Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Novels by Cree Writers

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Bad Cree

A Novel

by Jessica Johns
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • Jan 10, 2023, 272 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 2023, 256 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Novels by Cree Writers

This article relates to Bad Cree

Print Review

Jessica Johns, the author of Bad Cree, is a member of the Sucker Creek First Nation in Northern Alberta. The Cree, or ininiw, who also refer to themselves as nêhiyawak (Plains Cree), nihithaw (Woodland Cree) and nèhinaw (Swampy Cree), are the largest group of Indigenous peoples in Canada, and live in areas stretching from Alberta to Quebec. Below are a few other recent novels written by Cree authors.

A Minor Chorus coverA Minor Chorus (2022) by Billy-Ray Belcourt

Billy-Ray Belcourt, an acclaimed poet and memoirist from the Driftpile Cree Nation, published his debut novel A Minor Chorus in 2022. Like Bad Cree, A Minor Chorus features a first-person narrator who has been living in a city and returns home to rural Alberta. This unnamed main character is a queer Cree student who leaves his graduate program in Edmonton, Alberta to write a novel, interviewing locals from his hometown in the process. The result is a deep exploration of queer and Indigenous identity that Publishers Weekly describes as "a breathtaking and hypnotic achievement."

Probably Ruby coverProbably Ruby (2022) by Lisa Bird-Wilson

In her debut novel Probaby Ruby, Lisa Bird-Wilson, a Cree-Métis writer, chronicles the life of Ruby, a Métis woman raised by white parents, showing her struggles with romantic relationships, her attempts to reconnect with her heritage, and the larger legacy of trauma from forced adoption and residential schools that stretches around her. Like Belcourt, Bird-Wilson comes to novel-writing with a background in poetry, and approaches her subject with evocative imagery, occasional humor and a light touch.

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour coverThe Prairie Chicken Dance Tour (2021) by Dawn Dumont

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Leacock Medal for Humour, is a comedic novel by author Dawn Dumont, from the Okanese Cree Nation, that follows a group of Indigenous dancers touring Europe in the 1970s. Among the dancers are a woman with arthritis, her 19-year-old niece, a retired cowboy and a mysterious American. The tour soon goes awry and the odd pack embarks on a string of escapades.

The Lover the Lake coverThe Lover, the Lake (2021) by Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau

Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau is a Cree and Métis writer from Quebec, and a member of the First Nation of Waswanipi. The Lover, the Lake, originally published in French and now available in an English translation by Susan Ouriou, follows a love affair between the characters Wabougouni and Gabriel on the shores of Lake Abitibi. It is considered to be the first erotic novel by an Indigenous woman in French, but the publisher's description states that Bordeleau "would rather call it a celebration of sensuality, another first." In her prologue, she writes, "My hope is that this novel will serve to unearth the seed of joy buried deep in our culture, still profoundly alive...The Lover, the Lake shows us that we are not just suffering and victims: we can also be pleasure."

Kiss of the Fur Queen coverKiss of the Fur Queen (2021) by Tomson Highway

Kiss of the Fur Queen is a bestselling novel by the playwright Tomson Highway, a member of the Barren Lands First Nation, who is also the son of world championship dogsled racer Joe Highway and artist Pelagie Highway. Kiss of the Fur Queen follows two boys, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis, who are forced to attend a Catholic residential school, where they are watched over by a trickster figure known as the Fur Queen.

Filed under Reading Lists

Article by Elisabeth Cook

This "beyond the book article" relates to Bad Cree. It originally ran in February 2023 and has been updated for the December 2023 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access become a member today.
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
    by Lynda Cohen Loigman
    Lynda Cohen Loigman's delightful novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern opens in 1987. The titular ...
  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Read the best books first...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.