The Book in Search of April Raintree

The book In Search of April Raintree, by Beatrice Culleton Mosionier, is about the trials and tribulations of two sisters growing up in the foster system. The author writes about these two young sisters and writes about the struggles in their lives. She talks about the social system, stereotypes, drug, alcohol abuse, and the girls on-going battle to fit in with society to become ‘normal’.
April Raintree is a twenty-four-year old Métis woman, and she tells a story about herself and her younger sister Cheryl’s lives. As small children, April and Cheryl are taken away from their alcoholic parents and are put into different foster families, where they have different experiences. Cheryl is encouraged to be proud of her Native ancestry by the Macadam’s family and develops a strong and confident identity. April on the other hand is sent to live with the DeRossier family. She suffers through abuse and discrimination against her Métis heritage, which makes her feel a deep shame of belonging to the Métis people and she wishes to lead a ‘white’ life.
As an adult, April tries her best to succeed into white society and she believes she has reached her goal when she marries the white lawyer named Bob Radcliff. Her marriage fails due to the discrimination of her mother-in-law Mrs. Radcliff. But due to the affair of her husband to another woman named Heather and April must confess to herself that she does not fit into white society either. She also finds out that Bob was only married to her in spite of his mother.
Cheryl manages to find her father, and she discovers the truth: Not only were April and Cheryl’s parents unable to take care for their children due to their addiction to alcohol, but their mother also committed suicide because she did not see another way out of her depression and shame. This news destroys Cheryl’s self-identity and function as a trigger of her fateful development. The feelings of disappointment and shame lead Cheryl into a life of