Doing ‘the emotional math’

Birdie (Canadian Classics Edition)
by Tracey Lindberg

Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2026
$22.99 / 9781443478700

Reviewed by Sophia Wasylinko

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Bernice Meetoos is slipping away.

Nicknamed “Birdie,” Bernice is a Cree woman with the ability to “make the change” (shift across time and space). Living through a tempestuous childhood and young adulthood in Alberta, she makes her way to Gibsons, British Columbia. However, the weight of everything she’s survived catches up to her.

While focusing on our titular protagonist, Birdie also follows the women in her life: Skinny Freda, Birdie’s cousin and childhood friend; Valene (Auntie Val), Freda’s adoptive mother; and Lola, Bernice’s boss. 

Birdie is Tracey Lindberg’s debut novel. A citizen of As’in’î’wa’chî Ni’yaw (Kelly Lake Cree Nation), Lindberg is a professor of Indigenous law at UVic and an academic writer. Her advocacy includes missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and survivors of sexual violence. Her second novel The Cree Word for Love: Sâkihitowin, a collaboration with artist George Littlechild, was published in September 2025. 

Originally released in 2015, Birdie was a finalist for several awards and a finalist for the 2016 CBC Canada Reads. 11 years later, it’s been republished as part of the HarperCollins Canadian Classics series. Unlike the first edition, which included an Author Interview that provided further insight into Birdie’s themes and characters, this latest edition contains no supplementary materials. A missed opportunity, in my opinion.

Lindberg’s themes include several recurring images that point towards figures in the novel, as well as to Cree teachings. Introduced in the second chapter, the owl is a stand-in for Bernice, traveling between the physical and dream worlds searching for refuge while hunted by wolves: “When she looks back, the old young owl, / She sees that her home, her tree, had become ravaged with wolf urine and twisted with heat.” 

Meanwhile, the crow (on the book’s original cover) symbolizes Freda; first appearing in the fifth chapter, this bird is more raucous and ostentatious, much like her human counterpart: “Crow had come a long way to learn big words and to make her voice more beautiful. No one told Crow … that their voices would always be an undignified cawwww!” Contrasting this unfavourable comparison, she rescues the owl from the wolf in a later dream.

Then there’s the tree, appearing on the Canadian Classics edition’s cover. The personification of the Cree concept of Pimatisewin (“the good life”), it’s both physically present near Gibsons and in Birdie’s dreams, initially as sick as she is. Once she and her loved ones gather at the tree, both it and Bernice begin to heal: “She carries berries and food to her nest and knows she is / Feeding herself from the Tree. / Feeding her life to the Tree.”

More importantly, Birdie is a testament to the struggles that Indigenous women face from systemic racism, intergenerational violence, and mental illness, as well as their resilience. On Birdie’s maternal side, the Caillou family are non-status Indians forced to live off the reserve. Due to this poverty, Bernice’s bookish personality, and her larger appearance, she faces bullying as a child. 

The greatest scars, however, come from being sexually assaulted by her uncles, partly to protect Freda: “Every time he saw her / The wolf ran around her, sniffing and leering, wondering what she looked like without skin on.”

Knowing Birdie’s sacrifices, Freda buries her guilt under constant chatter and doomed relationships. But once she hears that Bernice is gravely ill, she hurries to her side with Auntie Val: “… [L]ooking at her biglittle cousin, the one who gave up her lifebody so Freda could have her own, she is filled with sadness and pain that she cannot pinpoint, could not describe and would not share.”

Valene suffers her own heartbreaks, one being the disappearance of her sister Maggie, Birdie’s mother. Unable to help Bernice before, she’s determined to do right by her and Freda now: “She can’t do the emotional math yet, but [Valene] knows she has two daughters because Maggie gave them to her. She is overcome with humility and quiet certitude. She has to raise her girls right.”

Summoned by the ornery Lola, Freda and Val take turns watching and caring for Bernice, hoping to bring her back to herself. In the process, the four women draw closer together: “[Bernice] knows now that Pimatisewin had been waiting for her. For all of them: Valene, Skinny Freda and Lola…It was waiting to be fed, to have nations unite in one place.”

These glimpses into Cree teachings were my favourite part of Birdie, and they were accomplished in several ways. Each chapter begins with a Cree word corresponding to important characters or upcoming events (like Chapter 1’s nayahcikewiyiniw, “a person who bears things on her/his back”).

Lindberg also opens chapters with a pawatamowin (dream) that hints at unfolding events (such as Lola’s unexpected appearance at the Pimatisewin). And many, though not all, end with an acimowin (story), either full tales or instalments of a longer epic (like scenes from the owl’s journey). They’re puzzle pieces that, while intriguing on their own, form a beautiful picture when connected.

Despite these aspects, it’s sometimes difficult to follow Birdie’s story due to its nonlinear structure. Besides the present timeline of Bernice’s sickness, we also have flashbacks to her childhood and early adult years presented non-chronologically. The language can be vague, and I had to reread a section to clarify some characters’ relationships with each other.

And while I appreciated the multiple viewpoints, I found Lola’s the least interesting. Although she plays a crucial role, she felt less important than Freda or Valene, someone whom I wanted more of. Her sections could have been expanded or cut entirely.

Regardless, I enjoyed the narrative the further we progressed, especially with the added insight of the Author Interview (which I found in Birdie’s previous edition at my local library). And I loved the novel’s conclusion, which is both hopeful and empowering.

I’m glad to have finally read Birdie and agree that it’s a modern Canadian classic. If you’re looking to decolonize your bookshelf, this novel is a good place to start.

Sophia Wasylinko graduated from VIU, where she contributed to student publications. She was also one of the founding members of GOOEY Magazine and edited its Fall 2025 issue. Sophia works as a library page and freelance content writer for Ichigo and spends much of her free time reading and revising one of her novels. She’s also on Bookstagram. While Sophia’s relocated to be with family in the Thompson-Nicola region, she hopes to return to the place that captured her heart: Vancouver Island. [Editor’s note: Sophia reviewed recent books by Nina Munteanu, Donna M. Henningson, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Daniel Kalla, Matthew Hughes for BCR.]

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The British Columbia Review

Interim Editors: Trevor Marc Hughes (nonfiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction and poetry)
Publisher: Richard Mackie

Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an online book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.

“Only connect.” – E.M. Forster