The Back of the Turtle (2014) is a bestselling novel by Canadian American author Thomas King. King is of Cherokee Greek descent and has garnered acclaim for his novels about Indigenous Canadian experiences, including The Inconvenient Indian and Green Grass Running Water. The Back of the Turtle won King the Governor General’s literary award.

The narrative follows Gabriel Quinn, a member of the First Nations community of Lethbridge, Alberta, as he returns to his family’s home of Samaritan Bay. Years earlier, while employed by the biotech company Domidion, Gabriel inadvertently created a bacterium called GreenSweep that leaked into the local water supply and decimated Samaritan Bay’s Indigenous community. Now, he must reckon with the destruction he’s caused. King weaves satirical humor, real-world allegories, and Indigenous mythology into a sweeping narrative that encompasses themes of community, rebirth, and the toll of human intervention in the natural world.

This study guide refers to the 2014 HarperCollins edition of The Back of the Turtle.

Content warning: The novel depicts suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.

Plot Summary

Gabriel Quinn, a brilliant scientist, goes missing from the Toronto headquarters of biotech giant Domidion and turns up weeks later in the town of Samaritan Bay. Gabriel is a First Nations man with familial roots on the Smoke River Reserve and Samaritan Bay in British Columbia. As a teenager, his family was broken up when he and his father Joe moved to Minneapolis for a job opportunity with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. After Joe was subsequently killed in the line of duty, Gabriel chose a Stanford education over returning home to his mother Rose and sister Little, causing them to grow estranged.

Years ago, while working at Domidion, Gabriel helped create GreenSweep, a deadly genetically modified bacterium that wiped out the Smoke River Reserve, killing plant life, animals, and humans. Rose and Little were among the victims. Unable to live with his guilt, Gabriel returns to the site of the tragedy, intending to drown himself in the ocean. As he waits for the waves to overtake him, a young girl appears in the water. Gabriel saves her, then rescues the many other people who appear amidst the waves. His suicide attempt is interrupted, and he returns to the shore. He meets the surviving residents of Samaritan Bay, but he does not tell them about his past with Domidion or about his role in the Bay’s devastation. Among those he meets is a woman named Mara Reid. Mara once lived on the Smoke River Reserve with Rose and Little but left to pursue an artistic career in Toronto. She returned after her family was killed by GreenSweep.

The town’s remaining residents are trying to rebuild their lives. They’re led by the enigmatic Nicholas Crisp, a man implied to have oracular abilities. Crisp knows that Gabriel’s return to his family’s home heralds a new beginning for the shattered community. King incorporates the First Nations creation myth “The Woman Who Fell from the Sky” into the novel, where it parallels the rebirth of Samaritan Bay.

With Crisp’s gentle encouragement, Gabriel forms tentative bonds with Mara and other survivors. He learns more about the final years of his mother’s and sister’s lives, finding closure in the knowledge that his sister named her baby after him. Gabriel eventually comes clean to Mara about his culpability in the deaths of both of their families. Though she initially lashes out in anger and encourages him to carry out another suicide attempt, she later shows up to rescue him when he does just that.

Running parallel to the events in Samaritan Bay is the story of Dorian Asher, Domidion’s CEO, as he searches for Gabriel and deals with the many environmental disasters wrought by the company’s unethical practices. Isolated from all human connections and concerned only with Domidion’s profits, Dorian doesn’t care how many people die in service of the company’s scientific “progress.” As controversies continue to surface, Dorian and his PR team rewrite the truth through the media, deflecting responsibility again and again. It becomes clear throughout the book that Dorian is likely terminally ill, and his own mortality is the only thing that seems to affect him.

The Back of the Turtle ends with the revival of Samaritan Bay. The people of the recovering community, led by Crisp, come together to protect the town from a second disaster when a ship laden with the toxic remnants of GreenSweep drifts to their shores. Flora and fauna return to the town, and new residents arrive along with them. Gabriel overcomes his suicidality through the bonds he’s formed with others, and a pocket of hope forms among the larger tragedies of the narrative as the local community begins to flourish once again.