In the July/August issue, Q&Q looks ahead at some of the fall season’s new books. Click on the slideshow to see some of Q&Q’s most-anticipated Canadian fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, and international titles.

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The work of <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=9996"><strong>Rawi Hage</strong></a> will probably never fit neatly into established CanLit categories. The Lebanese-born author's dominant theme is the immigrant experience, but he tackles the topic with such scathing irony, and such an acute sense of hypocrisy and the absurd, that it's hard to place his tales of angry outsiders within the narrative of assimilation. Well-mannered fiction this is not. <br /> <br /> And yet Hage has risen to the upper echelons of the literary establishment since his debut, <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=5105"><em>De Niro's Game</em></a>, became the most recent Canadian novel to win the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His follow-up, <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=6139"><em>Cockroach</em></a>, was nominated for Canada's three major fiction prizes. Hage's third novel,<em> Carnival</em> (House of Anansi Press, $29.95 cl., Sept.), is told from the <em>flâneur</em>-like perspective of a cab driver, a profession Hage shared when he first moved to Montreal. The novel also appears to pick up on the Kafkaesque anthropomorphism found in <em>Cockroach</em>: the narrator of the new book is known as Fly. <i>“ Stuart Woods</i>

The outsider

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<strong>Linda Svendsen</strong> has an impressive CV: her fiction has earned acclaim from Alice Munro and <em>The New York Times</em>; she's the former chair (and a current faculty member) of the University of British Columbia's respected creative writing program; and she has won a Gemini for her work in TV. But it's been two decades since her debut short story collection, <em>Marine Life</em>, made a literary splash. The Vancouver author returns to the CanLit scene in October with <em>Sussex Drive</em> (Random House Canada, $22 pa.). <br /> <br /> Following in the footsteps of Terry Fallis's Ottawa-set <em>The Best Laid Plans</em> and <em>The High Road</em>, the satirical novel takes its plot from the headlines, centering on the lives of two politically savvy women: the wife of an autocratic Conservative Prime Minister and a cagey Governor General from Quebec. If recent history is an example, these two political insiders and mothers should have lots to discuss. <i>“ Stuart Woods</i>

Disorder in the house

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The line between art and science is not nearly as distinct as we sometimes believe: on one hand, scientific progress depends on creative insight; on the other, the inscrutable mysteries that form the basis of scientific inquiry have also inspired great works of art. Toronto poet <strong>Matthew Tierney</strong> works on the border between the two cultures. His previous collection, <em>The Hayflick Limit</em> (nominated for the 2010 Trillium Book Award for poetry), riffed on cell division and the limit of human life. <br /> <br /> His latest, <em>Probably Inevitable</em> (Coach House Books, $17.95 pa., Sept.), which contains poems published in American Scientist, considers the science and philosophy of time. In the words of his publisher, What continues to set Matthew Tierney's poems apart is their uncanny ability to find within the nomenclature of science not mere novelty but a new path to human frailty, a renewed assertion of individuality, and a genuine awe at existence. <i>“ Stuart Woods</i>

Mad science

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Painted in the 15th century at the behest of his patron, Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo da Vinci's mural depicting Christ's final meal with his apostles has become one of the most studied, commented on, and debated works in the history of art. The mural has experienced a kind of renaissance (sorry) as a result of Dan Brown's international über-bestseller, <em>The Da Vinci Code</em>, which speculates about the meaning behind several of the painting's key images. <br /> <br /> <strong>Ross King</strong>, author of <em>Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution</em> <em>and the Group of Seven</em> (a <i>Q&Q</i> book of the year in 2010), is hardly Dan Brown, but his fascination with da Vinci's masterpiece is on full display in <em>Leonardo and The Last Supper</em> (Bond Street Books, $34.95 cl., Sept.). The book examines the politics of the age in which da Vinci was commissioned to create the work, culminating in Sforza's overthrow and the artist's flight from Italy. <i>“ Steven W. Beattie</i>

Decoding da Vinci

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A child of the Prairies, <strong>William Whitehead</strong> trained as a scientist at the University of Saskatchewan, but his passion was always for the stage. After moving to Ontario in the late 1950s, Whitehead indulged his muse as an actor and producer, eventually becoming a well-known writer for the CBC. He also co-wrote two television documentaries, <em>Dieppe 1942</em> and <em>The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway</em>, with his long-time partner, the late Timothy Findley. <br /> <br /> While the connection to Findley often eclipsed Whitehead's not insubstantial contributions to Canadian culture, the latter's own CV is impressive and, arguably, even more extensive. Whitehead's memoir, <em>Words to Live By</em> (Cormorant Books, $34.95 cl., Aug.), is a raconteur's recollection of more than a half-century spent in the trenches of Canadian radio, television, stage, and literature. <i>“ Steven W. Beattie</i>

Living by words

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<strong>Julie Devaney</strong> is a bit of an expert on the Canadian medical system “ not as a hospital worker or policy administrator, but as a patient. Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, Devaney underwent a five-year period in which she was subject to innumerable tests and procedures, poked and prodded, and eventually given surgery to remove her entire large intestine. That was all before doctors told her that her initial diagnosis was incorrect and she was actually suffering from Crohn's disease. <br /> <br /> To keep herself sane during this period, Devaney wrote a series of monologues that eventually became a one-woman stage show, and now a book. <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=7720"><em>My Leaky Body</em></a> (Goose Lane Editions, $22.95 pa., Sept.) is part memoir, part manifesto, telling the author's story and calling for reform in the way patients are treated in Canadian hospitals. In the publisher's words, the book is politically astute, gooey like cake batter, and raw like ulcerated bowels. <i>“ Steven W. Beattie</i>

