Vancouver, British Columbia Aug 20, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Now available on YouTube, the soundtrack video serves as a thematic companion to the book, tracing one woman’s journey from an oppressive surveillance-driven society into the uncertain freedom of the wilderness beyond.
The lyric video reflects the emotional and political landscape of East’s novel through imagery of confinement, resistance, and escape. Set against a society where movement is monitored and personal autonomy is increasingly restricted, the video follows characters struggling to preserve conscience, memory, and human connection within systems built on fear and control. Figures such as Marvin and Levi embody the resilience of individuals who continue to endure and resist despite the pressures imposed around them.
Set in Minneapolis in the year 2039, Sanctuary imagines a near-future America in which Homeland Security tracks citizens through ID swipes, surveillance cameras, and tightly regulated travel permits. Industrial pollution is accepted as the cost of economic stability, corporate influence shapes public policy, and news reporting is manipulated to sustain political narratives. At the center of the story is Janet Ryan, a newspaper reporter who has spent years rewriting stories she knows to be false while gradually recognizing the extent of the illusion surrounding her world.
When Janet’s parents disappear into a rural underground community seeking refuge from the surveillance state, she is forced to confront the widening divide between comfort and truth. Her search leads her beyond the city into a hidden network of people living outside institutional control, including Anishinaabe elders, civil rights activists, and families committed to self-sufficient living. Within this isolated community, Janet encounters an alternative way of life shaped by memory, responsibility, and connection to the land.
Rather than presenting “Sanctuary” solely as a physical refuge, the novel frames it as a broader exploration of freedom, belonging, and moral choice. Through its combination of dystopian suspense, social critique, and spiritual reflection, the story examines what remains of personal identity and human connection within systems increasingly defined by surveillance and institutional power.
East draws on nearly two decades of work with American Indian tribes in the Midwest to shape the Indigenous community at the center of the novel. Characters such as Old Woman, a keeper of stories and cultural memory, contribute a spiritual and generational dimension that deepens the narrative beyond conventional dystopian fiction. These elements ground the novel’s speculative framework in lived experience, tradition, and questions of cultural continuity.
Karen East is a retired marriage and family therapist who worked with American Indian tribes in the Midwest for nineteen years. She is the mother of two children, grandmother to one grandson, and great-grandmother to four great-granddaughters. She lives in northern Wisconsin.
The official book soundtrack for Sanctuary is now streaming on YouTube. The book can be purchased on Amazon and other major digital bookstores.
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