An intriguing, alchemical novel “that blends the real and the unreal into something more myth than fable, more real than magic, for all its occasionally fantastical elements,” has a “dreamy quality that is enhanced by the understated prose.” —Ryan Frawley reviews The Unfinished World, by Marilyn Bowering (Montreal: Linda Leith Publishing, 2025) $26.95 / 9781773901800
A “wildly variable” collection of stories is marked by emotional extravagance and an abundance of figurative language. The ‘too-muchness’ and iffy copyediting result in a book that’s a challenge to appreciate. —Candace Fertile reviews Love’s Lonely Pursuits, by Marina Sonkina (Garden Bay: MW Books, 2025) $24.95 / 9781069534606
Author’s third book of poems, is “a charming sequence that boldly documents the speaker’s firsthand experience with mental illness. Far from unfamiliar to those who have not been diagnosed with such an illness, the speaker’s thoughts and feelings represent an intensifying of the human spirit in all its joy and personal inadequacy and, most of all, in its need for a sense of purpose to feel whole.” —gillian harding-russell reviews Notes From The Ward, by Steffi Tad-Y (Guelph: Gordon Hill Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781774221679
Elite athletes with personal demons and career doubts meet in a sizzling romance novel strengthened by complex characters, appealing peer group bantering, and, of course, plentiful spark. —Jessica Poon reviews Revolve, by Bal Khabra (Toronto: Berkley, 2025) $19.00 / 9780593818305
Evelyn Lau’s “Cursing, Flailing,” selected by Mary Dalton for inclusion in Best Canadian Poetry 2026 (Windsor: Biblioasis, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771966764
“That’s not to presume that the novel is necessarily autobiographical, only to suggest that [the author] clearly holds a great fondness for the people and places of Vancouver Island, a fondness that is capably demonstrated through this curious and entertaining story of Tibetan Buddhism, talking fish, and the weight of familial legacy.” —Logan Macnair reviews The Atoner of Alberni, by Edward Cepka (Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing, 2025 ) $23.95 / 9781989467770
Atmospheric BC-set debut novel grows nearly hallucinatory with grotesque and supernatural elements. Teen investigators Alinta and Ruby ground a (somewhat overstuffed) story with their tight bond and quest to solve a mystery. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Woodbine Grove, by Ryan O’Dowd (Hamilton: Manor House Press, 2025) $29.95 / 9781998938193
Solemn and autumnal when not wintry, a pair of ruminative poetry collections range widely as they reflect on troubled personal histories and the outside world. —Marguerite Pigeon reviews I Would Like To Say Thank You, by Joseph Dandurand (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025)
$19.95 / 9780889714908 and November, November, by Isabella Wang (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $19.95 / 9780889714847
Reissue of an avant garde but out-of-print 1981 novel with a “highly experimental structure and unabashed presentation of its occasionally difficult subject matter” highlights how “sometimes art with this level of originality takes longer than it should to gain the appreciation that it deserves.” —Logan Macnair reviews The Bee Book, by Ann Rosenberg (Toronto: Invisible Publishing, 2025) $24.95 / 9781778430794
Keeping a specific audience in mind, a debut author “offers a good starting point for teens to navigate the challenges they come across. Ultimately, [her book] aims to create empathetic humans who will treat each conflict as an opportunity to grow and mature. And in that, I think Henningson and the book succeed.” —Sophia Wasylinko reviews White Space, Gray Areas & Black Swans: Stories of Getting Along (or Not), by Donna M. Henningson (Altona: Friesen Press, 2024) $25.99 / 9781038303325
WWII-set prequel to a book series portrays an unexpected spying assignment for young Lane Winslow. And Christmas with her grandparents! Rousing and entertaining, it’s a tale Alfred Hitchcock would have relished. —Bill Engleson reviews A Season for Spies—A Lane Winslow Prequel, by Iona Whishaw (Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2025) $19.95 / 9781771514828
Delightful while sobering and illuminating, a memoir-in-verse celebrates pop music as it revisits cultural history and queer coming-of-age in the ’80s and ’90s. —Brett Josef Grubisic reviews Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir, by Michael V. Smith (Toronto: Book*hug, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771669498
In pensive dialogue with twentieth-century history, and with Robert Polidari’s photographs of New Orleans and Chernobyl, a poet outlines the politics of catastrophes as well as their aftermaths. —Harold Rhenisch reviews Long Exposure, by Stephanie Bolster (Windsor: Palimpsest Press, 2025) $21.95 / 9781997508014
“The title’s invocation of Van Gogh’s painting proves apt. Like the artist’s swirling night sky, Mootoo’s prose contains turbulence within careful composition. The result resembles pointillism: individual impressions that cohere into recognizable forms only when viewed from proper distance.” —Selena Mercuri reviews. Starry Starry Night, by Shani Mootoo (Toronto: Book*hug Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771669566
“Lovers of the short story should rush right out and get their hands on Victoria writer Terence Young’s new collection. I was utterly captivated by these stories that gently probe ordinary life with grace and insight.” —Candace Fertile reviews Give Us This Day, by Terence Young (Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2025) $21.95 / 9781773241616
Venerable poet “delivers an impressive thirteenth poetry book,” “a collection that is not only evocative and visceral but masterfully precise, honouring its namesake (a reference to the formerly common training routine of figure skaters to practice control, precision, and balance).” —Brooke Lee reviews Compulsory Figures, by John Barton (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press, 2025) $20.00 / 9781773861661
Ruminative and speculative, a debut story collection is diverse in subject, time, and character as it ponders “the limits of personal agency to reconcile with landscapes that are altered or altering beyond the capacity of any individual to influence.” —Dana McFarland reviews The Other Shore, by Rebecca Campbell (Hamilton: Stelliform Press, 2025) $21.00 / 9781998466016
What follows after an epic coastal earthquake, with a staggering body count and collapsed infrastructure? A sophomore novel with magic realist elements explores the question in a way that’s “that’s well-told, and in an unconventional manner as it whips us from one timeframe to another without ever leaving us behind.” —Heidi Greco reviews Ladder to Heaven, by Katie Welch (Hamilton: Wolsak & Wynn, 2025) $26.00 / 9781998408276
In a complex, wide-ranging novel with themes related to family, violence, and cultural identity, generations of women strive for peace and contentment despite the sorrowful, imposing outside world. —Theo Dombrowski reviews Songs from This and That Country, by Gail Sidone Šobat (Winnipeg: Great Plains Publishing, 2025) $27.95 / 9781773371412
With her late-Victorian setting on Vancouver Island, a debut novelist “clearly takes much care in constructing her story, using metaphor effectively to enhance the reader’s appreciation of the wilderness setting and the lengthy cast of characters.” Despite the successes, the novel proved confounding on occasion for our reviewer. —Ron Verzuh reviews A Snake and a Feathered Bird, by Angie Ellis (Saskatoon: Thistledown Press, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771872812