Canadian Books

The OC meets The Unhoneymooners in this shipwreck romcom when the reunited cast of a hit show get stuck on a deserted island with nothing but their complete lack of survival skills, simmering drama, and the sneaking suspicion that someone is up to no good.

Agnes “Ness" Larkin has been out of the spotlight for twenty years since her quick departure from a starring role in a hit teen TV drama. When the show is tapped for a reboot, no one is more surprised than Ness that she signs on to rejoin the cast, leaving behind a normal—if not exactly thrilling—life in Toronto. Also back for round two are Libby, Ness's former best friend and soon to be makeup empire magnate, and Hayes, Ness's one-that-got-away who has risen to A-list fame (and somehow gotten even better looking) in the years she's been gone.

When they set off for filming near the Bahamas, a storm leaves the seven actors and one production assistant stranded on a small island with only an abandoned, derelict mansion to wait out the storm. But when the weather clears and a new day rises—their boat is gone too.

Stuck in a bizarre, crumbling house on an uninhabited island with possibly the most useless survival group in history, Ness and her co-stars are forced to revisit a minefield of past transgressions and come to terms with the adults they've become as they work together to ride out the storm. Or at least pretend to—they are actors, after all.

Interspersed with weather reports, fictional memoir excerpts, a dating profile and Perez-Hilton-esque blog posts, Not How I Pictured It is a rollicking novel of delightful absurdity, pithy dialogue, and no shortage of heart.

Critical Praise

"Devastatingly funny and a delight from the first page. It's smart and it made me laugh out loud over and over. In other words, I adored this book!" — Susan Juby, author of A Meditation on Murder

Not How I Pictured It was full of suspense, adventure, backstabbing old friends, middling survival skills, and best of all, a swoony second chance romance with a sexy movie star. When the entire cast of a decades old TV show gets stranded on a Caribbean Island on route to film their reboot, they have no choice but to mend their relationships and learn to work together to survive. I loved seeing Ness grow as she came to terms with her past… and wrestle with a snake! What an incredibly fun book!   — Farah Heron, Author of Jana Goes Wild and Accidentally Engaged

What if the cast of 90210 unwittingly reunited for a season of Survivor? Not How I Pictured It is fun, funny and full of drama. The perfect beach read from one of my must-read authors! — Chantel Guertin, bestselling author of Two for the Road

“Not How I Pictured It is a zany, rollicking good time with a powerful emotional reckoning at its core. Lefler grapples with fame, growing up, and what we owe the people we love, all the while keeping up the Romancing the Stone-style hijinks.” — Jenny Holiday, author of Canadian Boyfriend and Earls Trip

"Robin Lefler fires up the page with sharp wit, dazzling imagination, and pulse-jumping plot twists! Not How I Pictured It is an epic adventure romcom where top-tier tropes meet a gripping mystery. The end result is a sexy, thrilling, and at turns hilarious modern nod to Gilligan's Island. I could not put this book down." — Courtney Kae, author of In the Event of Love and In the Case of Heartbreak 

"There's no one I'd rather be trapped on a desert island with than Ness Larkin and the rest of the hilariously dysfunctional cast of Not How I Pictured It. Both a nonstop-entertaining survival romp and a heartwarming exploration of second chances, Robin Lefler's sophomore novel is a MUST for your 2024 beach bag." — Nicolas DiDomizio, author of The Gay Best Friend

"Gilligan's Island meets Gossip Girl—this is a rom com that will have you reaching for the popcorn. SO. MUCH. FUN." — Amy T. Matthews, Someone Else's Bucket List

"Lefler’s plotting is pure fun, like a reality show in novel form—especially when it becomes clear that this detour may have been no accident. Romance fans will fall in love with Ness and her insecurities and hate the designated villains (including the last person readers will suspect). This is a pleasure." — Publishers Weekly

Butler-detective Helen Thorpe returns to help a wannabe influencer get her life in order—and solve the murders of her fellow content creators—in this hilarious sequel to Mindful of Murder by bestselling author Susan Juby 

When Buddhist butler Helen Thorpe is loaned out to help Cartier Hightower get her life in order, Helen finds herself working for a young woman entirely unbound by the fetters of good taste or sound judgment. One of Cartier’s fellow content creators has recently died in a strange accident. Soon after Helen arrives, another is killed in an equally bizarre way. Cartier begins to drag Helen around on the influencer circuit, where neither of them is particularly welcome. Then comes the terrible incident at the EDM nightclub that turns Cartier into a global pariah, at least according to social media.

Helen hopes a period of simplicity and reflection and an internet detox will help Cartier find her true nature and maybe acquire some social graces. But Helen’s job gets much harder when Cartier’s friends show up at the lavish ranch where Cartier and Helen have retreated. Soon, Helen finds herself trying to avoid becoming Instafamous while bringing some peace to a girl who very much needs it. This task turns out to be even more impossible when it becomes clear that they have been followed to Weeping Creek Ranch by a murderer. 

