Oil People

A Novel

By: David Huebert

Narrated by: Joshua Browne, Nicole Bauman

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Part generational saga, part eco-gothic fable, Oil People is a luminous debut novel about history and family, land and power, and oil as an object of toxic wonder.

1987: Thirteen-year-old Jade Armbruster lives with her parents and older sister on the family’s vintage oil farm—a decrepit property built by her ancestor. As her parents fight about whether to sell the land and their failing business, Jade struggles to avoid her best-friend-turned-nemesis and vies for the attention of the enigmatic farmer boy. Meanwhile, the oil swirling beneath her family’s home provokes erratic behaviors and offers murky revelations about her family’s history on this land.

1862: Clyde Armbruster catches his big break, striking Lambton County’s first gusher. The discovery brings wealth and opportunity to him and his wife Lise, but his daily proximity to oil leaves him infertile and may be the cause of his alarming, otherworldly visions. At the same time, Clyde and Lise develop an alliance with their eccentric and wealthy neighbors, a relationship that promises even more success until a fateful moment intertwines the two families, locking them into a bitter rivalry that lasts generations.

As the two narratives coalesce, family secrets and deceits are slowly unveiled, and the slick specter of oil seeps off the page, revealing a landscape smeared and stained, yet persistently alive. Intense and visceral, agile and lyrical, Oil People is a molten mirror for the petroleum age, and signals the arrival of a profound and vital voice.

©2024 David Huebert (P)2024 McClelland & Stewart

Critic reviews

“A rich, oozing story, seeping through generations. Huebert's prose is clever and musical, urgent yet subtle. A great accomplishment of eco-fiction, Oil People is an exciting novelistic debut, blending Huebert's signature voice—fresh and unpredictable—with Canadian literary tradition.”
—Fawn Parker, author of What We Both Know

"As hypnotic and shimmering as the oil at its heart, David Huebert's Oil People brings to life the dark family saga of the Armbruster clan, and the beautiful, poisonous lands they claim as their own. This is a dazzling debut."
—Steven Price, author of Lampedusa

“In Oil People, family legacies collide with the ruthless grip of petroleum, land, and greed. History unfolds across generations in this luminous debut novel, weaving a tale of power, secrets, and the haunting allure of oil. Set against the backdrop of Lambton County's vintage oil farm, the Armbruster family grapples with the weight of their legacy. In the late eighties, thirteen-year-old Jade navigates the turmoil of her parents' struggle to save their failing business and the perilous dynamics of teenagehood while uncovering the unsettling truths hidden beneath the oil-soaked soil. Meanwhile, more than a century prior, Clyde Armbruster's discovery of oil propels his family into wealth and opportunity. But the consequences of their prosperity cast a long shadow, blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural. Through taut and intricate storytelling, Huebert masterfully weaves a tale of haunting proportions—one where the spectre isn't solely supernatural but also dark legacy of greed and ambition.”
—Francesca Ekwuyasi, author of Butter Honey Pig Bread