Earhart: poet, go-getter, everywoman
An “archaeologist-poet” celebrates, honours, and meditates on a feminist pioneer. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Lady Bird, by Kerry Gilbert (Holstein: Exile Editions, 2023) $19.95 / 9781990773105
Author: Brett Josef Grubisic
‘What is credible hope, in this place?’
Highly recommended novella presents “a humane vision from an imagined future, of the potential that arises from valuing connection and collaboration in and with place.” —Dana McFarland reviews Arboreality, by Rebecca Campbell (Hamilton: Stelliform Press, 2022) $19.00 / 9781777682323
A compendium of ‘nudges and little pushes and trims and tucks’
Readers may discern riddles, fables, myths, games, magic, poetry, absurdity, and Zen koans in the author’s flash fictions. —Harold Rhenisch reviews The Pink Puppet: A Book of Tales, by Robert Hilles (Oakville: Mosaic Press, 2023) $24.95 / 9781771616966
‘A shuffling of expectations’
Romance novel stands out for its approachable characters and inclusion of real-world problems. —Myshara Herbert-McMyn reviews The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch, by Jacqueline Firkins (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2023) $18.00 / 9781250836526
Bad romance; epic realizations; Montreal circa 2000
A debut novel “full of both hope and despair” portrays Ines, a conflicted small town skateboarder new to the big city. —Jessica Poon reviews Late September, by Amy Mattes (Madeira Park, Harbour Publishing, 2024) $22.95 / 9780889714564
Remembrance of Ladner past
Quietly affecting novel delivers with an elegiac narrator recalling the “vibrant, creative and tragic world” of his youth. —Theo Dombrowski reviews The Marvels of Youth, by Tim Bowling (Hamilton: Wolsak and Wynn, 2023) $24.00 / 9781989496749
Metamodernism ∴ aporetic verse
At first, the poetic flurry of puzzling phrases is “like trying to drink from a firehose.” —Joe Enns reviews The Goldberg Variations, by Clint Burnham (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2024) $16.00 / 9781554202096
Gravity and light through a poetic lens
Engaging, insightful poems entwine love, nature, and the cosmos.—gillian harding-russell reviews Asterisms, by Donna Kane (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $22.95 / 9871990776717
Love, politics, and toxicity in the Yukon
Image-rich debut novel sets a naive young character in a new location, job, and romance. Complex problems result. —Joe Enns reviews Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit, by Nadine Sander-Green (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2024) $23.99 / 9781487011291
The ‘spectacle of magical mischief’
Full of lore, a “refreshing, earnest, and hopeful” debut for YA readers captivates and entertains. —Zoe McKenna reviews Why We Play With Fire, by Giselle Vriesen (Toronto: 100 Block Futures, 2024) $23.99 CAD / 9781955905312
City girl + rough outdoors man = ♥︎♥︎♥︎
A “sweet and pleasant” romantic comedy showcases a rural resort and an unlikely pairing. —Valerie Green reviews Love Naturally, by Sophie Sullivan (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2024) $24.00 / 9781250875839
On ‘what could be versus what is’
What’s new since 1894? Debut poetry volume an engrossing, trenchant update on “the love that dare not speak its name.” —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Deviant, by Patrick Grace (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2024) $19.99 / 9781772127416
Big fish wannabe, very small pond
Along with some levity, brevity would benefit a historical novel that features social-climbing in a remote town. —Jessica Poon reviews Bamfield Posh, by Louis Druehl (Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing, 2024) $23.95 / 9781989467695
Brief encounters
Characters struggle with loneliness and death in a debut story collection buoyed by a hopeful tone. —Bill Paul reviews Blue Runaways, by Jann Everard (Victoria: Stonehewer Books, 2024) $23.95 / 9781738993307
‘Do birds piss big?’ and other questions
By turns funny and incisive, a debut essayist is a connoisseur of everyday absurdities. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Laser Quit Smoking Massage: Essays, by Cole Nowicki (Edmonton: Newest Press, 2024) $21.95 / 9781774390917
The missing and the dead
From “the city to rural backroads, Siemens takes readers on an unforgettable journey.” —Valerie Green reviews Call of the Void, by J.T. Siemens (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2024) $22.95 / 9781774390863
Deaths by injection
Reviewer enthralled by the tenth Émile Cinq-Mars murder mystery. —Ron Verzuh reviews A Patient Death, by John Farrow (Holstein, ON: Exile Editions, 2023) $32.95 / 9781550969856
A deep dive with queer fish
A poet’s debut meditates on family, ancestry, diaspora, and selfhood. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Shima, by Sho Yamagushiku (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2024) $22.50 / 9780771010927
Ghosts of the Korean divide
With mesmeric effects, a debut novel blends the beautiful, surreal, and disturbing. —Daniel Gawthrop reviews The Invisible Hotel, by Yeji Y. Ham (Toronto: Bond Street Books, 2024) $34.00 / 9780385698054
Serious entertainment
Debut eco-thriller is “controlled, crafted, deliberate—and, to boot, utterly purposeful.” —Theo Dombrowski reviews Adrift, by Lisa Brideau (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Landmark, 2023) $25.99 / 9781728265681