When Tilly receives an invitation to help drive eight elders on their ultimate bucket list road trip to Albuquerque for the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow, she impulsively says yes. Before she knows it, Tilly has said goodbye to her family and is behind the wheel — ready to embark on an adventure that will transform her in ways she could not predict. Just as it will for each and every one of the elders on the trip, who soon dub themselves "the Crazy Eights." Tilly and the Crazy Eights each choose a stop to make along the way — somewhere they've always wanted to go or something they've wanted to experience. Their plan is to travel to Las Vegas, Sedona and the Redwood Forests, with each destination the inspiration for secrets and stories to be revealed. The trip proves to be powerful medicine as they laugh, heal, argue and reveal hopes and dreams along the way. With friendships forged, love found, hearts broken and mended, Tilly and the Crazy Eights feel ready for anything by the time their bus rolls to a stop in New Mexico. But are they? (From Second Story Press)

Tilly and the Crazy Eights is on the Canada Reads 2021 longlist.

Monique Gray Smith is a writer of Cree, Lakota and Scottish heritage who currently lives in Victoria. She is also the author of the novel Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience, the nonfiction middle-grade book Speaking Our Truth, and the picture books When We Are Kind and My Heart Fills with Happiness.

"It's ultimately a story of love and reminds us of the power of the human spirit. These eight Elders and Tilly remind us that love is medicine.

"I received a grant from the First Peoples' Cultural Council to do the road trip and did it with my best friend Kelly... and when we left on the road trip I had some of the characters in mind because some of the characters come from my first novel."