Medicine for Strength

For generations, the patriarchy held everyone in a tight fist, but after a mysterious virus devolved society's worst into literal monsters, women and marginalized communities have been freed of its clutches.

This could be a world where people can hold their heads high, speak their minds, wear whatever they want, and most of all, hope for a better future-one where violence is no longer normalized.

This could be a world where the infected learn from their actions now that they're wearing the consequences in the curve of their spines, the set of their jaws.

But who is Delilah without violence?

Shaped by the disappearance of her cousin, Cedar, and the lack of justice surrounding the abuse and murder of Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people, Delilah took matters into her own hands, killing anyone she deemed a danger.

Now that Karma stepped in and started calling the shots, Delilah no longer needs to be the judge, jury, and executioner. Will all of this unlearning carve her into something else entirely?

If In the Hands of Men was unapologetic rage, Medicine for Strength is the unpacking of that anger in search of a path forward. With elements of restorative justice, rematriation, language revitalization, self-exploration, and forgiveness, this standalone sequel continuously questions what it means to heal.

WHY WE PICKED IT

We picked this book for Gin Sexsmith, and how her work brings an introspective, unapologetic speculative lens to love, identity, sexuality, trauma, and mental illness. We were especially drawn to the way her writing carries questions of restorative justice, rematriation, language revitalization, and healing forward with both purpose and imagination.

DETAILS • Author: Gin Sexsmith • Publisher: Gilded Press • Format: Paperback