September 21, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
We Spread – the dizzying, stunning fourth novel from Ontario writer Iain Reid – begins in isolation. Octogenarian Penny lives alone in the apartment she once shared with her partner (referred to only as “he”) ... Read More »
One statement from a mother to her child – “You scare me” – changes everything. In Mukbang, Fanie Demeule’s sixth book, the author explores the insatiable hunger of those who were raised on the hollow ... Read More »
September 21, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
When most people think of the Prince Edward Island of literature, the image that comes up is of red-haired Anne Shirley and her romantic, sentimental adventures. But there is another, more rugged tradition of Atlantic ... Read More »
September 7, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
“Have you ever heard of kintsukuroi?” Grace’s therapist, Trevor, asks her near the end of Katherine Alexandra Harvey’s grim, piercing debut, Quiet Time. “It’s this amazing Japanese art form. ... they repair vases that have ... Read More »
September 7, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
Humour abounds in Jones. On practically every page, there it is. “Gerbils are rats with better PR,” opines Joy Jones. She’s called Brassy Broad by her teenage daughter, Abigail, who possesses “the long, straight, ... Read More »
August 17, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
“The story of my family is one of potholes and cracks that I have tried to fill over the years,” narrator Cassandra Mishra tells the reader a few pages into Sophie Jai’s debut novel, Wild ... Read More »
August 9, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
Any novel billed as “Secretary meets Fleabag” will make a certain demographic of readers consider whether it is truly a book for them – namely, those of us who wear sensible shoes and go to ... Read More »
July 13, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
Sheila Murray’s debut novel, Finding Edward, chronicles the story of Cyril Rowntree, a twentysomething international student who arrives in Toronto from a small village in Jamaica heavy with responsibility and grief from the loss of ... Read More »
June 29, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
Upon entering the world of The Cine Star Salon – Leah Ranada’s dazzling debut novel – the reader is introduced to Sophia, a Philippines-born Vancouverite, as she attempts to balance the books of her newly ... Read More »
May 25, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews
After nearly a decade, bestselling author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts Shyam Selvadurai returns with a sweeping new novel set in ancient India. It introduces readers to Siddhartha Gotama – the man who ... Read More »
May 11, 2022 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels, Reviews