In the grinding poverty of the post-war prairies, little Amélie Marchand always seems to be in the way. The youngest daughter of dirt-poor French-Canadian farmers, she must negotiate linguistic tensions, familial secrets, and the coldness of her unstable mother. In this fraught context, her adolescence is punctuated by personal tragedy, social clashes, and trauma at the hands of an abusive uncle.

Fleeing to the city, Amélie attains higher education and becomes a journalist, forming a thick carapace. She redefines herself as Am, a confident reporter who thrives on independence and adventure. But will that be enough to silence the voices of her past?

Am travels the world in her new life as a foreign correspondent. In an evolving political and social backdrop, her fractured identity often mirrors the communities on which she reports. She recognizes that suffering is ubiquitous; everyone is trying to find meaning, grow, and heal. In her tireless search for personal truth, Am learns that her voice can make a difference.

As a daughter, sister, wife, and mother, Arti Auburne depicts women’s lives with an authentic and evocative voice. Arti’s reflections on the patriarchy were fuelled by a new urgency when her own child posted #MeToo. In Truth resulted from these musings, a clarion call for the validation of women’s realities and subjectivities.

Like the protagonist in her novel, Arti hails from Canada and spent much of her adulthood in foreign lands. Many of the details in her fiction are derived from her journal entries, which document people, places, and events encountered across decades and continents.

She now lives in a prairie city with her spouse and rescue dog, while her grown family resides overseas. Between visits, Arti stretches her heartstrings virtually and is in search of the best hiking trails.