Exceptional debut novel portrays the horrors of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency in Uganda, particularly as experienced by schoolgirls abducted and indoctrinated for service to the cause.—Brett Josef Grubisic reviews We, the Kindling, by Otoniya Okot Bitek (Toronto: Alchemy by Knopf Canada, 2026) $22.00 / 9781039009301
“Hiking, in her eyes, is not just about covering distance—it is about immersion, presence, and connection. It is about stepping outside daily life and into a world that moves at a different rhythm shaped by glaciers, rivers, and the slow unfurling of alpine blooms.” Amy Tucker reviews Mountain Footsteps: Hikes in the East Kootenay of Southeastern British Columbia (4th ed.), by Janice Strong (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2025) $35 / 9781771607414
“The fact, indeed, that Bovey writes with a refreshingly personal sense of appreciation, points towards one of the salient features of this curated exhibition—namely, the fact that just as artists may have “visual voices,” Bovey herself has a distinctive voice. Part of that, of course, is implicit in the selections she makes, but part, too, is explicit in her personal comments.” Theo Dombrowski reviews Western Voices in Canadian Art, by Patricia Bovey (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2023) $49.95 / 9780887550478
With plots of vaporous evil released from bottle captivity and a murderer seemingly on the loose, these terrific books make good on their promise of suitably ‘Boo!-level’ frights and mildly unsettling thrills. —Alison Acheson reviews The Bottle Witch of Brimley, by Linda DeMeulemeester (illustrated by Meaghan Carter) (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2026) $14.95 / 9781459843523 and Do Not Go Out At Night, by François Gravel and Martine Latulippe (translated by David Warriner) (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2026) $12.95 / 9781459843028
“It’s almost as if unpaid work is not, in fact, actually work. As long as parenting is purely done out of love for children, volunteering a matter of altruism, and writing an endearing hobby that few people ever succeed in, no matter how laborious or tiring, it may not qualify as work—at least, not by a bank determining whether to give you a loan, or by fellow partygoers wondering where to place you in a hierarchy.” Jessica Poon reviews Is This an Illness or an Accident? by Daniela Elza (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861630
Part pop music meditation, part memoir, a poetry-and-prose hybrid offers “an authentic glimpse into Michael Turner’s roots and perspective through a lens that only Turner can provide.” With that said, some of the author’s techniques and choices raise questions for our reviewer. —Joe Enns reviews Playlist: A Profligacy of Your Least-Expected Poems, by Michael Turner (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2024) $20.00 / 9781772142280
“These stories of resistance need to be shared to help understand the breadth of depravity of fascism and its impact that can evolve under unchecked hate and power. Rather than “fascism” being an abstract word or slogan, it becomes visceral when told as a story using sequential art.” David Lester writes an essay telling of how, “as the creeping noose of modern-day fascism encircles us, I found myself drawing a story from 80 years ago.” Partisans: A Graphic History of Anti-Fascist Resistance, by Raymond Tyler & Paul Buhle (eds.) (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2025) $34.95 / 9781771136525
“Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa begins with a conversation about her discovery and research into the one empirical example of an ancient practice, the raising of almost but not quite domestic animals who lived in isolation to protect them from inbreeding and physical damage, animals bred to provide the weft in essential weavings.” Linda Rogers reviews The Teachings of Mutton: A Coast Salish Woolly Dog, by Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa et al (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $36.95 / 9781998526024
With “roots in the tradition of West Coast poetry that sprang up in the 1970s,” a photo-illustrated volume of poems sings the wondrous nuances of nature while also reflecting on the poet’s own history. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Hawking the Surf, by Diana Hayes (Vancouver: Silver Bow Publishing, 2025) $23.95 / 9781774033890
“A Perfect Day for a Walk by the Water is an excellent example of the mix of observation, reflection, interpretation, and rich language that brings Bill’s books onto the bestseller list time after time.” Marianne Scott reviews A Perfect Day for a Walk by the Water: Exploring Vancouver’s Shores, by Bill Arnott (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781834050201
A slim debut volume of poems is by turns elegiac and allusive. And—whether focussed on a widow’s grief, a wife of Henry VIII, or rain in Tofino—it roves widely as well. —Isabella Ranallo reviews Portraits, by Lacey Jones (N.p.: Nerdy Kat Books, 2025) $14.36 / 9780986120886
A “first novel from an author short-listed for the Giller Prize … is an extraordinary work—inventive, eclectic, heartfelt, playful, angry, often brilliantly written, mingling myth and actuality, with characters waking from various ‘dreams’ into various realities.” —Harvey De Roo reviews Variations on a Dream, by Angélique Lalonde (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2026) $26.95 / 9780771012600
“In this intimate account, Comox Valley writer Joline Martin uniquely focuses on the draft resisters who came to Vancouver Island and became Canadians.” Ron Verzuh reviews War Resisters: Standing Against the Vietnam War, by Joline Martin (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $26 / 9781773861685
“Each of the artists portrayed in the book–like a unique piece of wood, bone, or argillite they carve–teaches us something significant about their communities, their clans, and their personal histories.” Christine Añonuevo reviews Curve! Women Carvers on the Northwest Coast, curated by Dana Claxton and Curtis Collins (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2024) $45 / 9781773272542
“…the memoir They Never Left Me, written by a Holocaust survivor, Evelyn Kahn, assisted by her daughter Hodie Kahn, is very different and extremely powerful.” Valerie Green reviews They Never Left Me: A Holocaust Memoir of Maternal Courage and Triumph, by Evelyn Kahn with Hodie Kahn (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2025) $22.95 / 9781553807322
A Vancouver author’s debut novel, a kind of ‘cozy spy thriller comedy’ set in the England of the ’60s, is a paradoxical offering—at once too much and not enough. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews The Queens of Kaboom, by Martin Butler (Cambridge: Pegasus Publishers, 2025) $26.99 / 9781836710257
“BC Ferries indeed proved very popular from the beginning. In fact, the corporation underestimated its popularity. By 1965, seven larger ships were added, all basically the same design, plus three smaller ships for the inter-island routes. By 1970, five million passengers had been carried. By 1979, that number had doubled. Routes had been added, terminals built. Even larger ships were called for.” Steven Brown reviews Coastal Connections: A History of British Columbia Ferries and Passenger Ships, by Derek Hayes (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $50 / 9781998526383
“Amos has been clear about his purpose. ‘Because my work is first and foremost, of local interest, I did not pursue gallery representation. As it is unabashedly old-fashioned, I never bothered to try for government grants. My goal has been to create paintings, which people will like, and which will become part of the life of the community.'” Christina Johnson-Dean reviews Painting Victoria: Fifty Years of Memories From a City by The Sea, by Robert Amos (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2025) $30 / 9781771514873
“Haig-Brown has said for many years that his 13 years in the fishing fleet educated him every bit as much as his going to university to prepare for being a writer in his life…” DC Reid reviews Raincoast Chronicles 25 – m̓am̓aɫa Goes Fishing, by Alan Haig-Brown (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $24.95 / 9781998526185
“Roy documents Hart’s careful negotiations with Ottawa at federal-provincial conferences often to the province’s advantage. For example, during the Depression when unemployment was a major concern, Hart made arrangements with the federal government to take steps to address the problem.” John Hart: A Businessman in British Columbia Politics, by Patricia E. Roy (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2025) $34.95 / 9780774872515