A “diluvial narrative” that flows with references to and musings on Arendt, Woolf, Barthes, Derrida, Cixous, and many others, a novel presents “a history of disappeared locution and a locational archive”: “Overflowing and magically disappearing, Robertson’s indelible river meets Mark Twain’s Mississippi and James Joyce’s Liffey.” —Michael Greenstein reviews Riverwork, by Lisa Robertson (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2026) $24.95 / 9781552455173
“Our daily speech also overflows with Latin prefixes and suffixes, such as circum-, con-, contra-, e- or ex-, extra-, inter-, intra-, multi-, ob-, pre-, post-, sub-, super-, trans-, and ultra-. But we don’t need to be told what each of these prefixes means: we have acquired them subconsciously, by osmosis to use a Greek term, through a host of words such as transport, pre-natal, or supermarket.” Christopher Levenson contributes a Word in Your Ear essay to The British Columbia Review: Small Latin and Less Greek
“Much of this restoration work laid out in Nature-First Cities, is happening in real-time with municipalities creating sustainability master plans, and nature-based development in partnerships with residential developers among others. The final chapters of the book detail the process for bottom-up land stewardship, joining individuals, neighbours, and community groups.” Ryan Mitchell reviews Nature-First Cities: Restoring Relationships with Ecosystems and with Each Other, by Cam Brewer, Herb Hammond, and Sean Markey (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024) $39.95 / 9780774868648
“With a new book scheduled to be released in the fall, author and curator emeritus at the Royal British Columbia Museum Robert D. Turner is continuing his chronicling of British Columbia’s history of rail and steam. The Steamer SS Moyie: The Biography of the Sweetheart of Kootenay Lake, A Continuing Story Beginning in 1898 is being assembled by Harbour Publishing…” Trevor Marc Hughes presents an interview segment with historian Robert D. Turner.
“These are the dichotomies of human experience: keeping grudges, granting forgiveness; making up lies, trying perhaps to undo them; dealing with the miracles of new life or of death. All of them are here, encapsulated in five amazing stories, ones you may perhaps never forget.” —Heidi Greco reviews Like a River Divides the Earth: Five Stories, by Dora Dueck (Calgary: Freehand Books, 2026) $22.95 / 9781997534204
“Robin Ward, a graduate of the celebrated Glasgow School of Art and respected architectural critic and author, does justice to that inheritance. He has added to the comprehensive yet accessible guidebooks he has written singly or collaboratively, including on Victoria and Vancouver, in this province. The photography is excellent and selection of buildings and civic statuary or artwork both astute and appropriate to exploring the built environment of Canada’s one-time leading metropolis.” Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe reviews Exploring Montréal: 151 Best Buildings, by Robin Ward (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2026) $29.95 / 9781771624619
“The title of the book, Reconciling, demonstrates the ongoing process of reconciliation and meaning of Larry’s journey through life. The book opens with a description by co-author Scott Steedman of Larry Grant, ‘…a short, weathered man of eighty-five years… an Elder of both the Vancouver Chinese community and the Musqueam Indian Band.’ Steedman asked Larry if he was interested in writing his life story one day. It took eight years, starting in 2017.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong, by Larry Grant, in conversation with Scott Steedman (Toronto: ECW Press, 2025) $26.95 / 9781770417984
Whether “stuck in a forever summer” in the city or mentally revisiting a “home landscape of spruce and willow, rabbit and moose, blueberry and fireweed” (as well as “taps that don’t bring water”), a writer showcases a craving for comfort and certainty in a debut book of poems. —Joanna Streetly reviews Spruce to Cedar, by Lasänmą (Picton: Brick Books, 2026) $23.95 / 9781771316705
“Byers provides compelling vignettes of encounters with workers returning to work after injury; pre-emptive inspections of structures that could lead to repetitive strain injury; and at times antagonistic encounters with supervisors. These are stories of inspection, vigilance, witnessing, and recording.” Wendy Burton reviews Coming Home from the Candy Factory, by Jane Byers (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $24 / 9781773861746
