Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

The Great Karoo

By Fred Stenson

Like the South African plains of the title, Alberta author Fred Stenson’s eighth novel is vast and sprawling. It’s historical fiction with the emphasis firmly on the historical.     For nearly 500 pages, The Great ... Read More »

October 21, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Crucified

By Michael Slade

I guess it’s time to admit defeat: apparently “Have you tried Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum?” is not a good enough suggestion for bookstore customers looking for “something like The Da Vinci Code.” Thankfully, two new ... Read More »

September 29, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Last Gospel

By David Gibbins

I guess it’s time to admit defeat: apparently “Have you tried Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum?” is not a good enough suggestion for bookstore customers looking for “something like The Da Vinci Code.” Thankfully, two new ... Read More »

September 29, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Entitlement

By Jonathan Bennett

Jonathan Bennett’s second novel captures the uneasy existence of a Canadian dynasty, as biographer Trudy Clarke attempts to make a name for herself by writing the definitive tell-all about the Aspinalls, a wealthy family that ... Read More »

September 29, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Filaria

By Brent Hayward

Filaria is a double debut: the first book to be published by the new macabre fiction imprint ChiZine Publications (an offshoot of the Chiaroscuro website run by Toronto author Brett Savory), as well as the ... Read More »

September 29, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Shuck

By Daniel Allen Cox

Shuck, a startling debut novel by Montreal’s Daniel Allen Cox, charts one young man’s path from homeless street hustler to porn superstar to aspiring writer. The story’s a lot more hopeful than it sounds.     ... Read More »

September 29, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Inside Out Girl

By Tish Cohen

Based on the success of Town House, Torontonian Tish Cohen’s debut novel, you might expect her to stick to a similar formula for her follow-up, Inside Out Girl. Many of the same elements are here: ... Read More »

September 26, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Catch

By Louisa McCormack

Like all good chick-lit heroines, Minerva Gallant is brimming with pluck and drive. She’s successful and well liked at her job as a television producer. She’s the gal who’s confident enough to cut her friends’ ... Read More »

September 26, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Wit in Love

By Sky Gilbert

About 10 pages into Wit in Love, I began to feel a vague sense of dread. Prolific playwright and novelist Sky Gilbert’s newest work, an epistolary novella, based on the life of gay philosopher Ludwig ... Read More »

September 26, 2008 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels