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History (world)

Lovemaking, paratrooping

“Sprawling [and] ambitious” 1940s-set debut novel captures the death and male camaraderie of wartime Europe and the romantic challenges of a mixed-race couple in Vancouver. —Jessica Poon reviews The Riveter, by Jack Wang (Toronto: House of Anansi, 2025) $24.99 / 9781487007614

‘Moving with purpose’

Elegant, careful, sparse, and yet complex verse that is “a dense, rich reflection on the natural world and the human impact” presents a poet who is “a walker, a watcher, a muser, a recorder.” —Steven Ross Smith reviews The Middle, by Stephen Collis (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024) $18.95 / 9781772016420

Poets’ Pastime Paradise

In “Poets’ Pastime Paradise,” an “essay in play format about poetry” that’s set in a cemetery at midnight, author Sarah Freel corrals modernist poets, an American rapper, and a poetess named Reiko to versify while they debate over literary politics.

The Blood in the Stone

“Not one single gravestone stands to mark my family. It is as though they didn’t exist.” —In “The Blood in the Stone” Deborah Lane excavates family history and imagines life as it might have been.

Resilience, transformation, memory

A poignant and intricate collection of evocative poems “demonstrates a virtuoso poetic sensibility.” —gillian harding-russell reviews Nucleus: A Poet’s Lyrical Journey from Ukraine to Canada, by Svetlana Ischenko (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2024) $18.95 / 9781553807070

From A (aliens) to Z (zombies)

At its best, a debut collection of 15 stories is deeply unsettling, anxiety-inducing, and memorably character-driven. —Zoe McKenna reviews I Will Wander On: Terrifying Tales of Life, Love, & Death, by Ron Prasad (Acheson: iUniverse, 2024) $30.95 / 9781663266477

Seeing ‘what once was’

A striking, immersive sophomore collection of poems: “The end result is an impressive, well-considered, coherent, and powerful book whose emotional and linguistic subtleties reward frequent re-reading.” —Christopher Levenson reviews Water Quality, by Cynthia Woodman Kerkham (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) $19.95 / 9780228022978

Read the words, stay for the images

In book form, a current exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario commands attention, draws the eye, and titillates the mind. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Light Years: The Phil Lind Gift, by Adam Welch (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions and Art Gallery of Ontario, 2024) $40.00 / 9781773104393

Diffident souls in liminal states

A baker’s dozen of engrossing stories range broadly—from militaristic dystopias to the Vietnam War—and often portray the volatile dynamics of men in imbalanced relationships. —Theo Dombrowski reviews Unsettling Dreams, by Michael Whatling (Victoria: Mortal Coil Books, 2024) $16.99 / 1777569958

Hard times in ’41

Author draws on true-life experiences to portray hardship and perseverance in a wintry city during a horrific three-year campaign of attrition. —Heidi Greco reviews Winter of Siege, by Jan DeGrass (Garden Bay: MW Books, 2023) $20.00 / 9780995277830

The ‘darkness in big people’s lives’

A young protagonist navigates family secrets, unreliable bonds, and sudden violence in a stylish and poetic debut novel. —Jessica Poon reviews The Pages of the Sea, by Anne Hawk (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2024) $24.95 / 9781771966535

Bloodlust and bayous

Debut novel immerses readers “in the infested Gothic stream of the American South” and portrays memorably obsessive characters “nurtured on beer and cigarettes.” —Michael Greenstein reviews After We Drowned, by Jill Yonit Goldberg (Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2024) $22.00 / 9781772142273

A god at play

“Myth is the only truth, says Eros, echoing Jung, and perhaps we would be better served by a novel that focused more on myth and less on boring humans.” —Sheldon Goldfarb reviews A Bouquet of Darts: A European Travel Mystery, by Reed Stirling (Drayton Valley: BWL Publishing, 2024) $18.99 / 9780228631309

‘Finding a sense of clarity’

Over the course of 18 questions, recent Writers’ Trust fiction prize winner Sheung-King discusses influences, ideal literary dinner companions, Sakamoto Ryūichi, autofiction, McDonald’s, Hong Kong, and QR codes.
—Interview by Jessica Poon.

A murder in 1792

Captivating historical novel set on the BC coast features diplomatic posturing, a restless crew, a Nuu-chah-nulth chief, and a dash of magic realism. —Ron Verzuh reviews The Wind from All Directions, by Ron Thompson (Toronto: Double Dagger Books, 2024) $22.99 / 9781990644900

What lasts (and what doesn’t)

This memoir, a “whimsical look at the fall of the British Empire,” features anecdotes about the author’s assorted encounters with celebrities over the decades. —Valerie Green reviews Celebrities Who Have Met Me: A Child of the Lost Empire, by John D’Eathe (Vancouver: Adagio Media, 2024) $21.99 9781999433925

Thank you, donors!

2024 donors to the British Columbia Review, a thank you from Richard Mackie.

Empowered!

Bold art and great design work together to elevate an already exuberant, well-told tale about Katie Sandwina, a historical strongwoman. —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Katie, Big and Strong: The True Story of the Mighty Woman Who Could Lift Anything, by Jennifer Cooper (illustrated by Jen White) (Naperville: Sourcebooks Kids, 2024) $28.00 / 9781728267814

A war on knowledge

“Wind sets out the many ways that Israeli institutions of higher education are enlisted in Israel’s settler-colonial project. Some are strategically situated to anchor Israeli territorial expansion, often standing literally on the sites of razed Palestinian villages.” Larry Hannant reviews Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom, by Maya Wind (London: Verso, 2024) $39.95 / 9781804291740

Reviewer picks 2024 (pt. 2)

BCR asked some of our regular contributors about books they read in the past year that really stuck with them. “Eclectic” is our word of the year.

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