Books

A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman’s struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration.

It’s 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator.

All day, she takes calls from people responding to ads seen in magazines or on TV. On the phone, she’s Mona, and she’s quite good at listening. These strangers all have so much to say once someone shows interest in their lives–marriages gone bad, parents dying, isolation, personal inadequacies. Even as her daily life in Canada is filled with invisible barriers at every turn, at the office Muna is privy to her clients’ deepest secrets.

Following international acclaim for Niko (2011) and The Bleeds (2018), Dimitri Nasrallah has written a vivid elegy to the 1980s, the years he first moved to Canada, bringing the era’s systemic challenges into the current moment through this deeply endearing portrait of struggle, perseverance, and bonding.

Awards: Longlist - 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize
Canada Reads Selection 2023

Praise:

Featuring children’s own words and heart-warming pictures, this board book, this is the perfect book for children who love winter!

‘I love winter because… ‘

This charming book combines endearing things said by children about winter with gentle illustrations of familiar animals. And from making snowmen to coming home to a mug of hot chocolate, there is plenty to celebrate!

With beautiful pictures and charming words from children - this is the perfect book to read together!

French edition.

From the #1 bestselling author of 'Indian' in the Cabinet, a groundbreaking and accessible roadmap to advancing true reconciliation across Canada.

There is one question Canadians have asked Jody Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? It is clear that people from all over the country want to take concrete and tan­gible action that will make real change. We just need to know how to get started. This book provides that next step. For Wilson-Raybould, what individuals and organizations need to do to advance true reconciliation is self-evident, accessible, and achievable. True Reconciliation is broken down into three core practices—Learn, Understand, and Act—that can be applied by individuals, communities, organiza­tions, and governments.

The practices are based not only on the historical and con­temporary experience of Indigenous peoples in their relentless efforts to effect transformative change and decolonization, but also on the deep understanding and expertise about what has been effective in the past, what we are doing right, and wrong, today, and what our collective future requires. Fundamental to a shared way of thinking is an understand­ing of the Indigenous experience throughout the story of Canada. In a manner that reflects how work is done in the Big House, True Reconciliation features an “oral” history of these lands, told through Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices from our past and present.

The ultimate and attainable goal of True Reconciliation is to break down the silos we’ve created that prevent meaning­ful change, to be empowered to increasingly act as “inbe­tweeners,” and to take full advantage of this moment in our history to positively transform the country into a place we can all be proud of.

Leafs fans remember the ups. And, oh boy, do they remember the downs. But how many know Harry “Big Mum” Mummery’s (1911-1923) habit of broiling a steak on a shovel over the Mutual Street Arena’s coal furnace before each home game? Or that two-time Stanley Cup champ Ken Randall (1917-1927) once paid a fine with a sack of pennies? Or that legendary goalie Johnny “The China Wall” Bower (1958-69) wrote and recorded a children’s Christmas song that charted with The Beatles’ “Yesterday” on Toronto’s Top 100 list?

In this quirky collection of stories from the first century of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ history, renowned hockey columnist Bob Duff offers over 200 of the most memorable, unlikely anecdotes that all fans of the old Blue-and-White are sure to love.

USA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday concludes her beloved royal Christmas series with an unforgettable romance about a confident American woman and the strait-laced royal advisor who falls hopelessly in love with her.

Matteo Benz has spent his life serving at the pleasure of the Eldovian crown. His work is his life and his life, well...he doesn’t have much of one. When he is tasked to aid a management consultant who has been flown in to help straighten out the king’s affairs, he is instantly disturbed by her brash American manner—as well by an inconvenient attraction to the brainy beauty.

Cara Delaney is in Eldovia to help clean up the king’s financial affairs, but soon finds herself at odds with the very proper Mr. Benz. As intrigued by his good looks as she is annoyed by his dedication to tradition for its own sake, she slowly begins to see the real man behind the royal throne.

As they work together to return Eldovia to its former glory during the country’s magical Christmas season, Matteo discovers he is falling hopelessly in love with the unconventional American. But a man who has devoted his life to tradition doesn’t change easily. Can he become the man Cara needs, or will their love be another sacrifice to the crown?

