By the Last Winter Moon
Mary Elizabeth Aubé

The captivating family saga of a woman in the Great Lakes fur trade.

Longing to reconnect with the spirit of her French fur trader father who abandoned her at Mackinac when she was young, Ozaawamik recounts her life story to him in imagined letters. She tells of growing up in the fur trade and its influence on who she married, how she raised her many children, and her choices during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Insistent questions fill her heart: By bringing the fur trade to her people, has she helped or betrayed them? Has she upheld the principles of mino-bimaadiziwin, the Anishinaabe way of leading a good life? Sensing this may be her final winter, she hopes that telling her story will bring answers.

In this novel about competing family loyalties, oneness with nature, and an enduring love that could only come about in the fur trade, Ozaawamik speaks with a warmhearted and sly voice never before heard in fiction.

“A fascinating novel which offers a new perspective on the Mackinac fur trade through the eyes of Ozaawamik, an Anishinaabe woman also known as Elizabeth Bertrand Mitchell. Through the lives of Ozaawamik and her family, Aubé leads the reader to consider what it means to live with feet in multiple cultures.” —Lynn Evans, Curator of Archaeology, Mackinac State Historic Parks

“By the Last Winter Moon introduces us to a Mackinac fur trade family through relationships created by birth, marriage, separation, trade, and death during a time of great change spanning the French, British, and American eras. At the heart of this gripping story is the recognition that ‘the family and trade are one.'” —Keith R. Widder, author of Beyond Pontiac’s Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763

Mary Elizabeth Aubé grew up on the southern coast of Lake Erie, in Cleveland, Ohio, and has made her home for many years in Toronto, Ontario, on Lake Ontario’s northern shore. She writes fiction and nonfiction related to the French presence in North America and has published in The Sycamore Review and Résonance.

PAGES: 369
PRINT EDITION ISBN: 978-1-0677031-0-3
EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-0677031-1-0
PUBLICATION DATE: October 15, 2026
COVER: © Kilby Smith-McGregor

Available starting October 15th on Amazon.