Critical Praise

“Juby has offered a cosy mystery with a unique vibe. There’s the murder mystery aspect with its menacing undertones, but this is clearly a comedic book, with delightful humour on every page. It kept me constantly amused, and I chuckled aloud more than a few times. Then, without warning, Juby delivers a gut punch of serious pathos, building empathy for a character while hitting the reader with Buddhist dharma teaching.” — The British Columbia Review

A sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race and secrets in the lives of three women, perfect for readers of Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half and David Chariandy's Brother

When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she's pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, it amplifies her struggle to understand her place in the world as a woman who is half-Black and half-white, yet feels neither.

Her mother, Evelyn, fled to Canada with her husband and their first-born child, Antony, during the politically charged Jamaican Exodus of the 1980s, only to realize they'd come to a place where Black men are viewed with suspicion—a constant and pernicious reality Evelyn watches her husband and son navigate daily.

Years later, in the aftermath of Antony's murder by the police, Evelyn's mother-in-law, Violet, moves in, offering young Kareela a link to the Jamaican heritage she has never fully known. Despite Violet's efforts to help them through their grief, the traumas they carry grow into a web of secrets that threatens the very family they all hold so dear.

Back in the present, Kareela, prompted by fear and uncertainty about the new life she carries, must come to terms with the mysteries surrounding her family's past and the need to make sense of both her identity and her future.

Weaving the women's stories across multiple timelines, We Rip the World Apart reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deeper repercussions than could ever have been imagined, especially when people remain silent.

Critical Praise

“Charlene Carr's deep dive into the complexities of race and belonging force, in the gentlest of ways, all of us to confront our own role in making the world a safer place. Carr's exploration of unresolved grief and the impact on family is one we need to hear; one we need to understand. A story of family and the decisions we make, We Rip the World Apart is a truly human exploration full of doubt, regret and most importantly, love. A remarkable story from a remarkable storyteller.” — Amanda Peters, bestselling author of The Berry Pickers

“At once intimate and epic, Charlene Carr crafts a sweeping portrait of motherhood and a woman’s right to choose across three generations of a Jamaican-Canadian family overcoming generational trauma. We Rip The World Apart explores the experiences of interracial couples and their biracial children, telling a nuanced tale of hurt and hope, all about finding yourself and your community.” — William Ping, author of Hollow Bamboo

"Charlene Carr’s eye for examining life’s most complicated spaces is at its sharpest in this frank, fearless reflection on race, identity, and parenthood. Spanning generations and brimming with family secrets, We Rip the World Apart is page-turning and propulsive, heartbreaking and hopeful in turn. An important and necessary book that will stay with me for a long time.” — Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures

"The novel has the raw feel of a protest, while retaining the heart that sees a family to keep trying to connect despite generations of trauma. Moving, intelligent and complex, it deftly explores our struggle to understand even those who are closest to us, the different types of violence we perpetrate on one another, the identities we fight against and the ones we choose to project, and the different ways in which we cope and respond, despite our uncertainty that any of our choices are the correct ones....[A]t times a raised fist, at others a much needed embrace." — Craig Shreve, author of The African Samurai

"For fans of Britt Bennet’s The Vanishing Half and Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, Charlene Carr’s latest is both a charged emotional epic and a gentle exploration of the nuances of love. Motherhood, autonomy, race, politics, grief—every brushstroke works to paint a complex and important picture of the world as it is, and as it could be. This novel is sure to inspire book club discussion and personal reflection, and to stay on your mind long after the final page is turned. Truly a can’t-miss read!" — Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky  

Everyone is welcome in the circle.

In this warmhearted book, we join Molly at the Intertribal Community Center, where she introduces us to people she knows and loves: her grandmother and her grandmother’s wife, her uncles and their baby, her cousins, and her treasured friends.

They dance, sing, garden, learn, pray, and eat together. And tonight, they come together for a feast! Molly shares with the reader how each person makes her feel—and reminds us that love is love.

Through tender prose and radiant artwork, author Monique Gray Smith (Cree/Lakota) and illustrator Nicole Neidhardt (Diné) show how there is always room for others in our lives. Circle of Love is a story celebrating family, friends, community, and, most of all, love.

Includes an author’s note, contextual notes, and glossary. 

-----------------------------------

Monique Gray Smith is the award-winning and bestselling author of nine books for readers of all ages. She is Cree, Lakota, and Scottish and the mother of teenage twins. An inspirational, sought-after speaker and consultant, she lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

A tender and funny debut about a Vietnamese Canadian family who will do whatever it takes to keep their no-frills nail salon afloat after a multimillion-dollar chain opens across the street.

