A renowned writer investigates the dark and shocking background of her prairie home.

When researching the first occupant of her Saskatoon house, Candace Savage discovers a family more amazing and heartbreaking than she expected.

Napoléon Sureau dit Blondin built the home in the 1920s, a time when French-speakers like him were deemed “unwanted” with the politics and social top notch, who searched for to populate the Canadian prairies with WASPs just. In an atmosphere poisoned first by the Orange Purchase and then from the Ku Klux Klan, Napoléon and his young family adopted anglicized brands and did their best to disguise their “foreignness.”

In Strangers in the House, Savage scours public record information and historical accounts and interviews several of Napoléon’s descendants, including his youngest son, to reveal a family story designated by problem and resilience. Along the way, she examines a troubling show in Canadian background, one with surprising relevance today.