Fireweed

"In the mowed down industrial north of Prince George, white trash housewife Jenny Hayes shares a fence with the only First Nations woman in the cul-de-Sac. To Jenny, in her sheltered and dull life, its not fair that Rachelle, whose yard is trash-pocked and overgrown with fireweed, should have what Jenny wants most in the world, and doesnt. All too eagerly volunteering herself to babysit, brush hair, and fold laundry, Jenny tries to shutter judgments about the way her neighbourno, her friendlives, with stilettos tucked under the bed and the house in disarray. When at once Beth TremblayPrince Georges first missing girland Rachelle are disappeared along Highway 16, only Beths name is plastered on billboards and broadcasted over the air. Rachelles daughters carted off by the state, Jenny answers an unwarranted call to investigate. After all, Jenny thinks, who else is looking? Fireweed disrupts the question of what we take from a character who isnt bad, but who does no good. Who does not know enough to ask: who are these white crosses for? Why are these women marching? And instead joins them, in an attempt to parade. With a reveal that is intentionally true to our constant mythologizing of marginalised communities, Haddad guides readers into their own discomfortacknowledging that while in stark settings all women are at risk of violence, there are structures that uphold danger in tiers."