“…one does not need to be a quilter or even care much about fabric arts in order to welcome Miller’s book for its glimpse into a time and a way of life which changed our society and offered a new sort of freedom which we have not yet lost.” Phyllis Reeve reviews Knots and Stitches: Community Quilts Across the Harbour by Kristin Miller (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023) $26 / 9781773861203
“The book takes us through various phases in China’s modern history, from the Anglo-Chinese wars of the 1840s and the Boxer Rebellion, through both world wars, the Japanese conquest and occupation of China, and the advent of Communism.” Tom Koppel reviews Searching for Billie: A journalist’s quest to understand his mother’s past leads him to discover a vanished China by Ian Gill (Hong Kong: Blacksmith Books, 2024) $25.85 / 9789887554660
“The book is also unique in that it provides first-person accounts from a socially and ethnically diverse group of professionals, including several chapters penned by women who openly share their lived experiences in a changing professional environment.” —Ryan Mitchell reviews The Role of Canadian City Managers, edited by Michael Fenn, Gordon McIntosh and David Siegel (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023) $44.95 / 9781487552329
“The book suggests that future efforts should prioritize rebuilding Lytton with a strong focus on sustainability and resilience. This involves implementing policies that address the root causes of vulnerability, such as historical injustices and environmental degradation.” Amy Tucker reviews Lytton: Climate Change, Colonialism and Life Before the Fire by Peter Edwards and Kevin Loring (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2024) $36 / 9781039006157
“Once people see the inequities in the world, it is hard to unsee them – Dr. Mayhew’s descriptions bring a humanity and familiarity in a way to a very different culture.” Dr. Laura Sauvé reviews Hand on My Heart: A Canadian Doctor’s Awakening in Afghanistan by Maureen Mayhew (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023) $26 / 9781773861029
“These are fully realized observations, absolute and searing impressions of the profoundly joyful, as well as the unavoidably difficult.” —Cathy Ford reviews Islander, by Mona Fertig (Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2024) $22.00 / 9781896949895
“Butler’s story is riveting and very powerful as she describes being different from everyone else while trying to find her true self.” Valerie Green reviews Apocalypse Child: Surviving Doomsday and the Search for Identity at the End of the World by Carly Butler (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781773861326
“This book is a history lesson, required reading for those who come late to the struggle and wonder why nothing has been done.” Wendy Burton reviews Water Confidential: Witnessing Justice Denied – The Fight for Safe Drinking Water in Indigenous and Rural Communities in Canada by Susan Blacklin (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781773861319
“As someone who has grown up with abuse and worked with at-risk youth and clients on bail or conditional release inmates before my current career in academia, I found Grabb’s reflections on childhood trauma particularly resonant. His discussions on the long-term impacts of abuse and the challenges of overcoming such trauma are insightful and align with my professional observations.” Amy Tucker reviews Traces of a Boy: Reflections of the Unfathomable by Russ Grabb (Victoria: Tellwell Talent, 2023) $20.99 / 9781779410061
“Aaron Williams was raised in logging camps in BC with an old-time logger for a father and a supportive mother and logging Grandmother Joy doing the raising. He makes good use of his youthful memories to tell us in first-person present tense the workings of various operations that make up the industry.” Ron Verzuh reviews The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era by Aaron Williams (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776618
“Hunting and fishing for survival is part of life for an increasing number of North Americans. The Port Hardy memoir reminded me that I am not of that ilk and would likely die quickly if marooned on a deserted coastal island in Drouin’s backyard.” Past the End of the Road: A North Island Boyhood by Michel Drouin (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776670
“Although Roche has had to constantly encounter resistance to his own appearance by those who consider him initially repellant, it is this very impasse that enables him to teach and learn and develop more immense layers of empathy.” Catherine Owen reviews Standing at the Back Door of Happiness: And How I Unlocked It by David Roche (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $22.95 / 9781990776762
“Burn, baby, burn, they must have said and this is the fire in Bowering who…is on a feminist re-investigation of the legacy of a lost lady poet.” Linda Rogers reviews More Richly in Earth: A Poet’s Search for Mary MacLeod by Marilyn Bowering (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) $34.95 / 9780228021124
“Author Richard Butler, in his two recent titles, has decided, quite admirably, to describe his own path in addressing reconciliation. He begins Taking Reconciliation Personally upfront about his own settler privilege.” Trevor Marc Hughes reviews Taking Reconciliation Personally (Victoria: A&R Publishing, 2023) $15 / 9798849376998 & I Dare Say…Conversations with Indigeneity by Richard Butler (Victoria: A&R Publishing, 2023) $11 / 9798871999066
“Brauer visited Ireland, accompanied by his former wife Paula, some years ago, and more recently returned on his own in an attempt to ‘find himself.'” Ian Kennedy reviews Lost Between the Stones and the Sea: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland by Chris Brauer (New Denver: Maa Press, 2023) $25.00 / 9781777349745
A poetry collection’s “distinctive power” is founded on a “keen but understated awareness of the interplay between the human world and the natural environment.”—Christopher Levenson reviews Moving to Delilah, by Catherine Owen (Calgary: Freehand Books, 2024) $19.95 / 9781990601583
“The first part of this book is delightful. There’s young Koah with his Portuguese-Canadian father travelling back to his father’s ancestral homeland and imbibing words of wisdom from his father, who introduces him to his grandparents and extended family, all the connections missing from their life together in Victoria, BC.” Sheldon Goldfarb reviews Trust the Bluer Skies: Meditations on Fatherhood by paulo da costa (Regina: University of Regina Press, 2024) $27.95 / 9780889779921
“Her story is not just a recount of a physical undertaking but a profound voyage into personal resilience and discovery.” Amy Tucker reviews Shifting Gears: Coast to Coast on the Trans Am Bike Race by Meaghan Marie Hackinen (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2023) $23.95 / 9781774390801
“Christina Myers’ new memoir Halfway Home is a raw and riotous account of what it can be like for a woman to move through her life.” Natalie Virginia Lang reviews Halfway Home: Thoughts from Midlife by Christina Myers (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2024) $23.99 / 9781487012441
“Far too many non-Indigenous books on the North are presented in the ‘front lines of history’ format, with the authors determined to emphasize their path-breaking work, travels, observations, or experiences. Yukon Wanderlust has none of that self-aggrandizement. Their northern activities are described in a matter-of-fact and unexaggerated fashion.” Ken Coates and William R. Morrison review Yukon Wanderlust by Don Barz (Celtic Frog Publishing, 2021) $29.95 / 9781989092415