A follow-up to a 2023 novel features a story-within-a-story and settings in present day Canada and the Cold War. Reflecting one another, the tales balance humour and seriousness as they portray perilous times and the men and women in them trying to get by. —Ace Baker reviews The Book of Gronsky by Bill Engleson (Altona: Friesen Press, 2026) $26.95 / 9781038360816
“Spying on America was published in 2026 but the trip itself was made several years earlier, in the time of Covid and the interregnum between the two Trump terms. Enough has happened in that gap that the book contains an epilogue, ‘From the Rearview,’ which is partly a ‘where are they now?’ update on the main characters in the story, but more importantly an attempt to answer the question that I keep asking myself and anybody else who will listen. The question isn’t about Trump at all, because the whole world already knows what he is, and what America has become. Instead, it’s ‘Who in God’s name voted for this person, and why would they do it twice?'” Brian Harvey reviews Spying on America, by Bill Gaston (Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2026) $26 / 9781773104652
With characters that “can be awful, but authentic,” a debut YA novel “offers a well-written and brutally realistic rendering of divorce in a short number of pages.” —Isabella Ranallo reviews Our Square of Sky, by Robin Lamarche (Gibsons: Prose-Star Communications, 2026) $19.95 / 9781068981890
“As the primary editor Deborah (Devora) Ross-Grayman explains in the book’s preface, the writings here took root as the result of meetings of the Vancouver Second-Generation (2G) Group. All of the twelve writers represented here are the offspring of Holocaust survivors (or, in one instance, a survivor himself).” Heidi Greco reviews Voices of Resilience: An Anthology of Stories Written by Children of Holocaust Survivors, by Deborah (Devora) Ross-Grayman, with Wendy Bancroft & The Writers (eds.) (The Netherlands: Amsterdam Publishers, 2026) $24.95 / 9789493418608
“There are still a few instances of righteous indignation and conspiracy theory, but these are easy to spot and disregard. There is happily much less of the defamatory innuendo about “rent-seeking” which stained too many chapters in Grave Error. The overall tone of Dead Wrong—despite its provocative title, the publisher’s preface, and a couple of other instances—seems much less frenzied. But most important, every chapter of this book contains something British Columbians may not have known and ought to have the chance to think about. Some chapters particularly so.” Richard Butler reviews Dead Wrong: How Canada Got the Residential School Story So Wrong
by C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan (Ottawa: True North, 2025) $22.99 / 9798274120593
Sophomore novel marries genres, unhappily. In spite of “unflinching, … powerful and realistic” characterization, other aspects proved confusing and even maddening for our reviewer, the book “an excellent concept with an unsatisfying execution.” —Zoe McKenna reviews All We Have Left, by Emily Paxman (London: Titan Books, 2026) $24.99 / 9781835417591
“Neil Surkan tells The British Columbia Review this collection, Empties, ‘spans five years of writing, revising, and doubting…and growing.’ But also present in this collection is fatherhood, and being a father during a time of climate change and political upheaval.” Trevor Marc Hughes interviews current Poet Laureate of Nanaimo Neil Surkan.
