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Last-minute gift ideas: indie booksellers hand-pick fiction by B.C. writers

Every fall, independent booksellers and publishers work together to promote a range of new titles published in Canada and internationally. Books for Everybody is a hand-picked selection of books for all interests, including young readers. Here are some highlights from the catalogues that provide great last-minute ideas for gifts and stocking stuffers.

 

Between
Angie Abdou
(Arsenal Pulp Press)

An intriguing, searing portrait of two women from different cultures: a middle-class woman, and the Filipina nanny she hires for her family. Canada Reads finalist Abdou comically and tragically tackles the issue of international nannies by providing a window on motherhood where it intersects with class, career, labour and desire.
$18.95 pa, 304 pp. 978-1-55152-568-6

 

The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Caren Powell
(CAP Publishing/Sandhill)

A powerful story of two families that explores apartheid, the fight for freedom and change in South Africa and the rise of Nelson Mandela. The novel offers a perspective on what it meant, on an individual basis, to be black or white during a revolution that demanded a tragic price.
$23.95 pa, 425 pp. 978-0-9936607-0-2

 

Local Customs
Audrey Thomas
(Dundurn Press)

In June 1838, Letitia Landon and George Maclean marry and sail off to remote West Africa. Eight weeks later, Letitia is dead from what appears to be an accidental overdose of prussic acid. But what really happened to Letitia in this exotic place so far away from her home?
$16.99 pa, 208 pp. 978-1-45970-798-6

 

Medicine Walk
Richard Wagamese
(McClelland & Stewart)

Called “one of the finest novels of the year” by the Vancouver Sun, this is an unforgettable journey of a father and son, set in the dramatic landscape of the BC Interior. Franklin is called to visit his father Eldon. What ensues is a journey into the past, as the two men push forward to Eldon’s end.
$29.95 cl, 256 pp. 978-0-7710-8918-3

 

Mirror on the Floor
George Bowering
(Anvil Press)

First published in 1967 by McClelland & Stewart, George Bowering’s debut novel is back in print as part of Anvil Press’ Lost BC Literature series. Set in Vancouver, the novel focuses on one summer in the life of UBC graduate student Bob Small, and his roommate, George Delsing.
$18.00 pa, 160 pp. 978-1-927380-95-6

 

The World Before Us
Aislinn Hunter
(Doubleday Canada)

At 15, Jane lived through a nightmare: she lost the five-year-old girl she was minding. Twenty years later, Jane is an archivist at a museum immersed in a project related to a woman who disappeared 125 years earlier. A remarkable novel about the ties that bring our past to the present.
$29.95 cl, 432 pp. 978-0-385-68064-6

Find participating bookstores in your community here or at http://www.findabookstore.ca/.