Vietnamese refugees Debbie and Phil Tran have made a good life for themselves in Toronto, but their landlord has just jacked up the rent of their family-run nail salon, Sunshine Nails, and it’s way more than they can afford. When Take Ten, a glamorous chain offering a more luxurious salon experience, moves into the neighborhood, the Tran family is terrified of losing their business—and the community they’ve built around them.

But daughter Jessica comes to their rescue. She’s just moved back home after a messy breakup and an even messier firing. Together with her workaholic brother, Dustin, and recently immigrated cousin, Thuy, they devise some good old-fashioned sabotage. But as the line between right and wrong gets blurred, relationships are put to the test, and Debbie and Phil must choose: Do they keep their family intact or fight for their salon?

Full of memorable manicures and even more memorable characters, Sunshine Nails is a humorous and heartfelt novel about family, resilience, and what it means to start over.

From the writer and producer of the hit TV shows Republic of Doyle and Son of a Critch, a poignant coming-of-age debut novel about the mysterious disappearance of a young girl and the fragility of childhood bonds, set against the backdrop of a small island community adapting to an ever-changing landscape.

In 1991, on a small, isolated island off the coast of Newfoundland, twelve-year-old Pierce Jacobs struggles to come to terms with the death of his father. It’s been three years since his dad, a fisherman, disappeared in the cold, unforgiving Atlantic, his body never recovered. Pierce is determined to save enough money to fix his father’s old boat and take it out to sea. But life on the island is quiet and hard. The local fishing industry is on the brink of collapse, threatening to take an ages-old way of life with it. The community is hit even harder when a young teen named Anna Tessier goes missing.

With the help of his three friends, Pierce sets out to find Anna, with whom he shared an unusual but special bond. They soon cross paths with Solomon Vickers, a mysterious, hermetic fisherman who may have something to do with the missing girl. Their search brings them into contact with unrelenting bullies, magnificent sea creatures, fierce storms, and glacial giants. But most of all, it brings them closer to the brutal reality of both the natural and the modern world.

Part coming-of-age story, part literary mystery, and part suspense thriller, Closer by Sea is a page-turning, poignant, and powerful novel about family, friendship, and community set at a pivotal time in modern Newfoundland history. It is an homage to a people and a place, and above all it captures that delicate and tender moment when the wonder of childhood innocence gives way to the harsh awakening of adult experience.

The author of the “evocative, spine-tingling, and razor-sharp” (Bustle) I’m Thinking of Ending Things that inspired the Netflix original movie and the “short, shocking psychological three-hander” (The Guardian) Foe returns with a new work of philosophical suspense.

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

Initially, surrounded by peers, conversing, eating, sleeping, looking out at the beautiful woods that surround the house, all is well. She even begins to paint again. But as the days start to blur together, Penny—with a growing sense of unrest and distrust—starts to lose her grip on the passage of time and on her place in the world. Is she succumbing to the subtly destructive effects of aging, or is she an unknowing participant in something more unsettling?

At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid’s genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.

Iain Reid is the author of four previous books, including his New York Times bestselling debut novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which has been translated into more than twenty languages. Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman wrote and directed the film adaptation for Netflix. His second novel, Foe, is being adapted for film, starring Saoirse Ronan, with Reid cowriting the screenplay. His latest novel is We Spread. Reid lives in Ontario, Canada. Follow him on Twitter @Reid_Iain.

Something very wrong is happening here.

Jake and I have a real connection, a rare and intense attachment. What has it been...a month?
I’m going to meet his parents for the first time, at the same time as I’m thinking of ending things.

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.”

And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here.

I’m thinking of ending things.

A woman embarks on a road trip with her new boyfriend. Doubts about the relationship claw at the back of her mind. An unexpected detour unravels into nightmare.

In his acclaimed literary fiction debut, Iain Reid explores the darkest depths of the human psyche, confronting the value we find in relationships and the limitations of solitude. Taut with dread, this novel will haunt you long after the last page is turned.

Iain Reid is the author of four previous books, including his New York Times bestselling debut novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things, which has been translated into more than twenty languages. Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman wrote and directed the film adaptation for Netflix. His second novel, Foe, is being adapted for film, starring Saoirse Ronan, with Reid cowriting the screenplay. His latest novel is We Spread. Reid lives in Ontario, Canada. Follow him on Twitter @Reid_Iain.

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
*Indigo Top 10 of the Year*

Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverley McLachlin offers an intimate and revealing look at her life, from her childhood in the Alberta foothills to her career on the Supreme Court, where she helped to shape the social and moral fabric of the country—for readers of Educated and Becoming.

From a very early age, all I knew was that I wanted to do something that was not ordinary. Because, for a girl growing up in a remote prairie town in the 1940s, the ordinary was very ordinary indeed.

