Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

★ If Clara

By Martha Baillie

Martha Baillie’s sixth novel is a metafictional story told from the points of view of four characters: Clara, a reclusive, mentally ill writer; Julia, a curator and Clara’s sister, who questions Clara’s sanity; Maurice, Julia’s ... Read More »

August 14, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Bellevue Square

By Michael Redhill

With Bellevue Square, the first panel of a projected triptych titled Modern Ghosts, Michael Redhill puts his protagonist, Jean Mason, through wringer after wringer. As witnesses and vicarious participants, readers can appreciate Jean’s otherworldly predicaments, ... Read More »

July 31, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Demi-Gods

By Eliza Robertson

It’s a rite of passage for young novelists to tackle rites of passage: the sun-dappled, backward-glancing, coming-of-age fable is as regimented and routinized as any lean-boned crime thriller or bulky, mock-Victorian doorstop. There is currently ... Read More »

July 31, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Only Child

By Andrew Pyper

Those who think the horror genre is dying may have to reassess after reading Andrew Pyper’s latest work. The Toronto writer’s eighth novel, a neo-gothic adventure with more blood-feeding than a vampire weekend, comes complete ... Read More »

July 20, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Our Little Secret

By Roz Nay

Traditionally, the main engine of narrative, especially in commercial and genre fiction, can be boiled down to a simple question: what happens next? Everything else is subservient to that overarching concern, which, at its best, ... Read More »

July 13, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels