Author’s third book (and first novel) is a “confrontational exploration of both explicit and internalized racism, shame, and death, a scathing indictment of capitalism and certain traditions, and a middle finger to blandness.” What’s not to like? —Jessica Poon reviews Villain Hitting for Vicious Little Nobodies, by Lindsay Wong (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2026) $27.95 / 9780735242418
Written “in blank verse that swings between paragraphs of near-prose and short stanzas dominated by blank space,” a novel-in-verse traces lovers O and Z, survivors in a war-torn world. The moving, pensive novel “asks us to reflect on how our long legacies of memory and forgetfulness (both purposeful and unintentional) allow us to recreate harmful systems that have endured for hundreds of years and may well persist into the distant future.” —Zoe McKenna reviews Syncopation, by Whitney French (Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2026) $24.00 / 9781998408283
“Ho has written his story with full sensory impact. We smell the difference between classes on the ship that brings Cheung and his son Wing to Canada and between wealthy and poor neighbourhoods in Victoria. Rich people get more room and proper sanitation. He also contrasts the exquisite cooking odours of Chinese cuisine with the smell of cabbage and boiled beef and the beautiful tremolo of the erhu and the pleasant clicking of mah-jong tiles in Fantan Alley…” Linda Rogers reviews Hopes Dreams Lies by Edward H. K. Ho (second edition) (Kindle, 2025) $4.30
Debut novel by a Vancouver Island author splices together parody, satire, and an urgent environmental message. Some parts play out far better than others, our reviewer notes. —Kenna Clifford reviews Rise of The Jellies, by Brian Wilford (Altona: Friesen Press, 2025) $28.49 / 9781038322364
Maternal angst, filial contempt: a Freudian field day. (And recommended for the comforts of home: “I made the mistake of reading it on an empty stomach on an unpleasant bus ride while I was already in an overly pensive mood. What Boys Learn is best read with a heating blanket, on a full stomach, ideally with the reassurance of a warm dog curled up near you.) —Jessica Poon reviews What Boys Learn, by Andromeda Romano-Lax (New York: Soho Crime, 2026) $39.95 / 9781641296915
“’The quest for a new child-centred and humanistic education in Canada was born in British Columbia in the first years of the 1960s, significantly earlier than in the rest of the country,” Dr. Rothstein writes. “Alternative schools in BC were also more prolific and varied than in any other province.’” Patrick A. Dunae reviews Alternative Schools in British Columbia 1960-1975: A Social and Cultural History, by Harley Rothstein (Victoria: Friesen Press, 2024) $30.99 / 9781039135574
Vancouver-set YA novel relates the dangers of sex traffickers and Snapchat: “The subject material is heavy and dark. If readers are hoping to ignite consciousness and conversations about teen safety on the Internet, however, this is a comprehensive option. The story features authentic characters, vivid examples of how not to use social media, and an unforgiving portrayal of a worst case scenario.” —Isabella Ranallo reviews At Least I’m Trying, by Tara Hodgson (Sturgeon County: Tara Hodgson, 2025) $26.42 / 9781069617705
“In sum, in my respectful view, too much of this book is little more than a handy compendium of familiar sources strung together to prove a point. It is reminiscent of the approach taken in Grave Error, whereby those authors seek to advance a counter-narrative.” Richard Butler reviews Reconciling History: A Story of Canada, by Jody Wilson-Raybould and Roshan Danesh (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2024) $39.95 / 9780771017230
Darkly clairvoyant, a novel envisions Vancouver in the upcoming midcentury: “It is a thought-provoking, frightening picture of the world along the Corridor, where AI assistants are the norm, where wealth is everywhere, where the Canadian health system is broken and in great jeopardy, and where a social divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ is apparent everywhere.” —Valerie Green reviews Broadway Corridor: The Great Social Divide, by John D’Eathe (Vancouver: Adagio Media, 2025) $21.99 / 9780991993079
“Hill presents a compelling case for Antifa relevance in its fight against racism, fascism, and authoritarianism, providing a detailed history of events in our past, so we can better understand our probable future.” Jeffrey Stychin reviews The Antifa Comic Book: Revised and Expanded, by Gord Hill (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781834050041
“The setting of Wildcraft Medicine is Clayoquot Sound where Wray gained most of her knowledge of healing plants from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers. Her early years were spent in Powell River, then her family moved to West Vancouver where she met First Nations Medicine Woman Norma Myers, who played an important role in her education in plant medicine. As a mother, she turned to plants to for the medicinal needs of her family through childhood viruses and infections, as well as afflictions that affected the adults, as well as her pets.” Cathalynn Labonté-Smith reviews Wildcraft Medicine: In the Presence of Wonder, by Sheila Anne Wray (Victoria: FriesenPress, 2025) $43.99 / 9781039197220
“Our interviewees have been many and varied: from seasoned poet George Bowering to newcomer, Giller Prize-shortlisted author, Eddy Boudel Tan, from bestselling history author Nancy Marguerite Anderson, to acclaimed memoirist Marion McKinnon Crook. It has been a privilege for me to shake the hands of all of the interviewees of 2025, sometimes in their own homes and workspaces, and ask them about their creative process.” Interview segment producer Trevor Marc Hughes looks back on a year of The British Columbia Review Interview Series.
In an inventive, queer-forward collection, stories offer “sustained engagements with a common ethical terrain.” The book’s strength “lies in its refusal to simplify moral experience.” —Michael Bigam reviews Runs in the Blood, by Matthew J. Trafford (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781834050140
“In this, the third (Giblin says last) of his books on the fishing-guide life and the odd, quirky characters of this profession and region, The Trophy Hunter: The Final Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide, we renew acquaintance with the Lodge’s residents and their favourite fishing holes.” Marianne Scott reviews The Trophy Hunter: The Final Chronicles of a West Coast Fishing Guide, by David Giblin (Victoria: Heritage House, 2025) $24.95 / 9781772035551
“It’s also healthy to remember that the magazines, and this anthology, aren’t judgements but glimpses of which books of poetry might be coming soon within the editors’ favoured aesthetic styles. It’s part of the process that some poems aren’t chosen. The ones not in this volume, for instance. You could make other volumes for the year that would include them and leave these ones out.” —Harold Rhenisch reviews Best Canadian Poetry 2026, selected by Mary Dalton (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771966764
“Personal interjections of Martin and her friends and family bring lightness and humour to the book, giving the reader a real sense of what it was like to live ‘on the edge’—the excitement of boat days when the steamships would pull into town (the road didn’t go through until 1959); learning to drive on Long Beach; exploits, and broken bones, of kids riding their bikes off the government wharf; swimming lessons in the ocean or at Kennedy Lake.” Adrienne Mason reviews Calm Harbour, Turbulent Seas: A History of Ucluelet, by Shirley Martin (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $39.95 / 9781998526161
Stylish novel, filled with “viscerally descriptive” as well as “beautiful and morose” writing, also struggles to effectively realize some of its conceits. —Kenna Clifford reviews Horsefly, by Mirielle Gagńe (translated by Pablo Strauss) (Toronto: Coach House, 2025) $24.95 / 9781552454992
“It’s a call-out, a must-read.” (Just read the damn review already!) —Steven Ross Smith reviews Say It, by Jan Zwicky (Victoria: Deer Mountain Pages, 2025) $15.00 / 9781778235849
“My New Indian Kitchen, which Vij has written with Jennifer Muttoo, is a good read, and was easy and rewarding to cook from. An important concept he extols is to ‘cook with your heart, eat with your hands.’ ” Trish Bowering reviews My New Indian Kitchen, by Vikram Vij with Jennifer Muttoo (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2025) $40 / 9781773272610
For the youngest of readers, this alphabet book, which is strikingly composed and a visual treat, introduces the ABCs in the form of everyday scenes in a BC valley that’s remote to most Canadians. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Elk Valley Alphabet Adventures, by Charné Baird (Fernie: Charné Baird Photography, 2025) $28.95 / 9781069751409