We Meant Well by Erum Shazia Hasan
A propulsive debut that grapples with timely questions about what it means to be charitable, who deserves what, and who gets the power to decide.
First Book
Sleepers and Ties by Gail Kirkpatrick
Grieving Museum curator Margaret returns to her childhood home to leave behind her sister Shirley's ashes and attend the final reading of her will. Unbeknownst to Margaret, Shirley has left her eight million dollars and a letter asking Margaret to return to its former glory an abandoned railway line--a fanciful notion, everyone tells her, with no real legal binding.
Quiet Time by Katherine Alexandra Harvey
An unflinching, unchronological coming-of-age story told through vivid and mesmerizing vignettes, Quiet Time is Grace's story of resilience, bravery, and redemption, as she fights for her voice in a world attempting to silence it.
Unrest by Emma Côté
Brisk, observational, and darkly comic, Unrest is both a road trip story and a touching eulogy on life, death, and what we leave behind.
Some Hellish by Nicholas Herring
Some Hellish is a story about anguish and salvation, the quiet grace and patience of transformation, the powers of addiction and fear, the plausibility of forgiveness, and the immense capacity of friendship and of love.
Birth Road by Michelle Wamboldt
Episodic in nature, Birth Road by Michell Wamboldt tells the story of Helen, a young woman from Truro, whose life of heartbreak and challenge will pierce your soul but her pluck and perseverance will warm your heart.
A Gelato A Day: True Stories of Family Travel, Edited by Claudia Laroye
A Gelato A Day is a collection of travel tales that highlights the good, the bad and the not-really-that-ugly of the family travel experience.
Excerpt: FINDING EDWARD, A Novel by Sheila Murray
An excerpt from Sheila Murray's debut novel, Finding Edward from Cormorant Books.
Secrets of the Sprakkar by Eliza Reid
The Canadian first lady of Iceland pens a book about why this tiny nation is leading the charge in gender equality, in the vein of The Moment of Lift.
Antonyms for Daughter by Jenny Boychuk
Antonyms for Daughter, Jenny Boychuk's poetry debut, addresses a harrowing subject: the loss of the poet's mother to addiction. Deploying a range of forms and techniques astonishing in a first collection, Boychuk creates unsparing scenes of their complicated life together.
The Blue Moth Motel by Olivia Robinson
The Blue Moth Motel deals with family dynamics, grief, and the concept of home.
Review of Pebble Swing by Isabella Wang and None of This Belongs to Me by Ellie Sawatsky
Two debut poetry collections from Nightwood Editions are reviewed by Catherine Owen, "Pebble Swing" by Isabella Wang, and "None of this Belongs to Me" by Ellie Sawatsky.
Even the Sidewalk Could Tell: How I Came Out to My Wife, My Three Children, and the World by Alon Ozery
What does it cost to live an inauthentic life?
If anyone knows, it’s Alon Ozery. Born in Toronto to an Orthodox Jewish father and a British mother, raised in Israel, and educated in Canada, Alon didn’t come out of the closet until he had a wife and three children.
Gold Pours by Aurore Gatwenzi
In this debut collection by emerging poet Aurore Gatwenzi, a stunning new voice emerges as she shares the experience of being young and Black in northern Ontario.
The Pump by Sydney Warner Brooman
For fans of Shirley Jackson and Alice Munro, a Gothic collection of stories featuring carnivorous beavers, art-eaters, and family intrigue.