Sophomore poetry collection reflects a “wryness of humour and breadth of understanding.” Here is “a fine collection of finely-wrought poems in a fresh and feminist voice that is a pleasure to read,” our reviewer reports. —gillian harding-russell reviews Perfect Weather, by Jamella Hagen (Sackville: Gaspereau Press, 2026) $24. 95 / 9781554472833
“The story of the mistreated tunnel workers may sound familiar. In rough outline, the it begins with an Italian tunnelling company, SELI, tasked with a major project in Vancouver. Finding no Canadians responding to their ads, the company recruited experienced workers from Latin America, attracting them with comparatively high payment and side benefits such as accommodation. As it turned out, the wages, though higher than what they were used to, were a small fraction of Canadian wages for similar work—and significantly lower than those of Europeans subsequently hired by the same company.” Theo Dombrowski reviews A Fight for Justice: The Compelling Story of Temporary Foreign Workers & Human Rights, by Joe Barrett (Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2026) $26.95 / 9781553807391
“This book is a story about the past. History, of course, contains the word ‘story.’ History was for so long his story whereas this one is her story. It is the story of Florence Wilson, a woman who lived much of her life in a man’s world. But here is the thing, if history is a story does that mean that a story is history? Let’s see.” Robin Fisher reviews Bloomsbury to Barkerville: The Life of Florence Wilson, by Marion McKinnon Crook (Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 2026) $26.95 / 9781772035643
“[H]ardly a story goes by without the ordinary blossoming into the extraordinary,” our reviewer notes about an accomplished, probing story collection whose “nimble, fresh, [and] lightly ironic writing style” teases “the remarkable out of the mundane.” —Theo Dombrowski reviews The Typing Lady and Other Fictions, by Ruth Ozeki (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2026) $38.00 / 9780735249813
Set in Paris (1940) and Baltimore (1992), a bestselling prize-magnet of a (2011) novel features a dazzling meditation on friendship, loyalty, manhood, race, and the truths and half-truths we tell our past and present selves. The new edition has a striking new cover, but “it arrives without a critical introduction or any contextual apparatus to differentiate it from earlier editions,” our reviewer notes. —Selena Mercuri reviews Half-Blood Blues (Canadian Classics Edition), by Esi Edugyan (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2026) $24.99 / 9781443478731
“Memories and anecdotes from the past make their way into many of the essays. He writes about family, high school, friendships, travelling, loneliness, and most significantly his relationship with Litia, his wife. Two of the essays are about the family dog. The author, who lives in Vancouver, is witty, curious, nostalgic, analytical and overly solemn. He has a way of noticing odd details and meaningful moments that pass us by when we are with those closest to us.” Bill Paul reviews Decadence, by Richard Kelly Kemick (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2026) $24.95 / 9781771967136
In a fast-paced pair of early chapter books, authors examine social politics and community-building, though in discrete historical eras—contemporary Canada and BC in the 1880s. —Alison Acheson reviews A Home For Lucy, by Mike Levitt (Toronto: Lorimer Books, 2026) $19.95 / 9781459420595 and Peril at Hell’s Gate, by Bill Freeman (Toronto: Lorimer Books, 2026) $19.95 / 9781459420625
“What is Sveva’s achievement? In visual terms, she has left a compelling body of work that is both challenging and uplifting. In psychological terms, she goes through a ‘dark night of the soul’ and achieves what was, for her, a state of enlightenment. She uses all of her knowledge of commentators on the human condition throughout the ages as signs and guide posts throughout her journey. She also draws on her extensive knowledge of the visual arts and, on occasion, paints an homage to someone who she found particularly inspiring.” Adriana A. Davies contributes the essay Sveva Caetani: From Old to New World and Back
“‘A lot of us get very devoted to our detectives,’ Juby says. ‘So there’s a little bit of a parasocial relationship with your detective. You sort of glom onto them and think, aaahhh, I’m in the hands of this particular person and I can see the world through their eyes.’ In this case the detective in question is ‘buddhist butler and reluctant investigator Helen Thorpe.'” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview with Nanaimo-based crime fiction writer Susan Juby.
“This expertly curated and well-composed book intends to rectify Wakayama’s relative obscurity. He is both the subject of Enemy Alien and, to a large extent, its author.” Philip Huynh reviews Enemy Alien: Tamio Wakayama, by Paul Wong (ed.) (Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing, 2025) $40 / 9781773272801
“Darcy describes her struggles as the only woman or one of few in the corridors and meeting halls of union power. For those of us who were there, can I have an Amen, Sister; for those now used to seeing women in positions of union leadership, it could be instructive to learn how it was, not so long ago, for a woman in a union leadership position to speak truth to power – to both sides of the table.” Wendy Burton reviews Leading from the Heart: The Battles of a Feminist, Union Leader and Politician, by Judy Darcy (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $40 / 9781771625043
“Playfully serious, raucous and ribald, light-hearted and ‘heavy’ (in the ‘70s sense), Pearl is the final note in a symphony that rings out long after the applause has ended, and the musicians have packed up their instruments and left. Pearl is full of wisdom, full of beautiful gems, and so earns its title, but it also pays homage to Bowering’s mother, Pearl, in a poem appropriately placed at the centre of his book.” —Al Rempel reviews Pearl, by George Bowering (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2026) $19.95 / 9781772017137
“Considering author and journalist Craig Taylor has had such cosmopolitan addresses as London and New York, and such impressive credentials, such as writing for The Guardian, finding him on the quiet shores of Protection Island just off of Nanaimo is surprising.” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview segment with author Craig Taylor, filmed on Protection Island.