Watching You Without Me

After four novels, two short-story collections (including the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning Hellgoing), and appearances in myriad journals and anthologies, we’ve come to expect a certain level of excellence from Lynn Coady. Though less forceful ... Read More »

August 26, 2019 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Greenwood

By Michael Christie

In Greenwood, his thought-provoking second novel, B.C. writer Michael Christie uses the ringed cross-section of a tree as an organizing principle and structure. As Christie writes, “Wood is time captured. A map. A cellular memory. ... Read More »

August 26, 2019 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews

★ Broken Strings

By Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer

It’s not every day that you come across a Canadian middle-grade novel that is set five months after 9/11 and gives insight into the Jewish pogroms of the early 20th century and the Holocaust while ... Read More »

August 26, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Fiction, Kids’ Books

Ghost’s Journey: A Refugee Story

By Robin Stevenson

To say that introducing young children to complex social justice issues – such as those involving LGBTQ+ refugees – is a challenge would be an understatement. But Robin Stevenson’s new picture book manages to present ... Read More »

August 26, 2019 | Filed under: Children and YA Non-fiction, Kids’ Books

The Innocents

By Michael Crummey

The Book of Genesis meets “Hansel and Gretel” by way of Flowers in the Attic: that would not be an inappropriate way to situate Michael Crummey’s new novel, a return to historical fiction following 2014’s ... Read More »

August 22, 2019 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Promise and Peril: Justin Trudeau in Power

By Aaron Wherry

In the future, semioticians and media literacy professors will no doubt expend much time and energy deconstructing the way photo editors choose to present images of Justin Trudeau. In the honeymoon period following his accession ... Read More »

August 22, 2019 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

★ In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience

By Helen Knott

In her haunting, lyrical debut memoir, acclaimed Indigenous activist and writer Helen Knott – recipient of a 2019 RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Author honour – sheds light on her addiction and mental health struggles, providing ... Read More »

August 19, 2019 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

Red River Girl: The Life and Death of Tina Fontaine

By Joanna Jolly

In Red River Girl, reporter and former BBC producer Joanna Jolly engages with the true-crime genre to tell the story of one Indigenous girl murdered during an ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Early ... Read More »

August 19, 2019 | Filed under: Politics & Current Affairs

Helen’s Birds

By Sara Cassidy and Sophie Casson (ill.)

Birds give earth-bound humans plenty to marvel at, but they can also carry symbolic power, acting as sources of comfort or inspiration. Three new releases – two fiction and one non-fiction – encourage readers to ... Read More »

August 19, 2019 | Filed under: Kids’ Books, Picture Books