CULTURE CLUB
CAMBRIDGE EDITION Book Club Supernatural noir, mysterious historical fantasy and incredible encounters with the great outdoors – these are our top April reads
WORDS BY CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
Bad Cree BY JESSICA JOHNS
Set in Canada, this unsettling debut novel follows Mackenzie, a young Cree woman that’s begun to have disturbing visions at night. She’ll be holding a crow’s severed head in her hands or finding herself underwater, struggling to breathe – yet when she blinks awake, the bird disappears and she’s back on dry land, wrestling with the horror of her nightmares. She contacts family for reassurance, but the dreams keep coming; her mind is taking her back in time, forcing her to return to the scene of a family lakeside holiday, before the unexpected death of elder sister Sabrina. And no matter how hard she tries to
outrun the past, she cannot escape her own head. Plagued by increasingly disturbing visions and haunted by crows around the city of Vancouver, Mackenzie decides to return home to Alberta, where her family welcome her with open arms. Ever so slowly, she starts to uncover the truth about her sister’s death and the significance of that holiday. Steeped in Cree tradition, the complicated dynamics found in strong families and the perennial challenges of coming-of-age, this novel smoulders its way towards a gripping, supernatural and unforgettable conclusion.
FAMILY AFFAIR Bad Cree is a tension-filled debut filled with rich characters, dark mysticism and generational trauma
22 APRIL 2023 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
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