Infectiously fun, rapid-fire novel recounts tales from the golden age of charismatic criminals, and ushers readers into “into a fictional world of real-life events that is grippingly good reading.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Crooked: A Crime Novel, by Dietrich Kalteis (Toronto: ECW Press, 2024) $22.95 / 9781770417076
“In clearly laid out chapters from Prospect to Policy to Partnership, Schouls describes the steps taken in many negotiations to articulate the positions of numerous peoples, all with different land claims, cultures, languages, and histories.” Linda Rogers reviews The Spaces In Between: Indigenous Sovereignty within the Canadian State by Tim Schouls (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2024) $74.95 / 9781487587406
Atmospheric and poetic writing supports a striking novel that follows an aunt and niece on a perilous, uncertain journey. —Bill Paul reviews Bad Land, by Corinna Chong (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781551529592
A debut novel, a moderately appealing political satire, explores the notion of radical democracy. —Valerie Green reviews Owls, Doughnuts, and Democracy, by Jason A.N. Taylor (Victoria: independently published) $7.99 (e-book) / 9798333346148
A debut book of poetry reveals a precision and cleverness that can “make an otherwise unintelligible world fall into place.” —Carellin Brooks reviews I Hate Parties, by Jes Battis (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2024) $19.95 / 9780889734809
“The cover image situates the viewer in a state of uncertainty, nay anxiety, holding our breath and straining to right ourselves vis-à-vis the disorienting photograph. This sets the tone for this aptly named book of photographs.” Ryan Gauvin reviews Delirium by John O’Brian (Vancouver: Delirium Editions, 2024) Limited Edition of 500 / 9781738144808
With a cast of writers, this stylish thriller provides “deeply satisfying escapism; however, it also skillfully depicts parental grief, artistic struggles, and that persistent feeling that, if you just find the right words, then, your life will have meant something.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Deepest Lake, by Andromeda Romano-Lax (Toronto: Soho Crime, 2024) $26.95 / 9781641295604
‘Bill Arnott is different: he’s looking around. And what does he see? Not what I would see. In the middle of reading this book, I thought, Let’s look around on a walk like he does.’ Sheldon Goldfarb reviews A Perfect Day for a Walk: The History, Cultures, and Communities of Vancouver, on Foot
by Bill Arnott (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024) $24.95 / 9781551529639
A boldly illustrated kids book in memoir form is “a simple, heartwarming story that offers life lessons to the young—and perhaps to older readers as well.” —Ron Verzuh reviews Adventures in Desolation Sound, by Grant Lawrence (illustrated by Ginger Ngo) (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2024) $24.95 / 9781990776878
Debut novel examines Hitler’s Aktion T4 program. With striking results: “When We Were Ashes is a powerful novel, flawlessly executed and emotionally resonant. It is haunting, and its words have stayed with me long after I closed the book.” —Trish Bowering reviews When We Were Ashes, by Andrew Boden (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2024) $25.00 / 9781773103365
“Willard Freer’s diaries document a dynamic period in the North, and Jay Sherwood’s Kechika Chronicler takes the reader on many of Freer’s wilderness trails.” Ross Peck reviews Kechika Chronicler: Willard Freer’s Northern BC and Yukon Diaries, 1942-1975, by Jay Sherwood (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2023) $26 / 9781773860909
A ‘fairy tale wedding’ provides a novelist with the opportunity to create “a chaotic, soul-baring, multi-generational family drama.” —Bill Paul reviews The Wedding, by Gurjinder Basran (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2024) $24.95 / 9781771624169
Inspired by family history, novelist sets volatile love affair in the midst of WWII, specifically with the guerrilla actions of Churchill’s Special Operations Executive in northern Italy. —Theo Dombrowski reviews The Cipher, by Genni Gunn (Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2024) $22.95 / 9781773241425
Readers will feel anger and compassion “as they follow this pathetic, arthritic, alcoholic woman through the last years of her life as she finally realizes that Hitler’s horrific ‘Final Solution’ was the most odious event in history.” —Valerie Green reviews The Imposter, by Johanna Van Zanten (Las Vegas: Histria Books, 2024) $29.99 / 9761592113767
“[F]orested with a wide variety of poems, or rather, communities of poems, both in style and subject matter,” the volume’s meditations startle and surprise. —Al Rempel reviews Cathedral/Grove, by Susan Glickman (Montréal: Véhicule Press, 2023) $19.95 / 9781550656350
Novelist sets out to “destroy it all … and start over with a handful of survivors, to see if they could build something better,” and then imagines the fraught next steps. —Dana McFarland reviews Post Civ, by Julianne Harvey (Surrey: Ruby Finch Books, 2024) $25.00 / 9780987797841
“They seem to be talking about a kind of respectful and meaningful community belonging. That is really where the power lies.” Richard Butler reviews Where the Power Is: Indigenous Perspectives on Northwest Coast Art by Karen Duffek, Bill McLennan, Jordan Wilson (eds.) (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, in collaboration with the Museum of Anthropology, UBC, 2021) $65 / 9781773270517
“That’s what Adderson does best: placing her characters in unsettling situations and then introducing them to a variety of possibilities.” —Bill Paul reviews A Way to be Happy: Stories, by Caroline Adderson (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2024) $22.95 / 9781771966221
“What an odyssey her life has been! When you think of her beginnings in mid-century Romania and Israel, her narrow escape from perilous situations, and her good fortune, which she has fully utilized, it is one of those stories that can be told again and again.” Christina Johnson-Dean looks back on the life and art of Vancouver-based Pnina Granirer.
A fun and easy beach read, this Mexican resort-set murder mystery brings together secrets, ulterior motives, and extravagant wealth. —Candace Fertile reviews The Plus One, by S.C. Lalli (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2024) $25.99 / 9781443467049