Beverley McLachlin has led an extraordinary life. One of the few women studying law in the 1960s, she graduated at the top of her class and began her long career—first as a dedicated lawyer and professor, later as a judge serving on the highest court in the country, and finally as the first woman to be named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The journey wasn’t easy. The options for women growing up in rural Pincher Creek, Alberta, were limited. But McLachlin was willful and spirited, and she wanted an education. She also had an innate sense of justice, which was reinforced by the lessons her parents taught her about equality and the value of hard work. It was this faith in justice that pulled her through dark times, especially when faced with sexism and exclusion at work and personal tragedy at home.

Over time, McLachlin became a champion for Canadians from all walks of life. As a judge on the Supreme Court, she presided over charged debates on topics such as same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. With each judgment, she laid down a legal legacy proving that fairness and justice are not luxuries of the powerful but rather rights owed to each and every one of us.

With warmth, honesty, and deep wisdom, McLachlin recounts her remarkable life on and off the bench. Truth Be Told is an inspiring reminder that integrity and the rule of law are our best hopes for a progressive and bright future.

About the Author:

Beverley McLachlin was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2000 to 2017. She is the first woman to hold that position and the longest-serving Chief Justice in Canadian history. In 2018, McLachlin became a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest honour within the Order. Her memoir, Truth Be Told, was an instant national bestseller, as was her debut novel, Full Disclosure. Visit her at BeverleyMcLachlin.com.

Would you trap yourself in a deadly universe to save your loved ones?

All Spencer Newton wants is to fit in. He's always been the nerdy kid, cursed with not only being a genius, but also with ADHD. He's a magnet for harassment. And it seems impossible to avoid torment when the worst perpetrator isn't human, but a manipulative interdimensional being called The Molecule Thief.

As conflict between dimensions rise, the only solution the U.S. military sees is nuclear. That is, until this mysterious Molecule Thief offers Spencer an alternative to annihilation. But Spencer isn't sure if the Molecule Thief is real or all in his head. Can Spencer trust himself to save the world, or will his faith in the Molecule Thief cost him everyone he loves?

________________

L.P. Styles writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a limitless and sometimes twisted imagination, L.P. Styles gives readers quirky and inventive worlds to escape into.

"A perfect combination of sweet and sexy moments makes A Princess for Christmas an unputdownable read!"--Mia Sosa, USA Today bestselling author

From USA Today bestselling author Jenny Holiday comes a modern fairy tale just in time for Christmas about a tough New Yorker from the other side of the tracks who falls for a princess from the other side of the world.

Leo Ricci's already handling all he can, between taking care of his little sister Gabby, driving a cab, and being the super of his apartment building in the Bronx. But when Gabby spots a "princess" in a gown outside of the UN trying to hail a cab, she begs her brother to stop and help. Before he knows it, he's got a real-life damsel in distress in the backseat of his car. 

Princess Marie of Eldovia shouldn't be hailing a cab, or even be out and about. But after her mother’s death, her father has plunged into a devastating depression and the fate of her small Alpine country has fallen on Marie’s shoulders. She’s taken aback by the gruff but devastatingly handsome driver who shows her more kindness than she’s seen in a long time. 

When Marie asks Leo to be her driver for the rest of her trip, he agrees, thinking he’ll squire a rich miss around for a while and make more money than he has in months. He doesn’t expect to like and start longing for the unpredictable Marie. And when he and Gabby end up in Eldovia for Christmas, he discovers the princess who is all wrong for him is also the woman who is his perfect match.

From New York Times Bestselling Author Louise Penny

A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Novel, Book 5 of 18

Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.

No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE” woven in it lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.

Louise Penny is an international award-winning and bestselling author whose books have hit number one on the New York Times, USA Today and Globe and Mail lists. Her Chief Inspector Gamache novels have been translated into thirty-one languages and have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. In 2017 she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. In 2021, she co-authored the standalone thriller State of Terror with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Louise Penny lives in a village south of Montreal.

From New York Times Bestselling Author Louise Penny

A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Novel, Book 4 of 18

Wealthy, cultured and respectable, the Finney family is the epitome of gentility. When Irene Finney and her four grown-up children arrive at the Manoir Bellechasse in the heat of summer, the hotel's staff spring into action. For the children have come to this idyllic lakeside retreat for a special occasion - a memorial has been organised to pay tribute to their late father. But as the heat wave gathers strength, it is not just the statue of an old man that is unveiled. Old secrets and bitter rivalries begin to surface, and the morning after the ceremony, a body is found. The family has another member to mourn.

A guest at the hotel, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache suddenly finds himself in the middle of a murder enquiry. The hotel is full of possible suspects - even the Manoir's staff have something to hide, and it's clear that the victim had many enemies. With its remote location, the lodge is a place where visitors come to escape their pasts. Until the past catches up with them...

