CANORA – Even though she only recently published her first book, Threads of Freedom and Home, Helen Price of Canora is already an award winner.
She has been named the 2026 winner of the Christlit Book Award, which is an internationally- recognized program honoring exceptional Christian literature and authors who integrate faith into their writing, according to christlitbookaward.com.
But anyone who expects a book from a Christian author to be laid back and suspense-free is in for a surprise in this action-packed story.
Threads of Freedom and Home is a work of historical fiction taking place in 19th century central Canada, and includes characters that were part of the Canadian portion of the Underground Railroad, which was active until the United States banned slavery in 1865. If that wasn’t dangerous enough, the central characters have their lives threatened by a treacherous and morally compromised mayor who is suspected in the growing list of mysterious disappearances of coloured and religious people. But even in the most dangerous times, they continually circle back to focus on their faith and the power of prayer.
At the same time, the three main characters are involved somewhat of a love triangle. Even though the two men are attracted to the same woman, they overcome their natural rivalry to respect each other and even fight to protect each other as they face life-threatening circumstances. After the shock of losing of a friend and family member to senseless brutality, they find a way to turn the situation into a unifying force.
Even when the featured characters are facing death and uncertainty Price’s writing has a comfortable rhythm to it, seemingly similar to riding one of the horses that are prominent in the story. Each chapter is written from the perspective of one of the three main characters.
Price chose to feature a few words of the rapidly disappearing Nakoda language in the story. For example, “Aba Wath-tech” translates to “Hello.”
“I chose Nakoda because it’s part of the history woven into the land where the story takes place- a history that is fading,” said Price. “The language itself is considered extinct, with only a few people speaking it.”
Threads of Freedom and Home takes place in the Canadian portion of Rupert’s Land, which took in the entire Hudson Bay drainage basin. This area included present-day Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, parts of Ontario and Quebec, and extended into northern regions of the United States such as Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana.
Helen Price was born in Ellensberg, Washington, southeast of Seattle and moved around a lot in her formative years, eventually coming to Canada. She now has dual citizenship.
Her interest in writing is pretty much a lifelong passion.
“I started writing and ‘making books” in Grade 1. The idea for this book came to me a number of years ago, but I wrote most of it in November 2025.”
Price said the book was completed as a two-person team, with her husband Chris Price helping with the setup and editing sides of the project.
The book is printed to be friendly to dyslexic readers, with a heavy weighting to the letters so they don’t flip during reading, along with more spacing than normal, also dyslexic-friendly.
Threads of Freedom and Home is available online through Amazon. For those who would like to contact Helen Price directly, her email is helens.sound.ideas@gmail.com.
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