--- description: Find out why "Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands" by Kate Beaton is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. title: 'Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b63cc853151c7a/698a37b086f68e26526f1dcb/Ducks.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 14, 2022 # Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Though readers may associate Kate Beaton with the quirky, light-hearted humor of her historical digital comic series _Hark! A Vagrant_, she gives the medium a more sobering treatment with her first full-length graphic memoir _Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands_. It’s a searing and layered account of Beaton’s harrowing experiences working in Alberta’s oil fields to pay off her student loans. Over her two years in the oil sands, Beaton works long, high-risk shifts during which she confronts her complicity in [Big Oil](https://time.com/collection-post/6156525/gas-prices-oil-prices-oil-and-gas-industry/ "undefined") in spite of its environmental consequences and harm to Indigenous peoples. But the danger posed isn’t just to the natural resources and land of Alberta, Canada. As one of few women working in the field, Beaton faces routine sexism and sexual harassment, and eventually rape, which she draws as a stark parallel to the effects of oil companies on the land in this complex and unforgettable personal narrative. —_Cady Lang_ **Buy Now**: _Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781770462892 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3WOVy8M "undefined") **Contact us at** [letters@time.com](mailto:letters@time.com?subject=%28READER%20FEEDBACK%29%20Stay%20True&body=https%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2Fcollection-post%2F6228627%2Fstay-true%2F "undefined")**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228477/ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228477/ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/"},"headline":"'Ducks' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022","datePublished":"2022-11-14T12:58:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:11:28.775Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228477/ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b63cc853151c7a/698a37b086f68e26526f1dcb/Ducks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b63cc853151c7a/698a37b086f68e26526f1dcb/Ducks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2022/6228477/ducks-two-years-in-the-oil-sands/","name":"'Ducks' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022"}}]}] ```