Louise Penny is an international award-winning and bestselling author whose books have hit number one on the New York Times, USA Today and Globe and Mail lists. Her Chief Inspector Gamache novels have been translated into thirty-one languages and have sold over 10 million copies worldwide. In 2017 she received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian culture. In 2021, she co-authored the standalone thriller State of Terror with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Louise Penny lives in a village south of Montreal.

From New York Times Bestselling Author Louise Penny

A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery Novel, Book 3 of 18

Easter in Three Pines is a time of church services, egg hunts and seances to raise the dead. 
 
A group of friends trudges up to the Old Hadley House, the horror on the hill, to finally rid it of the evil spirits that have so obviously plagued it, and the village, for decades.  But instead of freeing a spirit, they create a new one.  One of their numbers dies of fright.  Or was it murder?  Enter Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his team from the Surete du Quebec.  As they peel back the layers of flilth and artiface that have covered the haunted old home, they discover the evil isn't confined there.  Some evil is guiding the actions of one of the seemingly kindly villagers.
 
But Gamache has a horror all his own to confront.  A very personal demon is about to strike.
 
Easter in Three Pines.  A time of rebirth, when nature comes alive.  But something very unpleasant has also come alive.  And it become clear - for there to be a rebirth, there first must be a death.  

“Equal parts soaring fantasy, heart-pounding action, and bloody social commentary, Blood Scion is a triumph of a book.” —Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

 This is what they deserve.

They wanted me to be a monster.

I will be the worst monster they ever created.

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Following one girl’s journey of magic, injustice, power, and revenge, Deborah Falaye’s debut novel, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, is a magnetic combination of Children of Blood and Bone and An Ember in the Ashes.

Critical Praise

"A compelling story of magic, survival and revenge, with a complex heroine at its center worth rooting for. An explosive, powerful debut.” — Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times & international bestselling author of the Caraval series and Once Upon A Broken Heart 

“Falaye expertly walks the line between showing the ultra-violent reality child soldiers face while giving room for their humanity and innocence to shine. Equal parts soaring fantasy, heart-pounding action, and bloody social commentary, Blood Scion is a triumph of a book.” — Roseanne A. Brown, New York Times bestselling author of A Song of Wraiths and Ruin

“A thrilling debut fantasy! Falaye creates an intricately woven world that draws beautifully on Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, with a fast-paced, heart thumping plot that will have you rooting for Sloane and her friends to not only survive but get the justice they deserve! This story is full of heart, resilience, and magic that will pull you in from the very first page and have you thirsting for more by the end." — Kat Cho, international bestselling author of Wicked Fox and Vicious Spirits. 

“Blood Scion is a dark, masterful indictment of the casualties of self in the brutal fight for the right to exist. This unflinching masterpiece is twisty, raw, and impossible to put down. Fans of An Ember In The Ashes and The Hunger Games have found their next obsession.” — J.Elle, New York Times bestselling author of Wings of Ebony.

“Brilliant and brutal, Blood Scion kept me up all night with its page turning action, complex characters, and shocking twists. Falaye is fearless, her prose addictive, and I’m dying for the sequel!” — Kristen Ciccarelli, internationally bestselling author of The Last Namsara

“This epic fantasy debut, inspired by Yoruba-Nigerian mythology, reminds readers that sometimes monsters are not born, they are made… fast-paced and engaging.” — Booklist

"An epic tale of ancient magic based in Nigerian mythology... Falaye’s harrowing duology opener of survival, sacrifice, and vengeance illustrates the effects of trauma and the strength of love in driving acts potentially heinous and heroic."  — Publishers Weekly

“An exciting fantasy infused with the magic of the Orisha pantheon… From its gritty social commentary on colonization and imperialism to its depiction of an unforgiving heroine, Blood Scion demands critical engagement from its readers.”  — Quill & Quire

“Undoubtedly a 10/10. You’ll want to have this on your shelf.” — The Nerd Daily

Deborah Falaye

Biography

Deborah Falaye is a Nigerian Canadian young adult author. She grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where she spent her time devouring African Literature, pestering her grandma for folktales, and tricking her grandfather into watching Passions every night. When she’s not writing about fierce Black girls with bad-ass magic, she can be found obsessing over all things reality TV. Deborah currently lives in Toronto with her husband and their partner-in-crime yorkie, Major. Blood Scion is her first novel.