Critical Praise

"Witty banter and sizzling love scenes played out against the backdrop of a dazzling winter wonderland make Holiday’s latest sparkle. Series fans are sure to be charmed." — Publishers Weekly

"With So This Is Christmas, Holiday delivers a holiday delight full of banter and wintry magic." — Popsugar

"Fans of Holiday’s A Princess for Christmas series will enjoy being whisked back to Eldovia in this latest. The book stands on its own, with appearances by characters from earlier installments." — Library Journal

"It is refreshing to see two successful people admiring each other’s competence in Holiday's slowly evolving, gentle romance." — Booklist

"Holiday’s knack for writing witty banter is on full display here, with Dani and Max's escalating text messages and phone conversations showing a deepening friendship between them... This slow-burn romance will appeal to readers who enjoy the friends-to-lovers trope. The novel carefully builds trust and a deepening emotional attachment between Dani and Max." — Kirkus Reviews on Duke, Actually

"Holiday’s follow-up to A Princess for Christmas hits all the right notes as the heir to a dukedom discovers love during the holidays...Holiday cleverly draws parallels to Love, Actually throughout this witty, emotionally charged holiday tale. Readers will delight in the strong heroine seeking love on her own terms." — Publishers Weekly on Duke, Actually

"RITA-nominated Holiday follows A Princess for Christmas with another splendidly entertaining romance that offers just the right dash of holiday cheer and delectably droll wit." — Booklist on Duke, Actually

“A Princess for Christmas is a confection of a holiday plot with more steam than a perfect cup of hot cocoa. Given her surname, Holiday was virtually obligated to write a book like this—and she delivers with a sexy, sugary delight full of her signature delectable banter.” — Entertainment Weekly

“A modern fairy tale that’s perfect for reading with a warm cup of cocoa.” — USA Today Yes Shopper on A Princess for Christmas

Poetry is Queer is a kaleidoscope of sexual outlaws, gay icons, Sapphic poets, and great lovers—real and imagined—conjured like gateway drugs to a queer world. Claiming the word “queer” for those who self-proclaim the authority of their own bodies in defiance of church and state, Kirby pays tribute to gay touchstones while embodying both their work and joy. From gazing upon street boys with constant companion C.P. Cavafy, to end of day observances with Frank O’Hara, to mowing Walt Whitman’s grass, Poetry Is Queer is a hybrid-genre memoir like no other.

Praise for Kirby:

“Kirby teaches us to explore the parts of ourselves the world wants to render impossible, to deny, dismiss, or even destroy, and to do so with the various voices and connections, protests and ecstasies, poetry makes possible.”— Daniel Scott Tysdal

“These poems [This is Where I Get Off] make radiant the particular pain of gay lust in a world that denies its existence. Love is not obscene, bodies are beauty, and belonging can be found even in the back row of an adult cinema. “Can you imagine all she’s lived through?” Kirby questions, then answers by blowing open all closets, tossing skeletons aside to two-step on the bones.”— Roxanna Bennett

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Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of the thrillers The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know, The End of Her, and Not a Happy Family, which have all been New York Times and The Sunday Times (London) bestsellers. Her books have been sold in thirty-eight territories around the world. She lives in Toronto

A searching, self-deprecating memoir of a man on his way to eating himself to death before discovering the anxiety and fulfillment of distance running.

“Uplifting, emotional, and just plain hilarious, The Running-Shaped Hole may even inspire you to put down your fork and pick up those running shoes.” — JAY ONRAIT, TSN host and broadcaster

When Robert Earl Stewart sees his pants lying across the end of his bed, they remind him of a flag draped over a coffin — his coffin. At thirty-eight years old he weighs 368 pounds and is slowly eating himself to death. The only thing that helps him deal with the fear and shame is eating. But one day, following a terrifying doctor’s appointment, he goes for a walk — an act that sets The Running-Shaped Hole in motion. Within a year, he is running long distances, fulfilling his mother's dying wishes, reversing the disastrous course of his eating, losing 140 pounds, and, after several mishaps and jail time, eventually running the Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon.

At turns philosophical and slapstick, this memoir examines the life-altering effects running has on a man who, left to his own devices, struggles to be a husband, a father, a son, and a writer.

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A new deluxe edition of the international bestseller by Heather O’Neill, the Giller-shortlisted author of Daydreams of Angels and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, featuring an original foreword from the author, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the coming-of-age story that People describes as “a vivid portrait of life on skid row.”

Baby, all of thirteen years old, is lost in the gangly, coltish moment between childhood and the strange pulls and temptations of the adult world. Her mother is dead; her father Jules is always on the lookout for his next score. Baby knows that “chocolate milk” is Jules’ slang for heroin and sees a lot more of that in her house than the real article. But she takes vivid delight in the scrappy bits of happiness and beauty that find their way to her, and moves through the threat of the streets as if she’s been choreographed in a dance.

