Quill and Quire

Reviews

Original Prin

By Randy Boyagoda

Any western novel that takes as its main character an academic named “Prin” will necessarily endure associations – intended or otherwise – with an earlier campus novel about an eponymous protagonist whose name chimes directly. ... Read More »

July 23, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Left

By Theanna Bischoff

The third novel by Theanna Bischoff – whose debut, Cleavage, was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean) – is a literary/thriller hybrid that takes place in ... Read More »

July 19, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Refuge

By Merilyn Simonds

“My son is dead,” 96-year-old Cassandra MacCallum says halfway through Merilyn Simonds’s artful and allusive new novel. It is a declaration, not a lamentation, one called forth by the unexpected and unwelcome appearance in her ... Read More »

July 16, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ French Exit

By Patrick deWitt

Do not be fooled by how disarmingly funny Patrick deWitt’s latest novel is. Though you will likely find yourself laughing out loud on numerous occasions while reading French Exit (assuming you enjoyed the author’s previous ... Read More »

July 12, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Foe

By Iain Reid

Domestic thrillers along the lines of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train have boasted arguably unexpected staying power after climbing to the top of bestseller lists and remaining in the mass-market spotlight. Publishers ... Read More »

July 12, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Black Star

By Maureen Medved

In his 1797 essay, “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Altruistic Motives,” Immanuel Kant famously argued that people are strictly bound by moral principle to tell the truth in all situations, even when that ... Read More »

July 9, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Kudos

By Rachel Cusk

The third in a trilogy of novels that describes the various encounters of a protagonist who shares many attributes with her author, Kudos marks the completion of a turning point in Rachel Cusk’s prolific bibliography ... Read More »

July 9, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

An Ocean of Minutes

By Thea Lim

Toronto resident Thea Lim’s debut novel is a dystopian time-travel story that defies genre conventions by concentrating on the interpersonal consequences of its plot. But somewhere along the line the narrative falls flat: despite the ... Read More »

July 5, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Adjacentland

By Rabindranath Maharaj

Rabindranath Maharaj’s new novel, though flawed, is a fiercely imaginative, powerfully written meditation on storytelling, uncertainty, identity, and time. Maharaj, the Trinidadian-Canadian author of The Amazing Absorbing Boy (which won the Trillium Book Award and ... Read More »

June 27, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels