A story that will rip your heart out and put it back in place, Hopeless in Hope by Wanda John-Kehewin is a forthright story about families.

Nevaeh, Eva to those she is closest to, lives with her brother, her nohkum and Shirley, her mother, who is a struggling alcoholic. As long as Nohkum is around, Eva feels safe and happy but she always has anxieties, or monkeys in her brain that cause her to worry about not having a safe home. When Nohkum is hospitalized, Eva and her little brother are taken from their mother and placed in care. Eva is angry and hurt but slowly finds her way to healing through the love of her nohkum, the group home caretaker Grace and her mother’s old journal.

In this story, readers will get intimate knowledge of how the residential school system affects Indigenous youth still today. Although titled Hopeless in Hope, this story is in fact filled with hope. Wanda John-Kehewin writes about the hurt and the anger that exists among those whose ancestors attended the schools but also shows a way to healing. Readers are never left completely shattered by Eva’s story as there is always a kind person there to help hold her up when she needs it, even if she doesn’t realize she does.

I appreciated the supporting characters in this story. From the educators who are helping Eva achieve success at school, to Grace the group home mother whose genuine love and kindness to those in her care is an example for all would be foster parents and to the other youth in the group home who help Eva come to some realizations about her mother.

The devise of Shirley’s journal in the story to help Eva along her healing journey is ingenious. When there is mountains of hurt, hearing people can be challenging but the written word has the power to penetrate the walls we can so easily place around ourselves. I appreciated the fact that nokhum took responsibility for her part in the struggles but helps Eva come to healing with her mother.

The poetry interludes throughout from Eva are powerful and, like Shirley’s journal, provide a devise to breakdown walls and communicate feelings in different way, a way that perhaps feels safer.

Hopeless in Hope is a beautiful story about healing.