Eclectic volume of poetry “will catch the eye of book lovers, retail workers, and tree huggers. That’s an eclectic group of people, and underlines the uniqueness of the author’s lived experience that manifests in her poems. Dickinson offers a debut that is confident in its voice and builds a world populated by bookshelves and sea urchins. If you’re a poet who works in customer service, this might be the book for you.” —Isabella Ranallo reviews Staff Picks for Invertebrates, by Zoe Dickinson (Gananoque: Guernica Editions, 2026) $22.95 / 9781778490286
“Many of the 19 stories, packed with Fraser’s fact-filled remembrances, deal with disasters and tragedies. He was the reporter the editors on the assignment desk in Edmonton or Toronto would call if they needed a reliable and ‘objective’ journalist to fly to the trouble zone on short notice.” Ron Verzuh reviews From Ragged Ass Road to Rideau Hall: Stories of Canada, by Whit Fraser (Madeira Park: Douglas and McIntyre, 2026) $26.95 / 9781771624695
“Tender, attentive to small moments of meaning within and beyond the places the poet once pushed or simply didn’t pay attention, this is poetry that, at its best, forces readers to reconsider their own histories.” —Carellin Brooks reviews Gold Star, by Emma McKenna (Toronto: Book*hug, 2026) $22.95 / 9781771669740
“Boom Times in Chilliwack without question represents Merlin Bunt’s great love for his hometown, as he states in his introduction. As a chronicler of that hometown Chilliwack could not ask for a more devoted one.” Steven Brown reviews Boom Times in Chilliwack: Memories from the Post-War Years, by Merlin Bunt (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $38.95 / 9781998526369
The latest mystery for irrepressible West Kootenay amateur sleuth Lane Winslow begins with a bespoke hat. From there, a missing boy, a stolen boat, and a hoard of cash… It’s “the perfect compact source of entertainment to exercise the brain when it comes to solving a murder mystery while at the same time rooting for each characters’ journeys and desires,” our reviewer writes. —Sergio Espinosa reviews A False and Fatal Claim, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2026) $21.95 / 9781771514668
“Although the convention attracted its fair share of critics at the time, situating it in the context of what came before and after suggests it was not a write-off but an effective strategy (at least in theory) for mobilizing confederation supporters and keeping the colonial government on alert.” Sam Kiiskila, recent UVic graduate, contributes the historical essay “A ‘Lover of Beauty’ on his way to Yale”: Revisiting the 1868 Yale Convention
“When I finished the last page and closed the book, I came away satisfied. And the ending? That, I really liked.” With that said, an author’s follow-up to a phenomenally successful debut is not quite as stellar. —Trish Bowering reviews The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer (Toronto: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books, 2026) $26.99 / 9781668228944
Final book of a pentalogy rife with dualities — “the epic conclusion to an action-packed, magic-filled saga of love, loss, and becoming who you were meant to be” — leaves our reviewer satisfied and, happily, unbothered by any unanswered questions. —Myshara McMyn reviews The Call of the Rift: Fuse, by Jae Waller (Toronto: ECW Press, 2026) $23.95 / 9781770417137
The opening volume of a speculative fiction trilogy ranges between Germany of the present decade and Canada of 2085. In spite of an intriguing set-up, the novel’s surfeit of plot threads and wildly unlikable characters diminished the book’s appeal. —Sophia Wasylinko reviews Gaia’s Revolution: Book 1 of the Icaria Trilogy, by Nina Munteanu (Calgary: Dragon Moon Press, 2026) $6.88 [ebook] / 9781774000762
“Keeping the Books is a family history par excellence, the best of its genre that I have read, which traces the life of Alene Peck, a homesteader’s daughter in the Peace River district of British Columbia. It was a colourful life that Alene has chronicled and saved through a trove of letters, notes, and photographs that upon her death were bequeathed to her son, Ross Peck, who lives today in Skookumchuck, in BC’s Kootenays.” Kenneth Favrholdt reviews Keeping the Books: The life and times of a Peace River Homesteader’s Daughter, by Ross Peck (Cranbrook: Wild Horse Creek Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781069794703
BC-set debut novel portrays environmental politics and a volatile family of five in 1989, 2001, and 2022. Against a forested backdrop, the novel “explores how a thriving family is a unique ecosystem with its own fragility and resilience.” —Trish Bowering reviews The Fall-Down Effect, by Liz Johnston (Toronto: Book*hug, 2026) $24.95 / 9781771669627