Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

★ Ape House

By Sara Gruen

Driven by a plot that defies convention, Sara Gruen’s Ape House is captivating. Her follow-up to the 2007 bestseller Water for Elephants is another story about animals, though its strikingly realized human characters turn out ... Read More »

November 16, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Damage Done

By Hilary Davidson

By rights, given its suspenseful opening and engaging milieu, the debut mystery novel from Toronto-born, New York City–based travel journalist Hilary Davidson should be a slam dunk. Unfortunately, something gets lost in the execution. Lily ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Bad Boy

By Peter Robinson

The phrase “this time, it’s personal” is among the hoariest of jacket-copy clichés, yet that’s what popped into my head after finishing Peter Robinson’s 19th Inspector Banks novel. The most recent entries in the series ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Come Again No More

By Jack Todd

There is something awfully familiar about Jack Todd’s second novel, set in 1930s Nebraska. We’ve seen these impoverished, worn out women before. And we definitely know those selfish, unreliable cowpokes. The same types – actually, ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Way It Works

By William Kowalski

Victoria’s Orca Book Publishers is one of Canada’s foremost publishers for children and young adults. Almost a decade ago, the company began putting out short, simple, yet well-written stories (often from established authors) under its ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Kraków Melt

By Daniel Allen Cox

The second novel by Montreal writer Daniel Allen Cox displays the same visceral, urgent narrative style as his debut, Shuck, which was shortlisted for a 2008 Lambda Literary Award and a 2009 ReLit Award. Whereas ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Far to Go

By Alison Pick

Although set in the months leading up to Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia, Alison Pick’s second novel does not wrestle with sweeping ideological conceits about the nature of evil or the burden of memory. The Holocaust ... Read More »

November 4, 2010 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels