This book was hard to read, and it is a fictionalized version of what could have and happened to Indigenous children and families. In this story we follow the lives of Lucy, Clara, Maisie, Kenny, and Howie, the five referred to in the title, along with those who are part of their lives. We see the experiences of children in residential schools here in Canada, and the effects that trauma had and still has on them and their families as time goes on. This was hard to read because it sounds atrocious as a made up story, but even more so because we know it was real. I thank and appreciate the author sharing this story, influenced by her mother's own experiences, and to all survivors who share the trauma they went through so that the rest of us can learn and hopefully change society so that these horrors stop happening.