The Griffin of Darkwood

The Griffin of Darkwood is an exciting, fanciful story filled with magical phenomena and gothic horror. Will Poppy loves to write stories, but when his mother dies, leaving him an orphan, he bitterly vows never ... Read More »

August 3, 2016 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction

★ We Found a Hat

By Jon Klassen

It would be difficult to find a person possessed of even the slightest interest in children’s books published during the past decade who isn’t familiar with Jon Klassen. His two Hat books (2011’s I Want ... Read More »

August 3, 2016 | Filed under: Picture Books

Waiting for the Cyclone

By Leesa Dean

According to the publisher’s copy accompanying Leesa Dean’s debut story collection, “women [in fiction] are too often cast as inherently good.” It goes on to caution that the “perfectly imperfect” women within these pages “don’t ... Read More »

August 2, 2016 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

Trudeaumania: The Rise to Power of Pierre Elliott Trudeau

By Robert Wright

Screaming girls, flashing lights, and a dazzling smile. These are the images that come to mind when reminiscing about Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s rise to power, popularly known as Trudeaumania. This, however, is the antithesis of ... Read More »

August 2, 2016 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

★ The Parcel

By Anosh Irani

As engrossing as any thriller, Anosh Irani’s fourth novel offers readers so much more. An aggregate of storytelling accomplishments, The Parcel captivates with its vividly rendered characters and commands the reader’s attention by way of ... Read More »

July 28, 2016 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Clockwork Canada: Steampunk Fiction

By Dominik Parisien (ed.)

Anthologies of themed short stories carry a significant risk: if the theme is too rigid or overpowering, the stories themselves may be hampered or crippled. Conversely, if the theme is too loose, any sense of ... Read More »

July 25, 2016 | Filed under: Anthologies

New Albion

By Dwayne Brenna

As aficionados of the theatre know, the Victorian age was arguably one of the bleakest eras for the art form, complete with grubby dressing rooms, dingy performance halls, pathetic wages, unappreciative audiences, and stale, torrid ... Read More »

July 25, 2016 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Shanghai Grand: Forbidden Love and International Intrigue on the Eve of the Second World War

By Taras Grescoe

Any impression of the smart set’s antics between the 20th century’s two cataclysmic wars instantly conjures the cabarets of Weimar Berlin or the nightclubs and brasseries of 1930s Paris. A more distant but no less ... Read More »

July 25, 2016 | Filed under: History

A Day of Signs and Wonders

By Kit Pearson

One day can change everything. That is the premise of the latest middle-grade novel by Kit Pearson, winner of multiple awards for her children’s books, including a Governor General’s Literary Award for Awake and Dreaming ... Read More »

July 25, 2016 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction