2020 novel by Michelle Good
Five Little Indians is the
debut novel by
Cree
Canadian writer
Michelle Good , published in 2020 by
Harper Perennial .
[1] The novel focuses on five survivors of the
Canadian Indian residential school system , struggling with varying degrees of success to rebuild their lives in
Vancouver ,
British Columbia after the end of their time in the residential schools.
[2] It also explores the love and strength that can emerge after trauma.
[3]
Five Little Indians was
CBC 's number one best selling book in 2021.
[4] It was selected for the 2022 edition of
Canada Reads , nominated by Christian Allaire, Ojibway author and Vogue Fashion Editor.
[5]
Background
Although the novel itself is fiction, some of the stories were based on real experiences of Good's mother and grandmother, who were survivors of the residential school system.
[1] Growing up, her mother talked about the traumatic histories and experiences of attending St. Barnabas Residential School in Onion Lake, Saskatchewan
[6] and these discussions influenced Good's life work.
[7] She worked on the novel for more than a decade, beginning the writing process in 2011 as a fine arts graduate student at the
University of British Columbia .
[8] As part of the writing process, Good relied on psychological assessments of children who experienced physical and sexual abuse in order to accurately depict the long-term impacts on a person's life.
[9]
Reception
Five Little Indians was
CBC 's number one best selling book in 2021.
[4]
The book received positive reviews from the
Toronto Star ,
[10]
Vancouver Sun ,
[11] and
Apple Books .
[12]
National Bestseller; A Globe and Mail Top 100 Book of the Year; A CBC Best Book of the Year; An Apple Best Book of the Year; A Kobo Best Book of the Year; An Indigo Best Book of the Yea [
sentence fragment ]
Amnesty International selected Five Little Indians for their [
sentence fragment ]
Now named Five Little Indians one of the top ten novels of 2020.
[13]
The Globe and Mail ,
[14]
CBC ,
[15]
Kobo ,
[16] and
Indigo
[17] also named the book in their lists of the best books of the year.
The novel was selected for the 2022 edition of
Canada Reads , where it was defended by
Christian Allaire .
[18] It won the competition on March 31.
[19]
Awards and honors
Television adaptation
Five Little Indians has been optioned by Prospero Pictures for development as a limited television series.
Shannon Masters , who is of
Cree
Métis and
Ukrainian descent, will serve as writer and show runner alongside
Martin Katz and Karen Wookey, who will serve as executive producers.
[32]
In an interview, "Good said she hopes the adaptation will make the story accessible to more people."
[32]
References
^
a
b Angelica Haggert,
"'The story I was intended to write': Michelle Good on forthcoming novel 'Five Little Indians'" .
Canadian Geographic , February 20, 2020.
^ Marcia Kaye (April 16, 2020).
"Michelle Good's "Five Little Indians" a fictional exploration of life after residential school" .
Toronto Star .
^
"Books and Reviews: Canada Reads roundup" . The Suburban Newspaper . 25 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-27 .
^
a
b
"The top 10 bestselling Canadian books of 2021" . CBC Books . 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2022-01-09 .
^ Van Koeverden, Jane (March 14, 2022).
"Michelle Good on her novel Five Little Indians, and the question that guides her writing" .
CBC Books . Retrieved March 27, 2022 .
^
https://www2.uregina.ca/education/saskindianresidentialschools/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Michelle-Good_-%E2%80%98Imagine-the-terror-of-the-children%E2%80%99-%E2%80%94-%E2%80%98Non-Indigenous-Canada-this-is-the-time-to-raise-your-voices%E2%80%99.pdf [
bare URL PDF ]
^ Van Koeverden, Jane (March 14, 2022).
"Michelle Good on her novel Five Little Indians, and the question that guides her writing" . CBC.ca . Retrieved March 27, 2022 .
^ Laskaris, Adam (1 June 2021).
"Kamloops-area author wins prestigious awards for debut novel" . Kamloops This Week . Retrieved 22 July 2021 .
^ Bresge, Adina (28 May 2021).
"Michelle Good on why Indigenous people can't 'get over' residential school trauma" . www.cp24.com . Retrieved 22 July 2021 .
^ Kaye, Marcia (2020-04-16).
"Michelle Good's "Five Little Indians" a fictional exploration of life after residential school" . The Toronto Star .
ISSN
0319-0781 . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Gee, Dana (2020-04-16).
"Five Little Indians follows young lives forced into residential school" . Vancouver Sun . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
Five Little Indians . Retrieved 2022-01-09 .
^
Cole, Susan G. (November 30, 2020).
"The 10 best books of 2020" .
Now .
^ Cannon, Margaret; Canton, Jeffrey; Pereira, Judith; Rogers, Sean; Scott, Alec; Colbert, Jade (2021-11-30).
"The Globe 100: Our favourite books of 2020" . The Globe and Mail . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
"The best Canadian fiction of 2020" . CBC Books . 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2022-01-09 .
^
"Some of the best books by Indigenous writers in Canada" . Kobo Blog . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
"Our Best Books of 2020" . Indigo Books & Music . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
"Meet the Canada Reads 2022 contenders" .
CBC Books , January 26, 2022.
^
"And the winner of Canada Reads 2022 is..." CBC Books . 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2022-03-31 .
^
"Thomas King, Gil Adamson among finalists for $50K Writers' Trust Fiction Prize" .
Toronto Star , October 6, 2020.
