Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

The Philistine

By Leila Marshy

Set in the late 1980s around the time of the first Palestinian Intifada, Leila Marshy’s debut novel is a coming-of-age story about Nadia, a naive Montrealer who cannot decide whether she is Palestinian or Canadian. ... Read More »

June 18, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Atomic Road

By Grant Buday

The foreword, by art historian John O’Brian, informs us that Atomic Road was prompted by a historical footnote that mistakenly placed Louis Althusser in Saskatchewan. The French Marxist philosopher, who died in 1990, had never ... Read More »

June 14, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ The Amateurs

By Liz Harmer

In her near-perfect debut novel, Liz Harmer taps into current anxieties about technology to explore themes of transcendence, post-urbanity, and survival. Harmer has won a National Magazine Award and been published in multiple literary journals; ... Read More »

June 11, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

On the Up

By Shilo Jones

As it appears in the newspaper these days, Vancouver is a strange, divided city. This perception is reinforced in the expansive fiction debut from former tree planter, English teacher, and University of British Columbia MFA ... Read More »

June 7, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Mary Cyr

By David Adams Richards

Over a long and lauded career, David Adams Richards has carved out a spot as the chronicler of misery among the impoverished of New Brunswick’s Miramichi River region. With his new novel, he demonstrates that ... Read More »

June 4, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

1979

By Ray Robertson

Small towns have always occupied a fraught place in Canadian storytelling. Unlike cities or the wilderness – places where things happen – small towns in our national literature have usually been defined by their sense ... Read More »

May 29, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels