Blue Field

Some novels draw you in; Blue Field drags you under and keeps clamping down, an exercise in storytelling as centrifugal force. A good portion of Elise Levine’s first book in more than a decade takes ... Read More »

May 1, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

By Scaachi Koul

Based on the conversational style, cultural relevance, and range of her work – which encompasses everything from current events newspieces to pop-culture listicles to personal essays, often about her family or Indian heritage – Toronto ... Read More »

April 24, 2017 | Filed under: Criticism & Essays, Reviews

Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West

By Mansoor Ladha

In August 1972, Idi Amin demanded that all Asians exit Uganda in 90 days. In the neighbouring countries of Tanzania and Kenya, Asians – or Muhindi as they were known – found themselves on edge. ... Read More »

April 24, 2017 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs, Reviews

Washington’s Long War on Syria

By Stephen Gowan

While the complicated Syrian conflict is best known as the focal point for one of the largest refugee populations in world history, few have a firm grasp on the roots of a war that continues ... Read More »

April 24, 2017 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs, Reviews

The Whisky King: The Remarkable True Story of Canada’s Most Infamous Bootlegger and the Undercover Mountie on His Trail

By Trevor Cole

Canadians are sometimes guilty of selling themselves short when it comes to the more colourful aspects of their country’s history. The national predilection for “peace, order, and good government” fosters the impression of a comfortably ... Read More »

April 17, 2017 | Filed under: History, Reviews

★ Little Sister

By Barbara Gowdy

A darkening sky, the clap of thunder, and Rose Bowan is no longer herself. Her consciousness leaves her body behind and lands inside another woman, Harriet Smith. Rose sees what Harriet sees, breathes in her ... Read More »

April 17, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ So Much Love

By Rebecca Rosenblum

Rebecca Rosenblum opens her commanding, technically impressive debut novel with a note-perfect chapter titled “Marriage.” Assured and captivating, it portrays a deeply melancholic narrator, a slumped English professor in “the middle of a near-silent summer,” ... Read More »

April 17, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

The Discovery of Honey

By Terry Griggs

After earning a 1991 Governor General’s Literary Award nomination for her debut, the short-fiction collection Quickening, Terry Griggs has continued to garner critical praise. Known for her whirlwind storytelling and lush vocabulary, Griggs won the ... Read More »

April 10, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Thing Is

By Suzannah Showler

Two new volumes find similar poets at very different stages of their careers: the established Mary di Michele and the emerging Suzannah Showler. The similarities lie in their formal practice: new formalist lyrics with heavily ... Read More »

April 10, 2017 | Filed under: Poetry