Body blows

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The August release of <em>Bright's Light </em>(Harper­Collins Canada, $19.99 cl.) marks a new direction for <strong><a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/authors/profile.cfm?article_id=11432">Susan Juby</a></strong>. Known equally for her frank and humorous memoir, <em>Nice Recovery</em> (detailing her teenage alcohol addiction while growing up in small-town Smithers, B.C.) and her exceptional YA Alice trilogy (about a quirky 15-year-old growing up in, yes, Smithers, B.C.), the author is now dipping her toes in the heavily populated waters of dystopian literature for young readers. I wanted to see if I could pile a selection of my anxieties about the modern world into the novel but still give it a comic twist to undercut the worst of my tendency to moroseness, says Juby, who cites bummer literature such as <em>Brave New World</em>, <em>The Chrysalids</em>, and <em>House of Stairs</em> among her favourite books. <br /> <br /> In the new novel, Bright is one of the girls at the House of Gears who has been engineered to be perfect in every way “ mind, body, and behaviour. But a dangerous mission causes her to question her path. The story taps into uneasiness about plastic surgery, bioengineering, and the commodification and pornographization of young people in the age of social networking, explains Juby, adding: Clearly the book was destined to be a laugh riot!" <i>“ Dory Cerny</i>

On the (band)wagon

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What to make of <strong>Zadie Smith</strong>'s upcoming novel? In 2008, the British author caused a stir with her essay Two Paths for the Novel, in which she praised fellow Londoner Tom McCarthy's largely plotless novel <em>Remainder</em> and disparaged the overstuffed realism of one of that year's critical darlings, Joseph O'Neill's <em>Netherland</em>. Fans of Smith's writing had to wonder: would her embrace of the avant-garde show up in her own fiction? Readers will have to wait until September to find out. <br /> <br /> In <em>NW</em> (Hamish Hamilton Canada, $32 cl., Sept.), Smith returns to the northwest London setting of her debut, 2000's <em>White Teeth</em>. For most, the Caldwell housing estate is a place of transition, where people move on quickly to better things. Living only streets apart from each other but worlds away, four former Caldwell residents navigate the dichotomies of a divided society: rich and poor, black and white, melancholy and joy. <i>“ Katie Gowrie</i>

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North by northwest

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Londoners may be familiar with chef <strong>Yotam Ottolenghi</strong> for his (mostly vegetarian) delis and bakeries scattered across some of the city's more fashionable neighbourhoods. Foodies across the pond will know him for his previous cookbook, <em>Plenty</em>, which took an ambitious and visually bold approach to cooking with vegetables. For his new book, <em>Jerusalem</em> ($39.95 cl., Oct.), Ottolenghi pairs with business partner <strong>Sami Tamimi</strong> to explore the flavours of the city of their birth. <br /> <br /> Ottolenghi was born in Jerusalem's Jewish west side, and Tamimi in the Arab east; the duo brings to the table a unique cross-cultural perspective, with recipes that encompass the city's diverse Muslim, Jewish, Arab, Christian, and Armenian communities. One of the lead titles for Random House of Canada's new lifestyle imprint, Appetite by Random House, the book is being billed as Ottolenghi's most personal and original work yet. <i>“ Katie Gowrie</i>

Cooking across cultures

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It would be fair to say that <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2011/12/19/canadian-illustrator-jon-klassen-finds-success-with-i-want-my-hat-back/"><strong>Jon Klassen</strong></a>'s star is on the rise. The Canadian artist, originally from Niagara Falls but now living in Los Angeles, has been tapped to work on a range of projects, from films such as <em>Coraline</em> (based on the Neil Gaiman classic) and <em>Kung Fu Panda 2</em> to spots for the BBC's Vancouver Olympics coverage and a U2 music video. Oh, and did we mention the Governor General's Literary Award he nabbed in 2010 for Caroline Stutson's <em>Cat's Night Out</em>, his first picture-book illustration credit? <br /> <br /> Klassen's storybook debut as author and illustrator was last year's <em>I Want My Hat Back</em>. The success of that book might easily have been attributed to its visual appeal, but Klassen's moody, intricate images, a combination of digital renderings and Chinese ink, play second fiddle to his deadpan humour and brilliantly understated storyline. The follow-up, <em>This Is Not My Hat</em> (Candlewick/Random House, $19 cl., Oct.), picks up on a thread cleverly dropped in the first book, and promises to cement Klassen's status as a force to be reckoned with, in words as well as pictures. <i>“ Dory Cerny</i>

A man with many hats

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Amidst the cacophony of dystopia, steampunk, and fantasy in YA literature, <strong>Norah McClintock</strong>'s tales of murderous intrigue and crime stand out for their steadfast hold on good old-fashioned whodunnit storytelling. The Toronto-based author is a five-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Novel. Perhaps, having done so well in the genre, McClintock felt the need to try something new? <br /> <br /> Appearing in October from Orca Book Publishers, <em>I, Witness</em> ($16.95 pa.) is McClintock's latest crime story, but this time her tale is told in graphic-novel form. Boone and Andre witness a vicious murder in a dark alley, and though the boys swear to keep silent about the crime, two of Boone's friends end up dead. To save himself from the same fate, Boone is forced to confront a dark and violent part of his past. Vancouver's <strong>Mike Deas</strong>, whose illustration credits include the Graphic Guide Adventures series and <em><a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/books_young/review.cfm?review_id=7430">Dalen and Gole: Scandal in Port Angus</a></em>, puts McClintock's words into visual action. <i>“ Dory Cerny</i>

Warning: This story contains graphic details

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Q&Q‘s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2012. ¢ All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. ¢ Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.