^ Truax, Emma.
"2020 Finalists" . Scotiabank Giller Prize . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Deborah Dundas,
"Thomas King, Emma Donoghue make the 2020 Giller Longlist in a year marked by firsts" .
toronto Star , September 8, 2020.
^ Vicky Qiao,
"Five Little Indians by Michelle Good wins $60K Amazon First Novel Award" .
CBC Books , May 28, 2021.
^
"Five Little Indians" . Amnesty International Book Club . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
"Winners & Finalists" . BC and Yukon Book Prizes . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
"City of Vancouver Book Award" . City of Vancouver . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Qiao, Vicky (2021-10-21).
"Five Little Indians by Michelle Good wins Forest of Reading Evergreen Award for best title for adults" . CBC Books . Retrieved 2022-01-09 .
^
"Past GGBooks winners and finalists" . Governor General's Literary Awards . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Drudi, Cassandra (2021-05-03).
"Finalists announced for 2021 Indigenous Voices Awards" . Quill and Quire . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^ Deborah Dundas,
"Michelle Good wins Kobo Emerging Writer fiction prize — making it three wins for the three noms she got on that big day in May" .
Toronto Star , June 22, 2021.
^
"2021 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Winners Announced" . Kobo Blog . Retrieved 2022-01-10 .
^
a
b Vicky Qiao,
"Michelle Good's Five Little Indians to be adapted into limited TV series" .
CBC News , June 9, 2021.
1930s 1940s
Ringuet ,
Thirty Acres (1940)
Alan Sullivan , Three Came to Ville Marie (1941)
G. Herbert Sallans , Little Man (1942)
Thomas Head Raddall , The Pied Piper of Dipper Creek (1943)
Gwethalyn Graham ,
Earth and High Heaven (1944)
Hugh MacLennan ,
Two Solitudes (1945)
Winifred Bambrick , Continental Revue (1946)
Gabrielle Roy ,
The Tin Flute (1947)
Hugh MacLennan ,
The Precipice (1948)
Philip Child , Mr. Ames Against Time (1949)
1950s
Germaine Guèvremont , The Outlander (1950)
Morley Callaghan , The Loved and the Lost (1951)
David Walker , The Pillar (1952)
David Walker , Digby (1953)
Igor Gouzenko , The Fall of a Titan (1954)
Lionel Shapiro , The Sixth of June (1955)
Adele Wiseman , The Sacrifice (1956)
Gabrielle Roy ,
Street of Riches (1957)
Colin McDougall ,
Execution (1958)
Hugh MacLennan ,
The Watch That Ends the Night (1959)
1960s 1970s
Dave Godfrey , The New Ancestors (1970)
Mordecai Richler ,
St. Urbain's Horseman (1971)
Robertson Davies ,
The Manticore (1972)
Rudy Wiebe , The Temptations of Big Bear (1973)
Margaret Laurence ,
The Diviners (1974)
Brian Moore ,
The Great Victorian Collection (1975)
Marian Engel ,
Bear (1976)
Timothy Findley ,
The Wars (1977)
Alice Munro ,
Who Do You Think You Are? (1978)
Jack Hodgins , The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979)
1980s
George Bowering , Burning Water (1980)
Mavis Gallant , Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981)
Guy Vanderhaeghe ,
Man Descending (1982)
Leon Rooke ,
Shakespeare's Dog (1983)
Josef Škvorecký , The Engineer of Human Souls (1984)
Margaret Atwood ,
The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
Alice Munro ,
The Progress of Love (1986)
M. T. Kelly , A Dream Like Mine (1987)
David Adams Richards ,
Nights Below Station Street (1988)
Paul Quarrington ,
Whale Music (1989)
1990s
Nino Ricci ,
Lives of the Saints (1990)
Rohinton Mistry ,
Such a Long Journey (1991)
Michael Ondaatje ,
The English Patient (1992)
Carol Shields ,
The Stone Diaries (1993)
Rudy Wiebe , A Discovery of Strangers (1994)
Greg Hollingshead , The Roaring Girl (1995)
Guy Vanderhaeghe ,
The Englishman's Boy (1996)
Jane Urquhart ,
The Underpainter (1997)
Diane Schoemperlen , Forms of Devotion (1998)
Matt Cohen ,
Elizabeth and After (1999)
2000s
Michael Ondaatje ,
Anil's Ghost (2000)
Richard B. Wright ,
Clara Callan (2001)
Gloria Sawai , A Song for Nettie Johnson (2002)
Douglas Glover , Elle (2003)
Miriam Toews ,
A Complicated Kindness (2004)
David Gilmour ,
A Perfect Night to Go to China (2005)
Peter Behrens ,
The Law of Dreams (2006)
Michael Ondaatje ,
Divisadero (2007)
Nino Ricci , The Origin of Species (2008)
Kate Pullinger , The Mistress of Nothing (2009)
2010s
Dianne Warren , Cool Water (2010)
Patrick deWitt ,
The Sisters Brothers (2011)
Linda Spalding , The Purchase (2012)
Eleanor Catton ,
The Luminaries (2013)
Thomas King ,
The Back of the Turtle (2014)
Guy Vanderhaeghe , Daddy Lenin and Other Stories (2015)
Madeleine Thien ,
Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016)
Joel Thomas Hynes ,
We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (2017)
Sarah Henstra ,
The Red Word (2018)
Joan Thomas ,
Five Wives (2019)
2020s