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Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

A novel about an Indigenous character's attempt to reconnect with their land and culture.

A novel about an Indigenous character's attempt to reconnect with their land and culture

CBC Books Posted: Jan 09, 2023 2:15 PM EST | Last Updated: July 8

Red book cover with the silhouette of birds on a wire.

When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears.

Night after night, Mackenzie's dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina's untimely death: a weekend at the family's lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too a murder of crows stalks her every move around the city, she wakes up from a dream of drowning throwing up water, and gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone.

Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams and make them more dangerous.

What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina's death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside?

(From HarperCollins Canada)

Bad Creewaschampioned by Dallas Soonias on Canada Reads 2024.

Meet the Canada Reads 2024 contenders

The debates will air from march 4-7onCBC Radio One,CBC TV,CBC Gem,CBC Listenand onCBC Books.This year, the great Canadian book debate is looking for one book to carry us forward.

Jessica Johns is a Edmonton-based writer, visual artistandmember of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory in northern Alberta. Johns won the2020 Writers' TrustJourney Prizefor the short storyBad Cree, which evolved into the novel of the same name.

Jessica Johns on the inspiration behindBad Cree

"I really wanted to represent, in this novel, the important relationships that aunties have had in my life."

I really wanted to represent, in this novel, the important relationships that aunties have had in my life.- Jessica Johns

"And the aunties in the novel are a mishmash of all of my aunties in small ways and one of the things that I wanted to do was also kind of subvert this idea of the 'all-knowing' native person. That's kind of funny to me because all of the brilliant people in my life, all of the Indigenous people who are so, so brilliant are also very human and flawed and complex."

Interviews with Jessica Johns

The Next Chapter19:53Canada Reads Panellist Dallas Soonias and Bad Cree author Jessica Johns meet for the first time

Former professional volleyball player and filmmaker Dallas Soonias explore why he chose the novel Bad Cree by Jessica Johns as Canadas must-read book. The Indigenous author gives us a glimpse into the tense and often terrifying world of her novel.

Canada Reads6:14Jessica Johns on Airplay in Whitehorse

Jessica Johns's debut novel Bad Cree is one of the five finalist for Canada Reads 2024. She spoke with CBC Radio's Dave White on Airplay in Whitehorse.

The Next Chapter2:42Jessica Johns blurs the lines between dreams and reality in Bad Cree (Encore: February 25, 2023)

Jessica Johns reveals the inspiration behind her critically acclaimed debut novel.

Yukon Morning8:10The author behind the haunting book Bad Cree is speaking at the next Indigenous Book Club

The novel Bad Cree tells a haunting story where dreams, family and spirits collide. It's the current read for the Indigenous Book Club with Yukon Public Library. We talk to the author, Jessica Johns.

The Next Chapter2:52Jessica Johns on Bad Cree

Jessica Johns on the inspiration behind her book, Bad Cree.

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