In The Lover, the Lake, Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau crafts a spellbinding, sensual love story, as a response to the stereotypical narrative portraying Indigenous peoples primarily as victims. In Bordeleau's tale, set before the arrival of residential schools in the community, Indigenous people are free to live and love joyously, wholeheartedly. On the shores of the enchanting Lake Abitibi, Wabougouni, an Algonquin woman, meets Gabriel, a Métis trapper, and the two are drawn to each other unreservedly -- even though she is pregnant with another man's child. The Lover, the Lake celebrates the impassioned joy of their intimate connection to each other and to the natural world.