Lost in the Barrens is a 1956 middle grade novel based loosely on the lived experiences of author Farley Mowat. Mowat’s experiences in the remote wilderness of northern Canada inspired an adult version of the saga, People of the Deer (1952), and the children’s adaptation. He is known for blending survival narratives with intricate details about the Canadian northern wilderness. Mowat is best known for Never Cry Wolf (1963), which Disney adapted for film in 1983. His works have sold over 17 million copies and have earned many accolades, including the Governor General’s Award (Lost in the Barrens) and the Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award in 1958. Mowat was an active environmentalist and member of the Green Party, though his works have been criticized for unrealistic portrayals of animals. His works have been compared to works by other wilderness survival and nature writers such as Gary Paulsen, Craig Childs, Jack London, and Iain Lawrence.

This guide refers to the 1956 Atlantic-Little, Brown edition.

Content Warning: The source text uses outdated and offensive language to name and describe Indigenous and First Nations peoples. Please note that this guide uses the term “Denésuliné” to refer to Indigenous people identified in the source text as “Chipeweyan.” Although “Chipeweyan” or “Chipewyan” were frequently used exonyms at the time the text was published, Denésuliné is the endonym with which this Indigenous group widely identifies.

Plot Summary

Jamie Macnair was orphaned seven years ago when his parents died in a car accident. He has been in a boarding school in Toronto, Canada, ever since. His education is funded by Angus Macnair, his fur-trapping paternal uncle who lives near the Canadian Arctic. Now Angus has invited Jamie to the wilderness to live and learn from him, and Jamie has accepted. He takes the train from Toronto to The Pas and meets his uncle, and the wilderness, head-on.

A year of living in the log cabin with Angus passes. Jamie befriends a Cree boy named Awasin, whose father, Alphonse, is the chief and Angus’s close friend.

One day, Angus announces that he and Alphonse must travel south by canoe to sell their furs. Jamie will stay with Awasin in the Cree camp. After the men depart, Awasin’s mother, Marie, puts the boys to work, a monotony that is happily shattered when Denikazi, leader of a band of Denésuliné (referred to in the text as “Chipeweyan”), appears and asks to speak to the chief. Awasin and his uncle Solomon learn that the Denésuliné camp with whom they once warred is now near starvation. They ask for ammunition to hunt caribou in the Barrens, far to the north. Awasin wants to give Denikazi the ammunition, but he’s worried the request is a trick. He gets his mother’s permission to travel back to the Denésuliné camp to find out what the truth is and to give him ammunition if Denikazi is telling the truth. Jamie accompanies Awasin north to the camp.

After several days of hard paddling, the boys arrive at the Denésuliné camp to find that Denikazi is telling the truth. Awasin is ready to hand over the ammunition when he realizes that the Denésuliné expect him and Jamie to go on the hunt. Awasin sends word to his mother that they will return in two weeks, and the boys follow Denikazi and his hunting party north to the Barrens.

After a long journey, Denikazi finds the hunting grounds empty of caribou and decides to push further north into enemy territory. The Denésuliné and Inuit are enemies with a long history of violent clashes. Denikazi decides it is too dangerous to take the boys and leaves two men to guard them along the banks until he returns with the deer meat. Jamie and Awasin are restless along the lakeshore. Once their babysitters depart for a short hunt in the nearby brush, Jamie convinces Awasin to join him in the canoe for a two-day trip to see a nearby structure called the Great Stone House. Awasin joins him, and aided by a strong wind, they paddle down the lake and into a river. Soon, the canoe is caught in rapids. Jamie is thrown out and knocked unconscious, and his leg is badly injured. Awasin saves himself, Jamie, and what’s left of their canoe and supplies. The strong wind has pushed them far from Denikazi’s camp.

When Jamie awakens, he cannot walk. They survey what they have and know that they cannot walk the length of the lake back to Denikazi’s camp. They decide to wait until Jamie heals, then try to intercept Denikazi in the Barrens, where the caribou graze. They spend several days in the Barrens, including a day where they fish and explore the Great Stone House. Jamie finds artifacts that he believes to be Viking. They decide to wait along the river once they realize that Denikazi will have to pass their position to return to the lake that will lead them home. However, in the night Denikazi is startled and believes the Inuit have found them. His men paddle past the sleeping boys on the shore. It takes the boys several days to realize they have been left behind. They decide they will spend the winter in the Barrens.

The boys spend the next months preparing to face winter on the Barrens. Reluctantly, they kill many does for meat and hides and, in the process, befriend an orphaned fawn. In the search for firewood, they stumble upon a valley and decide to build a cabin there. They enjoy a simple but pleasant life in the valley with the fawn until it is killed by wolves. When the bucks arrive, they kill several dozen and process the meat and furs for winter, though both are scarred by the experience of slaughtering the bucks. Awasin’s survival skills are instrumental in ensuring the boys are well-prepared for winter while Jamie’s ingenuity allows for the creation of their nontraditional cabin. The boys respect one another’s contrasting temperament and skill sets, and each relies on the strengths of the other. This delicate balance contributes greatly to their survival. One day, they find two huskies, which they soon domesticate and attach to a makeshift sled. Winter hits, and it is cold and brutal, but they have worked hard and have plenty of food, a nice cabin, warmth, and the companionship of dogs. Aside from boredom, they are content.

When a break in the harsh winter comes, the boys load the sled and head south, only to be debilitated by snow blindness while the dogs eat all their meat. Jamie has an epiphany when he realizes that survival depends on working with nature, not against it, and that they must return to their cabin in the valley to wait for nature to prepare a path for them. However, a blizzard sweeps over the Barrens, and they are lost and freezing. Jamie falls unconscious from cold and fatigue, and Awasin again saves him, pulling him onto the sled. Awasin is nearly dead himself when the dogs lead them to an igloo. Awasin crawls inside, dragging Jamie, and they pass out.

The next day, an Inuit boy arrives, and Awasin nearly kills him before Jamie intervenes. The boy, named Peetyuk, speaks English. He is part Inuit, part white, the son of a trapper who was injured and lost in the Barrens. He invites the boys back to his Inuit camp, where the community welcomes, feeds, and nurses them to health. When they are ready, Peetyuk’s family guides Awasin and Jamie home. They leave Peetyuk with the boys so he can learn about his Western family origins.

Reunited with the Cree and soon after with Angus, the boys are overjoyed as they describe their adventures and rescue by the Inuit. Peetyuk stays with the Macnair men for many years and is friends with the Cree.