In collection of poetry where nature takes pride of place, a writer “shows a strong understanding of poetic craft,” relating lyrical tales that are “personal, observant, moving, and expansive” and “made potent through a distinctive working of language and image.” —Steven Ross Smith reviews All of Us Hidden, by Joanna Streetly (Qualicum Beach: Caitlin Press: 2025) $20.00 / 9781773861722
Family, friendship, prejudice, and loss are thoughtfully explored in a pair of chapter books for young readers. “There’s such valuing of connection in these pages, and an honesty to the whole,” writes our reviewer. —Alison Acheson reviews A Promise to Protect, by Nikki Bergstresser (Victoria: Heritage House, 2025) $14.95 / 9781772035438 and I Won’t Feel This Way Forever, by Kim Spencer (Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2025) $14.95 / 9781459838208
“[R]eading this novel made me livid in the best possible way. The supernatural aspects of the novel are, arguably, the least frightening; normalized human cruelty and deep-seated male entitlement are infinitely more terrifying. Prepare to flinch.” —Jessica Poon reviews The Hunger We Pass Down, by Jen Sookfong Lee (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2025) $26.00 / 9780771012853
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
“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
“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
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
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
In a “brutally frank, but also hopeful” novel that “nail[s] the adolescent voice—there’s plenty of profanity, a touch of irreverence, and no small amount of self-deprecation,” a teenage girl struggles to manage her compulsions and find equilibrium. —Jessica Poon reviews A Drop in the Ocean, by Léa Taranto (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2025) $19.95 / 9781551519813
An author’s fourth historical novel is buoyed by tumultuous ocean voyage scenes and a love for the ages. Its exposition, however, raises the question of whether it might have met greater success as nonfiction. —Valerie Green reviews The Rebel’s Wife, by Gerald Richardson Brown (Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing, 2025) $24.95 / 9781989467794
A fiction writer’s first book of nonfiction—a memoir “that is at once intimate, wryly humorous, and informative as it takes the reader from that tumble on the mountain trail to the present”—addresses the difficult details of living with Parkinson’s Disease “unflinchingly, with candour and occasionally an exasperated wit.” —Trish Bowering reviews In This Faulty Machine: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation, by Kathy Page (Toronto: Viking Canada, 2025) $34.95 / 9781037800887
Acknowledging that “life’s mid-point [is] now far behind,” a writer’s volume of poems meditates on the past, family, nature, faith, love, and, generally (says our reviewer), “the latter part of life, with all of its disappointments and consolations.” —Carellin Brooks reviews The Time of Falling Apart, by Wendy Donawa (Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2025) $22.95 / 9781998526307
In a Vancouver-set debut novel, “an unsettling story about victimization and forgiveness,” 29-year-old Crystal and her teenage daughter Becky struggle on the long winding path of their lives. The “restrained and understated” writing anchors a harrowing account of precarity. —Bill Paul reviews Most Grievous Fault, by Meg Todd (Madeira Park: Nightwood Editions, 2025) $24.95 / 9780889714984
Sharing a focus on Chinese Canadian war efforts, a pair of strikingly illustrated picture books tell layered stories that would serve well at home and in the classroom. —Alison Acheson reviews Endgame: The Secret Force 136, by Catherine Little (illustrated by Sean Huang) (Oakville: Plumleaf, 2023) $22.95 / 9781738898244 and Reach for the Sky: How Two Brothers Built an Airplane in Chinatown, by Evelyn Sue Wong (illustrated by Sarah Ang) (Oakville: Plumleaf, 2025) $22.95 / 9781738898244
A lovely, poetic, and musical novella traces a homeward journey of two Canadians to Ireland. The story offers enchantment for any reader: “This book would make particularly excellent reading for anyone planning a trip there, as well as those interested in Irish history or ancestry.” —Trish Bowering reviews Looking for Cornelius, by Diana Hayes (Eugene: Resource Publications, 2025) $21.00 / 9798385250332
Breakage-and-mending is a theme in an adroit and accomplished volume of poetry that delves into family history and unsettles romantic notions of settlement. —Harold Rhenisch reviews What is Broken Binds Us, by Lorne Daniel (Calgary: U Calgary Press, 2025) $18.99 / 9781773856391
A creepy forest, lake, and cabin—not to mention abusive foster parents—are just part of the memorable scenery in a clever, atmospheric thriller with a slightly gothic feel. Here’s a debut novel with “a ripping good story.” —Trish Bowering reviews The Guest Children, by Patrick Tarr (Toronto: HarperCollins Canada, 2025) $24.99 / 9781443473958
With all the hallmarks of an thriller, a debut novel features action, moments of comedy, manly men, double-crosses, intriguing secondary characters… and a somewhat forgettable protagonist. —Isabella Ranallo reviews In Spite of Thunder, by Thomas Mark McKinnon (Vancouver: 1083899 B.C, 2025) $24.95 / 9781069647405
With a wealth of imagery and motifs, a captivating sophomore novel tells a tale of an uncertain pilgrimage; it “presents a more complex truth than typical family reunion stories: that survival sometimes requires accepting fundamental uncertainty about our own stories.” —Selena Mercuri reviews Rufous and Calliope, by Sarah Louise Butler (Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2025) $24.95 / 9781771624572