Cerebral, inventive, challenging, and deeply, well, bookish, the “whole novel glows with similar interplays of similarly repeated words and issues, ones that touch on the most fundamental nature of the human experience—truth and knowledge, beauty (especially of music), love, and, perhaps most fundamentally, happiness.”—Theo Dombrowski reviews The Book of Records, by Madeleine Thien (Toronto: Knopf Canada, 2025) $36.95 / 9781039009561
With eclectic figures and images—from the Grim Reaper and the banshee to ripe fruit, seeds, and soil—a poet cannily examines “our frail human presence,” aging, and death with calm, humour, and wisdom. —Jane Frankish reviews Becoming the Harvest, by Pauline Le Bel (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $20 / 9781773861562
Seattle-set debut novel features a procrastinating romance author whose DIY cure for the blues involves the lives of strangers she observes. Contact with others, she soon learns, comes with responsibilities. And consequences.
—Jessica Poon reviews Inside Outside, by Faye Arcand (Okanagan Falls: Blue Robin Books, 2024) $19.99 / 9781069029508
Poetic voices from coast to coast are gathered in a volume that reflects on our era—an “age of unprecedented environmental crises.” Collectively, their work strives to create room for “dreaming and transformation.” —Mary Ann Moore reviews Speech Dries Here on the Tongue: Poetry on Environmental Collapse and Mental Health, by (eds.) Hollay Ghadery, Rasiqra Revulva, and Amanda Shankland (Guelph: The Porcupine’s Quill, 2025) $20.00 / 9780889844902
In an exhilarating YA novel, Gold Rush riches are the goal for Scottish teenager Callum McBay. With theft, attacks, miscreants, shambling outposts, and one “toad-faced abomination,” there’s plenty of hardship before any reward. —Ron Verzuh reviews The Cariboo Trek of Callum McBay, by Colin Campbell (Vancouver: Tradewind Books, 2025) $14.95 / 9781990598333
“Circa 2025, Emma would be in therapy; in Atkins’ 1704, though, knife battles, duels, betrayals, and violent power struggles are just a Tuesday afternoon.” —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Back to the New Adventure, by Trevor Atkins (Coquitlam: Silverpath Publishing, 2024) $14.95 / 9781989459041
Written “with wit and great insight,” a sophomore story collection often focussed “on women who live in world of uncertainty and stress,” conveys the unsteady state of mind that can occur when there’s always “one more thing to look out for.” —Bill Paul reviews Welcome to the Neighbourhood: Stories, by Clea Young (Toronto: House of Anansi, 2025) $22.99 / 9781487013196
In a debut novel, “a party animal of a book that resoundingly delivers,” two sisters—one “prone to shoplifting in her job as a cashier,” the other a “skin care influencer with a cult-ish following” tussle in a wacky story that marries social critique and wit. —Jessica Poon reviews Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Toronto: Simon & Schuster Canada, 2025) $24.99 / 9781668079867
As she portrays hardship and resilience in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, a debut novelist “tells an engrossing story about Clara, a talented doctor and loving woman trying to find the right path to take in late Victorian Canada.” —Valerie Green reviews The Roads We Take, by Christy K. Lee (Toronto: Rising Action Publishing, 2023) $21.99 / 9781998076062
Set circa 1948 in northern Mexico and BC’s central interior, the 12th book in a lighthearted murder mystery series begins with two missing person cases. Twists, turns, and “all manner of false leads” ensue. —Bill Paul reviews The Cost of a Hostage, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: Touchwood Editions, 2025) $21.95 / 9781771514545
In this useful picture book for children, a yoga class is an adventure in learning as well as a launchpad for colourful, imaginary travel. —Ron Verzuh reviews Yoga Adventures for Little Explorers, by Megan McDougall / illustrated by Hayley Lowe (Charlottetown: Pownal Street Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781998129232
Set in Western Canada during the Summer of Love, a coolly stylish novel portrays a juvenile boy’s educational misadventures during an unsanctioned road trip. —Ryan Frawley reviews Amaranthine Chevrolet, by Dennis E. Bolen (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2025) $25.99 / 9781459754775
With glimpses of “one of the greatest spectacles / the city ever sees / twice daily most seasons / dawn to dusk,” a poetry collection draws an array of meanings from urban crows. —Heather Ramsay reviews Crowd Source, by Cecily Nicholson (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2025) $19.95 / 9781772016581
“Existing Music is a deeply layered and memorable work of poetic metaphor and imagery, and Nick Thran succeeds in playing with sound and shapeshifting, or transposition, to evoke an ‘Oh’ in the reader as we look over his shoulder.” —Joe Enns reviews Existing Music, by Nick Thran (Gibsons: Nightwood Editions, 2025) $19.95 / 9780889714861
Personal darkness and a generational chasm are examined in an urgent long poem—where a grandmother reaches out to a youth immersed in video game realities. —Isabella Ranallo reviews Encrypted, by Arleen Paré (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $20.00 /9781773861647
“Wright’s psychological exploration—her emphasis on the ‘why was it done?’—takes us into territory beyond the cozy mystery that a series set in a small town and complete with an ongoing romance might invite.” —Ginny Ratsoy reviews Sleep While I Sing: Murder in a Small Town, by L.R. Wright (New York: Felony and Mayhem Press, 2024) $26.95 / 9781631943171
Although a few missteps are in evidence, a Vancouver Island author’s debut novel—set near Tofino in 1968—introduces a “worthy mystery with a captivating setting.” —Valerie Green reviews Fake Out, A Long Beach Mystery, by Faye Bayko (Victoria: Tellwell Publishing, 2025) $26.99 / 9781779624789
“In a collection that dives again and again into the motivations behind actions that sometimes seem incomprehensible, the author gives us a deeply meaningful way to get lost.” —Ryan Frawley reviews Born of the Storm, by Don McLellan (Vancouver: Page Count Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781777361617
In an established writer’s first novel, new information affects a parent’s grief; it’s fiction that suggests “the uncomfortable, murky place that we sometimes inhabit in the midst of change can be a fine place to rest, and begin again.”
—Trish Bowering reviews Blue Hours, by Alison Acheson (Calgary: Freehand Books, 2025) $24.95 / 9781990601897
“The gift of a small community is that everyone knows everyone; it’s also a bit of a curse. In Gaston’s hands, it’s mostly a gift as closeness seems to create a sense of balance.” —Candace Fertile reviews Tunnel Island, by Bill Gaston (Saskatoon: Thistledown Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771872683