Brian Thomas Issac was born in 1950 on the Okanagan Indian Reserve near Vernon, BC. His first novel, All the Quiet Places won the 2022 Indigenous Voices Award, was a finalist for the Governor General’s and the Amazon Canada First Novel Awards and was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and CBC’s Canada Reads. In May 2025, Bones of a Giant, the second book in a trilogy of the Toma family was released.
Bones of a Giant is a thoughtful yet impactful follow-up to Brian Thomas Isaac’s debut. Set on sun-baked Okanagan Reserve lands, it follows adolescent Lewis Toma as he navigates shifting relationships and growing pains. Through his journey, themes of family, the lasting impacts of residential schools, and the Indian Act are skillfully interwoven. Yet Brian Thomas Isaac also brings moments of levity and dry humor, capturing readers with vibrant characters and emotional resonance in equal measure. Intro here.
Interviewed by Sarah Roberts
Sarah Roberts (SR): Your first novel All the Quiet Places was published relatively late in life (in your seventies). What made you decide to leap into professional writing?
Brian Thomas Isaac (BTI): In short, my wife and I were inspired by a CBC Program called Sad Goat hosted by Bill Richardson that asked readers to send in their stories. We decided we would write stories each week and read them to each other on Friday night. One day my wife bought and gave me tickets to the Penticton Writer’s Conference and suggested I go. When I was there, I found I had won the best short story contest. My wife had submitted one of my stories without me knowing. I realized then that I really enjoyed writing and maybe I could write a novel, so I began to write seriously. I started by reading all the literary award-winning novels I could get my hands on.
I quit school in grade 8 so, until I was 50, my only option was to work so I could look after my family. In school I had always loved writing poetry and reading, so when I retired from bricklaying due to an injury, I was happy to have more time to read. When I began to write, my life and a lot of tears poured out of me onto the paper. It took me many years of writing to hone my skills and to realize writing fiction was easier than biography. But the many years of work and the colourful people in my life provided fodder for many stories.
SR: Bones of a Giant, focuses on the same family as All the Quiet Places — the Toma’s. How did it feel to ease back into the narrative; did you find the character’s voices came back to you?
BTI: When I originally wrote All the Quiet Places it was a saga. But for various reasons, I decided to divide the book in two and only publish the first half, so I had the beginning of a second book already written. But it turned out not to be that easy– I realized I needed to write from a different angle, so I rewrote the entire second half and it became Bones of a Giant.
I find the characters guide the story. As I wrote about Lewis, who had been just a little brother in the first book, his character slowly developed until he had a voice of his own, quite different than Eddie’s. Grace, Isabel and Jimmy were already strong characters, so they drove the plot.
SR: I love the descriptions of the wildlife on the Syilx Okanagan Reserve that are woven through the narrative. Often there’s pauses where we focus on a hawk, or a coyote; how do you remain connected to the natural space as you write?
BTI: In my opinion, I grew up in one of the most beautiful locations in the world. I lived by a river and the bush. And there was a large part of the Reserve we called The Range. It was as if someone had scooped up a large piece of Saskatchewan and dropped it in the mountains above our home where wild horses ran freely. Each area had its own plants and animals. As a young person I spent most of my time out of doors.
In the books, I wanted to reflect that because, for me, the outdoors was what helped me to survive the actions of the adults around me. It was my “Fortress of Solitude.” (as in Superman) The nature scenes are a part of me.
SR: There are many difficult themes in your writing- colonialism, alcoholism and domestic violence; among others; but there’s also real humor too; how do you balance these two tones in your work?
BTI: I would identify colonialism/racism and misogyny/sexism as the themes that run deeply through Bones of a Giant. It was important to me that alcoholism and domestic violence were not central to this book, because those are only two of the many consequences of colonization and racism.
Humor is how people get through bad times the world over. I have a friend who is Irish, and we share similar stories. Our cultures were both colonized and ruled by the Catholic church, so it makes sense that we would laugh at the same things.
There was a lot of humor in my household growing up. My uncles and aunts loved to laugh. (Alphonse [Lewis’ uncle] is loosely based on my uncles). Laughter is how we survived.
SR: You’ve had some amazing success as a writer; including being a finalist for the Governor General’s award and winning a 2022 Indigenous Voices Award; what is next for you? Will you continue to tell the Toma family’s story?
BTI: I am almost finished my third novel in the Toma trilogy. After I finish this book, I do not think I will write another novel about the Toma family. I’ll take a break and then decide what I want to write about next. I live to write and can hardly wait to get in front of my computer each day. I am sure I will start a new project fairly quickly.