Soon, though, a hazard emerges that is bigger than even her hard-won survival skills can handle. Alphonse, the local pimp, has his eye on her for his new girl; he wants her body and soul—and what the johns don’t take he covets for himself. At the same time, a tender and naively passionate friendship unfolds with a boy from her class at school, who has no notion of the dark claims on her—which even her father, lost on the nod, cannot totally ignore. Jules consigns her to a stint in juvie hall, and for the moment this perceived betrayal preserves Baby from terrible harm—but after that, her salvation has to be her own invention.

Channeling the artlessly affecting voice of her thirteen-year-old heroine with extraordinary accuracy and power, Heather O’Neill’s heartbreaking and wholly original debut novel blew readers away when it was first published ten years ago. Now in a new deluxe package it is sure to capture its next decade of readers as Baby picks her pathway along the edge of the abyss to arrive at a place of redemption, and of love.

Critical Praise

“A vivid portrait of life on skid row.” - People

“A nuanced, endearing coming-of-age novel you won’t want to miss.” - Quill & Quire (Canada)

“Vivid and poignant.... A deeply moving and troubling novel.” - Independent (London)

“A beautiful book, all the more remarkable because its harrowing tale is (virtuosically) told without a trace of self-pity or bathos. There are phrases in here that will make you laugh out loud, and others that will stop your heart. A definite triumph.” - David Rakoff, author of Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish

“O’Neill is a tragicomedienne par excellence…. You will not want to miss this tender depiction of some very mean streets.” - Montreal Review of Books

“A poignant tale…. O’Neill brings the setting to life.” - OK!, five stars

“O’Neill somehow infuses her troubling story with a kind of heartbreaking innocence…. She is a wonderful stylist and the voice she has created for Baby is original and altogether captivating.” - Booklist

“A winsome debut novel.” - Kirkus

“Baby’s precocious introspection feels pitch perfect.... Tear-jerkingly effective.” - Publishers Weekly

“Dreamy prose.... Baby’s unique voice and the glimmer of hope provided by her intelligence and imaginative spirit live on in the mind long after you have closed the book.” - Waterstones Books Quarterly (London)

“A disturbing, heartbreaking novel… redeemed by a powerful voice, vivid characters and gritty realism. This is a stunning book from a first-time author.” - RebelHousewife.com

Two classic characters, two classic stories, bound together in a new, timeless edition. Anne of Green Gables and The Story Girl bring to vivid life a young orphan girl and a captivating storyteller who both live on Canada's Prince Edward Island.

Anne of Green Gables, introduces a skinny, red-haired, and freckled orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to live with elderly siblings on the north shore of Canada's Prince Edward Island. The Cuthberts had asked to adopt a young boy who could help with the family farm, but Anne Shirley arrived from the orphanage instead, and soon brings joy, imagination, and lots of talking to the close-knit farming community.

The Story Girl tells the story of a group of cousins and friends with Sara Stanley at the center of their group, whose gift for storytelling and enchanting tales of adventure, romance, and suspense spark all sorts of contests and capers. The self-proclaimed favorite of all her books, many believe The Story Girl may be about the author herself.

Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 – April 24, 1942), was a Canadian author best known for her series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables, which was an immediate success. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 500 short stories and poems. She was born on Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Simple, accessible, and direct, this picture book is perfect for kids and parents or teachers to read together, opening the door to conversations about gender stereotypes and everyone's right to be their true selves.
 

Is it okay for boys to cry? Can girls be strong? Should girls and boys be given different toys to play with and different clothes to wear? Should we all feel free to love whoever we choose to love? In this incredibly kid-friendly and easy-to-grasp picture book, author-illustrator Elise Gravel and transgender collaborator Mykaell Blais raise these questions and others relating to gender roles, acceptance, and stereotyping.

With its simple language, colorful illustrations, engaging backmatter that showcases how "appropriate" male and female fashion has changed through history, and even a poster kids can hang on their wall, here is the ideal tool to help in conversations about a multi-layered and important topic.

For nearly a century, the Toronto Maple Leafs have stood as one of the most popular hockey franchises in the NHL. With M Is for Maple Leafs, children across North America will discover the alphabet while being introduced to interesting Leaf history. From people (such as Mats Sundin and Johnny Bower) to hockey terminology (line change and face-off) and places and things (dressing room, Air Canada Centre, puck), the world of hockey is depicted in this fun and lively picture book. Featuring rhyming text from author Mike Ulmer and striking illustrations from Melanie Rose, this book captures the spirit of "Canada's game." M Is for Maple Leafs is destined to become a classic that will be handed down from generation to generation.