In a debut novel, “a party animal of a book that resoundingly delivers,” two sisters—one “prone to shoplifting in her job as a cashier,” the other a “skin care influencer with a cult-ish following” tussle in a wacky story that marries social critique and wit. —Jessica Poon reviews Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2025) $24.99 / 9781668079867
“We can look back at our lives and say, look what I survived. We can look back with appreciation and say, look what I discovered by remaining curious, look what joy came my way when I didn’t expect it.” Mary Ann Moore reviews The Erotics of Cutting Grass: Reflections on a Well-Loved Life by Kate Braid (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861623
As she portrays hardship and resilience in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, a debut novelist “tells an engrossing story about Clara, a talented doctor and loving woman trying to find the right path to take in late Victorian Canada.” —Valerie Green reviews The Roads We Take, by Christy K. Lee (Toronto: Rising Action Publishing, 2023) $21.99 / 9781998076062
“Although he isn’t related to George Vancouver’s former botanist and surgeon aboard the HMS Discovery, Archibald Menzies experienced extraordinary times, times that Graeme Menzies felt had to be shared. The result was the book Bones: The Life and Adventures of Doctor Archibald Menzies, in which Graeme Menzies tells of how the doctor used reason and his senses, as well as his familiarity of the Scottish clan system, to understand what he found as the lone scientist on board that British vessel of exploration.” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview segment featuring Vancouver author and historian Graeme Menzies.
Set circa 1948 in northern Mexico and BC’s central interior, the 12th book in a lighthearted murder mystery series begins with two missing person cases. Twists, turns, and “all manner of false leads” ensue. —Bill Paul reviews The Cost of a Hostage, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2025) $21.95 / 9781771514545
“With the budget and size of the current gallery, it had become difficult to adequately show the collection and avoid being just a storehouse. Hence, the wise decision to have a rotating exhibition for the next five years, so that the public can appreciate the depth and breadth of the collection.” Christina Johnson-Dean reviews the exhibition A View from Here: Re-Imagining the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria Collections curated by Steven McNeil and Heng Wu.
This “compelling case study,” charts the city’s historical transformation, as the “grime of Montreal’s ‘moral decay’ was … scrubbed away by new regulations and bylaws that targeted everything from pornography to lewd or countercultural artwork to pinball machines and tarot readers—anything that might be considered offensive to or in poor taste by the international community that [the mayor] was hoping to entice.” —Logan Macnair reviews Montreal After Dark: Nighttime Regulation and the Pursuit of a Global City, by Matthieu Caron (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2025) $34.95 / 9780228024774
In this useful picture book for children, a yoga class is an adventure in learning as well as a launchpad for colourful, imaginary travel. —Ron Verzuh reviews Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, by Megan McDougall / illustrated by Hayley Lowe (Charlottetown: Pownal Street Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781998129232
“[Leavitt] has created a life-affirming, deeply affectionate, intermittently humorous evocation of grief that reminds us that the ones we love are still with us, if we remember them.” Jessica Poon reviews Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love, by Sarah Leavitt (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $27.95 / 9781551529516
Set in Western Canada during the Summer of Love, a coolly stylish novel portrays a juvenile boy’s educational misadventures during an unsanctioned road trip. —Ryan Frawley reviews Amaranthine Chevrolet, by Dennis E. Bolen (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2025) $25.99 / 9781459754775
With glimpses of “one of the greatest spectacles / the city ever sees / twice daily most seasons / dawn to dusk,” a poetry collection draws an array of meanings from urban crows. —Heather Ramsay reviews Crowd Source, by Cecily Nicholson (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2025) $19.95 / 9781772016581
“This book is a tool kit, neither poetry, nor the story inversions that alleviate the pain of living in post-colonial society, but a logical overview from a sympathetic perspective.” Linda Rogers reviews Indigenous Rights in One Minute: What You Need to Know to Talk Reconciliation by Bruce McIvor (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, Nightwood Editions, 2025) $22.95 / 9780889714885
“Existing Music is a deeply layered and memorable work of poetic metaphor and imagery, and Nick Thran succeeds in playing with sound and shapeshifting, or transposition, to evoke an ‘Oh’ in the reader as we look over his shoulder.” —Joe Enns reviews Existing Music, by Nick Thran (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2025) $19.95 / 9780889714861
Personal darkness and a generational chasm are examined in an urgent long poem—where a grandmother reaches out to a youth immersed in video game realities. —Isabella Ranallo reviews Encrypted, by Arleen Paré (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $20.00 /9781773861647
“Henry Yu is a history professor at The University of British Columbia. He tells The British Columbia Review about how his path to becoming an historian was shaped by the exclusion and challenges of his Chinese Canadian ancestors in BC.” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview segment with historian and UBC professor Henry Yu
“Wright’s psychological exploration—her emphasis on the ‘why was it done?’—takes us into territory beyond the cozy mystery that a series set in a small town and complete with an ongoing romance might invite.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Sleep While I Sing: Murder in a Small Town, by L.R. Wright (New York: Felony and Mayhem Press, 2024) $26.95 / 9781631943171
Although a few missteps are in evidence, a Vancouver Island author’s debut novel—set near Tofino in 1968—introduces a “worthy mystery with a captivating setting.” —Valerie Green reviews Fake Out, A Long Beach Mystery, by Faye Bayko (Victoria: Tellwell Publishing, 2025) $26.99 / 9781779624789
“…Mather devotes the majority of the book to recounting the lives of the inhabitants of the house. This is both haunting and compelling. While all the families had ‘privileged lives’ based on their economic and social standing, they were subject to the joys and sorrows of ordinary living. Adriana A. Davies reviews Coldstream Lake House: A storied landmark of the Okanagan, by Ken Mather (Surrey: Hancock House, 2024) $24.95 / 9780888397690
“Adam Jones’s book can help each of us in reaching a principled position, in articulating it, and in understanding why others might rationally have arrived at and articulated a different view.” Richard Butler reviews Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (4th ed.), by Adam Jones (New York: Routledge, 2024) $61.99 / 9781032028101
A Griffin Prize winner, a Vancouver poet’s translation of a preeminent Mexican poet’s work is “a rich, complex, and challenging book” that proposes a “wall of poetry” against the insistent iniquities of the world. —Gary Geddes reviews Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence, by Homero Aridjis (translated by George McWhirter) (New York: New Directions, 2023) $28.95 / 9780811231732