She met the man of her dreams and suddenly had it all. Then, in one fateful night, she lost everything, and the nightmare began

Jennifer Robertson was working hard to build a life for herself from the ashes of her first marriage. Still only twenty-six, she swiped right on a dating app and met Gerry Cotten, a man she would not normally have considered—too young and not her type—but found she’d met her match. Eccentric but funny and kind, Cotten turned out to be a bitcoin wizard who quickly amassed substantial wealth through his company, Quadriga. The couple travelled the world, first class all the way, while Cotten worked on his multitude of encrypted laptops. Then, while the couple was on their honeymoon in India, opening an orphanage in their name, Gerry fell ill and died in a matter of hours. Jennifer was consumed by grief and guilt, but that was only the beginning. It turned out that Gerry owed $250 million to Quadriga customers, and all the passwords to his encrypted virtual vaults, hidden on his many laptops, had died with him. Jennifer was left with more than one hundred thousand investors looking for their money, and questions, suspicions and accusations spiralling dangerously out of control. 

The Quadriga scandal touched off major investment and criminal investigations, not to mention Internet rumours circulating on dark message boards, including claims that Gerry had faked his own death and that his wife was the real mastermind behind a sophisticated sting operation. While Jennifer waited for a dead man’s switch e-mail that would probably never come, it became clear that Cotten had gambled away about $100 million of the funds entrusted to him for investment in his many schemes, leaving Robertson holding the bag. 

Bitcoin Widow is Catch Me If You Can meets a widow betrayed, a life of fairy-tale romance and private jets torched by duplicity, as Jennifer Robertson tries to reset her life in the wake of one of the biggest investment scandals of the digital age.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“One of [Mandel’s] finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet.” —The New York Times 

“Mandel’s sensational sixth novel offers immense pleasures of puzzle box plotting and high-flying imagination. . . . Masterfully plotted and deeply moving, this visionary novel folds back on itself like a hall of mirrors to explore just what connects us to one another, and how many extraordinary contingencies bring us to each ordinary day of our lives.” —Esquire  

From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel, a “bold and exciting” (The Economist) and “transcendent” (Wall Street Journal) novel filled with “puncturing emotional truths” (Glamour)  

In this captivating tale of imagination and ambition, a seemingly disparate array of people come into contact with a time traveller who must resist the pull to change the past and the future. The cast includes a British exile on the west coast of Canada in the early 1900s; the author of a bestselling novel about a fictional pandemic who embarks on a galaxy-spanning book tour during the outbreak of an actual pandemic; a resident of a moon colony almost 300 years in the future; and a lonely girl who films an old-growth forest and experiences a disruption in the recording. Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, Emily St. John Mandel’s dazzling story follows these engrossing characters across space and time as their lives ultimately intersect.

Sea of Tranquility is a breathtaking and wondrous examination of the ties that bind us together, by a master storyteller. 

Critical Praise

“Mandel is an easy read…No matter where or when we touch down we feel at home in worlds much like our own….Which may be the point she’s getting at: we’re all, and will always be, part of a larger human story. In the face of pandemic or other catastrophes, all roads lead to home, whether those roads connect to the far edge of the Western world or the Far Colonies of space.” — Toronto Star

“In Mandel’s stunning latest, people find themselves inhabiting different places and times, from early 20th-century Canada to a 23rd-century moon colony… The novel’s narratives crystallize flawlessly. Brilliantly combining imagery from science fiction and the current pandemic, Mandel grounds her rich metaphysical speculation in small, beautifully observed human moments. By turns playful, tragic, and tender, this should not be missed.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A complicated and mysterious puzzle concerning the nature of reality solved perfectly, all loose ends connected...Even more boldly imagined than Station Eleven. Exciting to read, relevant, and satisfying." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“In Sea of Tranquility, Mandel offers one of her finest novels and one of her most satisfying forays into the arena of speculative fiction yet, but it is her ability to convincingly inhabit the ordinary, and…project a sustaining acknowledgment of beauty, that sets the novel apart…Born of…empathy and hard-won understanding, beautifully built into language, for all of us who inhabit this ‘green-and-blue world’ and who one day might live well beyond.”  — New York Times Magazine

“Sea of Tranquility is broader in scope than any of Mandel’s previous novels, voyaging profligately across lands and centuries…Destabilizing, extraordinary, and blood-boiling…Mandel weds a sharp, ambivalent self-accounting—the type of study that tends to wear the label ‘autofiction’—to a speculative epic. We are shown what two forms can offer each other, and exposed to the interrogating possibilities of science fiction.”  — New Yorker

“‘Reality is things as they are,’ Wallace Stevens declared, and who could argue with that? Well, legions of philosophers and any number of novelists, among them Emily St. John Mandel, who, like an ingenious origami artist, seems determined with each new work to add yet another fold to our perception of what is real and one further twist to what we think of as time…Transcendent.”  — Wall Street Journal

"Mandel delivers...with an impish blend of wit and dread. The paradoxes of Gaspery’s adventure will be familiar to anyone who’s studied Jean Baudrillard or seen “Back to the Future.” But Mandel has the stylistic elegance and emotional sympathy to make this more than merely an undergraduate bull session. Absent your own time portal to the 1990s, it’s a chance to... wrestle with the mind-blowing possibility that what is may be entirely different from what we see." — Washington Post

"An emotionally devastating novel about human connection: what we are to one another—and what we should be."  — Omar El Akkad, author of What Strange Paradise

“I could write a thousand words about Emily St. John Mandel, and this book, and this moment but I won’t dare spoil it. Truly soul-affirming.” — Emma Straub, best-selling author of All Adults Here

"A spiraling, transportive triumph of storytelling—sci-fi with soul." — Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Mercies

"Bold and exciting...Sea of Tranquility is Ms Mandel’s most ambitious novel yet (which is saying something). Inventive and...mind-bending, thanks to her disrupted timelines and fully realised vision of lunar settlements and parallel universes...Her depiction of a future pandemic is recognisable and touching...An illuminating study of survival and, in the words of one character, 'what makes a world real.'" — The Economist

“Fusing sci-fi and great storytelling, this imaginative novel from the author of Station Eleven explores how technology might control our fate if we abandon compassion.” — People

"St. John Mandel’s tender and idiosyncratic novel will undeniably make its own mark on its readers’ imaginations." — The Guardian

"Mandel’s sensational sixth novel offers immense pleasures of puzzle box plotting and high-flying imagination...Masterfully plotted and deeply moving, this visionary novel folds back on itself like a hall of mirrors to explore just what connects us to one another, and how many extraordinary contingencies bring us to each ordinary day of our lives." — Esquire

“Sea Of Tranquility is a poignant, ingeniously constructed and deeply absorbing novel that surveys big questions about the cruel inevitability of time passing, loss, the nature of what we consider reality and, in the end, what finally matters…Mandel is an important novelist of our moment, but doesn't settle for merely replicating our moment. She inhabits it even as she sees beyond it.”  — Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air

"There is both elegance and tenderness in Mandel’s narrative design...For her, science fiction allows us only enough escape from our context to let us regard it from a softening distance." — The Nation

“Lovely, life-affirming…The project of Sea of Tranquility is about finding meaning and beauty within a world that is constantly dying, about relishing a life that seems always on the cusp of awful and irrevocable change…. Mandel’s prose is shot through with moments of unexpected lyricism…that take you by surprise with their limpid sweetness… Nourishing and needed. The world is always ending, this book says, and there is always beauty to be found in it.” — Vox

"If there is one thing Emily St. John Mandel is going to do, it’s tell a story that’s so good that you’ll keep reading even though the plot includes pandemics and loss and the frightening future of the planet. St John Mandel’s swift storytelling and puncturing emotional truths will leave you wishing it was hundreds of pages longer. She remains an instant-buy writer." — Glamour

“‘When have we ever believed that the world wasn’t ending?’ asks a character in Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility… At a time when that fear is so acutely alive, the question is revelatory. While Mandel focuses on many of the things that terrify us, she also illustrates how hope and humanity are flames that can never be fully extinguished.” — Elle

"With vivid and memorable characters, gorgeously imaginative settings and a plot that will have you gasping aloud, it ping-pongs from an eerie encounter in North America in 1912 to the anxiety of trying to escape a plague-ravaged Earth to moon colonies that feel at once just like home and far from it. This is a triumph of science fiction, so give it a try even if the genre usually leaves you cold."  — Good Housekeeping

"Survival, [Mandel] has suggested again and again, may depend more on one’s ability to love than on how well-appointed a fortress one’s bunker is….Mandel almost seems to be looking straight at the reader…asking us, in effect, to look beyond the spectacle of apocalypse to the long sweep of history. The point isn’t the end, because there isn’t a definitive end, just a series of endings. The point is what the people left do next.”
— Oprah Daily

"It is the human story that Mandel excels at portraying...Her writing on nature echoes a brutal solitude, the unease that comes when one ascends a mountain, crosses an expanse of golden plains, or finds themselves floating in space." — Nylah Burton, Shondaland

“Readers of Mandel’s other novels will remember her talent for subtly interweaving disparate narratives, and Sea of Tranquility rises to that area of expertise….Mandel masterfully connects characters’ observations and senses within any given moment….Sea of Tranquility is…for anyone who wants to think about what the end of the world means, and how our lives matter in the face of it.” — Observer-Reporter (Pennsylvania)

"Reading about a pandemic when the real world is still recovering from one would have been heavy going, were it not for the unerring grace of Mandel's prose." — The Straits Times

“A very knowing novel…Powerful…Very enjoyable…A book brimming with a sense of wonder, a sense of humour, and a sense for the weirdness we’ve all been experienc­ing over the last couple of years.” — Locus

“Each character alone could probably carry a book, and so could the picture — not rosy, but hardly hopeless — that Mandel paints of a future Earth…Generous with flashes of wry humor…Mandel’s style is distinctly her own, and she excels at bringing brightness out of the dark. Readers will leave Sea of Tranquility like Station Eleven before it, feeling hope for humanity.”  — Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post Dispatch

"A full-on mind-blower. Inspired by real-world ills and eccentric philosophical theories, Mandel has crafted an enthralling narrative puzzle, plunging her relatable characters into a tale that spans five centuries." — Kevin Canfield, StarTribune

“This slim novel is written in a cool, elegant voice, like that of a singer who never wastes a note and who suggests strong emotion underneath her reserve.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Mandel's writing is incredibly fluid and gripping and never failed to keep me reading." — The Eastern Echo

“A time-travel puzzle…Mandel’s prose is beautiful but unfussy; some chapters are compressed into a few poetic lines. The story moves quickly…In the end, the novel’s interlocking plot resolves beautifully, making for a humane and moving time-travel story, as well as a meditation on loneliness and love.” — BookPage

"Sea of Tranquility is [Mandel's] airship, offering readers a lifeline, and transporting them on a thrilling, wistful and memorable journey into the stars." — Jodé Millman, Booktrib

One of Canada’s most celebrated author’s debut novel for young readers

Beatrice, a young girl of uncertain age, wakes up all alone in a tree house in the forest. How did she arrive in this cozy dwelling, stocked carefully with bookshelves and oatmeal accoutrements? And who has been leaving a trail of clues, composed in delicate purple handwriting?

So begins the adventure of a brave and resilient Black girl’s search for identity and healing in bestselling author Lawrence Hill’s middle-grade debut. Though Beatrice cannot recall how or why she arrived in the magical forest of Argilia—where every conceivable fish, bird, mammal and reptile coexist, and any creature with a beating heart can communicate with any other—something within tells her that beyond this forest is a family that is waiting anxiously for her return.

Just outside her tree-house door lives Beatrice’s most unlikely ally, the enormous and mercurial King Crocodile Croc Harry, who just may have a secret of his own. As they form an unusual truce and work toward their common goal, Beatrice and Croc Harry will learn more about their forest home than they ever could have imagined. And what they learn about themselves may destroy Beatrice’s chances of returning home forever.

Critical Praise

"At once a perfectly delightful childhood adventure story and a heart wrenching tale about very real, very current events, and the power of friendship and forgiveness to help heal divides at a time when we need it most. Lawrence Hill engages the reader with whimsy and humour, then slowly peels back the layers to some harder truths beneath. I loved this book so much." — Susin Nielsen, author of Tremendous Things and We Are All Made of Molecules

"Like the most memorable books for young people, Beatrice and Croc Harry touches heart, mind, and an ageless sense of wonder. A modern fable of great beauty and sophistication, it teaches us about the forging of unlikely alliances and the quest for truths and good relations in the mysterious and often frightening settings that we have found ourselves within. It teaches us, too, about the awesome courage of a Black girl in discovering herself and pursuing her own ending to a story. Lawrence Hill has poured so much of his celebrated wisdom, wit, and storytelling magic into these pages; and the result is a book to treasure and share across generations." — David Chariandy, author of Brother and I’ve Been Meaning To Tell You

"If Alice in Wonderland, Brown Girl Dreaming, the Wizard of Oz were overlayed with racial violence, integration, and racial identity circa 1950 to 2021, there would be Beatrice and Croc Harry-- a journey of epic proportions. Told in vibrant language about an intelligent, assertive but amnesic girl, the novel follows Beatrice through the Magical Argilia Forest as she, with the help of an overbearing crocodile, pieces together clues that hint to her origins and lead her home. This story has a familiar yet endearing quality that harkens back to children’s literature from the turn of the century." — Nadia L. Hohn, author of Malaika's Surprise

Netflix’s Never Have I Ever meets Crazy Rich Asians with a Nigerian twist in this brilliant young-adult novel about being caught in between worlds

The only things worth doing are those that will lead to success.

For seventeen-year-old Adanna Nkwachi, life is all about duty: to school and the debate team, to her Nigerian parents, and even to her cousin Genny as Ada helps prepare Genny’s wedding to Afrobeats superstar Skeleboy. Because ever since her older brother, Sam, had a fight with their parents a few years ago and disappeared, somebody has to fill the void he left behind. Ada may never know what caused Sam to leave home, but the one thing she’s certain of is that it’s on her to make sure her parents’ sacrifices aren’t in vain.

One day, chance brings the siblings back together and they start working to repair their bond. Although she fears how their parents will react if they find out, Ada is determined to get answers about the night Sam left—Sam, who was supposed to be an engineer but is now, what, a poet? The more she learns about Sam’s poetry, the more Ada begins to wonder if maybe being happy is just as important as doing what’s expected of her. Amid parental pressure, anxiety over the debate competition, a complicated love life and the Nigerian wedding-to-end-all-weddings, can Ada learn, just this once, to put herself first?