Nazaire Poulin, a grain grower from Quebec, wants his old life back, but the sudden death of his spouse and the removal of his children have flipped his world upside down. He can’t afford seed money for his coming summer crop. 

He is a man lost. 

His spouse is dead—his children are taken—his land is at risk. 

What man wouldn’t fight for what is his? 

A dog-eared letter written in 1900 sits on the kitchen table. The last line reads, “If things bad at home, tell brothers come.” Come to the Dawson gold fields. 

The Klondike Gold Rush has been over for a decade. Is it too late to find gold or a job rumored to pay six dollars a day? A spark of hope flashes in Nazaire’s body. Dare he go? 

Everything that Nazaire has is at risk as he ventures thousands of miles from home on a long shot. Many men have gone. Most returned broken, while some starved on the way. 

Nazaire Poulin embarks on a 4,000-mile journey with his youngest brother, Raoul. They cross Canada from Quebec to Winnipeg, walking through the Prairies to Edmonton, and then bridging the Rocky Mountains. Heartbreak, insult, and anger follow him, but an unlikely friendship with an Ojibway shaman turns his loss to hope. This exciting adventure story based on the real lives of five brothers brings Nazaire from despair to joy as he fights through the challenges that would flatten a lesser man. 

This novel, The Long Shot, is Joyce Derenas’ debut novel about Nazaire Poulin’s incredible courage and resilience during one of Quebec’s darkest hours. It’s a slice-of-life portrait of a nation as it struggles to create stability amidst the chaos of a world depression.