in anger sometimes? Very *true* depictions of women. I very much enjoyed this series of short stories and hope others will give them a read as well.
February 7, 2011
A collection of short stories. Some quite good, others not so good.
May 10, 2013
Another book for the pre Writer's Festival class. The author is angry at the world. If she hoped, through the short stories, to gain sympathy, she chose an ineffectual method because of the anger.
July 22, 2014
I greatly appreciate the insight into the lives of Coast Saalish women, and Lee Maracle's writing style is wonderfully unique.
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January 22, 2016Good. The last story in this collection ripped me apart.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews