Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

Combat Camera

By A.J. Somerset

Mentally and physically wounded after years of covering wars, photographer Lucas Zane, the main character in A.J. Somerset’s debut novel (winner of the 2010 Metcalf-Rooke Award for an unpublished manuscript), finds himself down and out ... Read More »

August 23, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Fauna

By Alissa York

Alissa York’s Fauna is an extraordinary novel. A departure from the author’s previous, more historically minded works (including 2007’s Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated Effigy), Fauna takes place in the hidden, wild corners of present-day Toronto, where ... Read More »

August 3, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Warhol Gang

By Peter Darbyshire

“Trotsky,” the code-named narrator of Peter Darbyshire’s sophomore novel, is a lot like the unnamed protagonist of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel Fight Club. He’s urban, disgruntled, savvy, aimless, underpaid, and deeply skeptical of the corporate ... Read More »

June 28, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Deadly Dues

By Linda Kupecek

Once upon a time Lulu Malone was somebody. Granted, she was the sort of somebody whose fame depended on a dimpled face warbling a signature dog food jingle (“Doggie Doggie Bow Wow”), but when there ... Read More »

June 9, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Never Look Away

By Linwood Barclay

As with most expertly crafted thrillers, it’s only after finishing Linwood Barclay’s latest novel that the real fun begins. In the thick of reading, there’s an uncontrollable need to keep turning pages, to keep up ... Read More »

June 9, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Cities of Refuge

By Michael Helm

Over the past decade, we’ve been inundated with op-ed essays lamenting the lack of a truly urban Canadian literature. Those essays tend to cite statistics demonstrating a consistent demographic shift to urban living throughout the ... Read More »

June 9, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels