The Kitchen House

Saskatchewan-born Kathleen Grissom’s debut novel is a forthright, albeit overwrought, look at plantation life before the American Civil War. It focuses primarily on the women who lived through it, both up in the big house ... Read More »

March 31, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Deloume Road

By Matthew Hooton

Told in more than 100 chapters and written from the perspectives of 12 characters across three timelines, Matthew Hooton’s debut novel, Deloume Road, is nothing if not ambitious. Unfortunately, despite smooth prose that evokes a ... Read More »

March 31, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Dahanu Road

By Anosh Irani

Though the area outside the western Indian city of Dahanu is not an actual jungle, in Anosh Irani’s third novel, the same law applies: “higher eats lower.” Lowest of all are the indigenous Warlis, chained ... Read More »

March 31, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Extinction Club

By Jeffrey Moore

In Jeffrey Moore’s third novel, a recovering addict from Neptune, New Jersey, arrives in a snowy Laurentian town with nothing but a beat-up van, withdrawal hallucinations, and a suitcase full of inherited cash. Fleeing lawsuits, ... Read More »

March 31, 2010 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Fiction: Novels

Walt Whitman’s Secret

By George Fetherling

Frequent Q&Q reviewer George Fetherling’s third novel is an intriguing look at one of America’s most influential poets. The novel focuses on the last years of Whitman’s life as observed by his real-life friend Horace ... Read More »

March 29, 2010 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Fiction: Novels

Girl Crazy

By Russell Smith

Writing about sex can be a tricky affair. The sexual act (and its corresponding emotional components) is both intimate and ridiculous, and if not approached with wit and grace, can appear absolutely ludicrous (see, for ... Read More »

March 15, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Penalty Killing

By Michael McKinley

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs will find much to relate to in Michael McKinley’s debut sports mystery. The Continental Hockey League stands in for the NHL and the hapless New York St. Patricks are ... Read More »

March 8, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Toby: A Man

By Todd Babiak

The son of two marginally successful hot dog vendeurs in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Toby Ménard is the perfect gentleman. So perfect, in fact, that his face can be seen smiling down from billboards ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Blood and Groom

By Jill Edmondson

The death of a son or daughter is capable of producing emotional devastation from which it is nearly impossible to recover. For Thaddeus Lewis, a preacher who travels throughout Upper Canada in the late 1830s, ... Read More »

February 25, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels