Books
Crow Winter (HarperAvenue, 2019)
Nanabush. A name that has a certain weight on the tongue—a taste. Like lit sage in a windowless room or aluminum foil on a metal filling.
Trickster. Storyteller. Shape-shifter. An ancient troublemaker with the power to do great things, only he doesn’t want to put in the work.
Since coming home to Spirit Bear Point First Nation, Hazel Ellis has been dreaming of an old crow. He tells her he’s here to help her, save her. From what, exactly? Sure, her dad’s been dead for almost two years and she hasn’t quite reconciled that grief, but is that worth the time of an Algonquin demigod?
Soon Hazel learns that there’s more at play than just her own sadness and doubt. The quarry that’s been lying unsullied for over a century on her father’s property is stirring the old magic that crosses the boundaries between this world and the next. With the aid of Nanabush, Hazel must unravel a web of deceit that, if left untouched, could destroy her family and her home on both sides of the Medicine Wheel.
“Full of spirit, love, mystery and good medicine, Crow Winter tells the story of Hazel and one very tricky little crow. Karen McBride’s debut novel ambitiously and successfully balances all these things creating a world and story that will stay with you after you have turned that last page.”
“An honest and poignant portrayal of land claims, kinship, land, family, settler colonialism, and loss steeped in rich Anishnaabeg oratories that offer us skill sets into how to mend our mourning...McBride enters the scene in the wake of Eden Robinson’s Trickster trilogy and Tracey Lindberg’s Birdie so gracefully it’s as if she’s been here all along.”