It took
15 years to write her debut novel, WHITE, and it couldn’t be more relevant today.WHITE follows the story of a young woman, Sarah Cartell, who grows up in a white supremacist family, rejects those views, then seeks to take down the movement from within - with dire consequences.
The story was inspired by a friend of Rubin’s who infiltrated a white nationalist women’s group in Montreal in the 1990s. Rubin also drew from her own experience as an anti-fascist and anti-racist activist in Toronto in the 1990s. Back then, the likes of Ernst Zundel, the Heritage Front and others were flourishing in Canada and the United States, where they pushed the boundaries between free speech and hate speech.
Rubin’s book provides the reader with a literary infiltration, taking us deep into the lives and lies that fringe movements are built on. In an era of Proud Boys and with the meteoric rise (and acceptance) of the Alt Right, Rubin’s book offers not only insight but a slim chance of redemption.
Aviva Rubin is a Toronto-based writer of memoir, essays and social commentary. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Toronto Life and Zoomer as well as numerous anthologies. Rubin is the author of the memoir, Lost and Found in Lymphomaland, a harrowing and funny trip through a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Her debut novel WHITE, explores racism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism & intergenerational trauma.
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