Canadian Books

WINNER OF THE 2020 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD 
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Named one of Time Magazine's Must-Read Books of 2020 and one of the best books of the month by The New York Times, Salon, Vanity Fair, Bustle, The Millions, and Vogue, and featuring stories that have appeared in Harper's, Granta, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, this revelatory book of fiction from O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa establishes her as an essential new voice in Canadian and world literature. Told with compassion and wry humour, these stories honour characters struggling to find their bearings far from home, even as they do the necessary "grunt work of the world."

A young man painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A father who packs furniture to move into homes he'll never afford. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. In her stunning debut book of fiction, O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do--brightly, ferociously, unforgettably.

A daughter becomes an unwilling accomplice in her mother's growing infatuation with country singer Randy Travis. A boxer finds an unexpected chance at redemption while working at his sister's nail salon. An older woman finds her assumptions about the limits of love unravelling when she begins a relationship with her much younger neighbour. A school bus driver must grapple with how much he's willing to give up in order to belong. And in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize-shortlisted title story, a young girl's unconditional love for her father transcends language.

Unsentimental yet tender, and fiercely alive, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation.

Another knockout domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont.

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But this morning all of that will change.

Because Diana Brewer isn't lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.

How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.

Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

And one innocent question could be deadly.

____________________________

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

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

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.

From the bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel, a spellbinding story about two young women whose friendship is so intense it not only threatens to destroy them, it changes the course of history

Marie Antoine is the charismatic, spoiled daughter of a sugar baron. At age twelve, with her pile of blond curls and unparalleled sense of whimsy, she's the leader of all the children in the Golden Mile, the affluent strip of nineteenth-century Montreal where powerful families live. Until one day in 1873, when Sadie Arnett, dark-haired, sly and brilliant, moves to the neighbourhood.

Marie and Sadie are immediately inseparable. United by their passion and intensity, they attract and repel each other in ways that set them both on fire. Marie, with her bubbly charm, sees all the pleasure of the world, whereas Sadie's obsession with darkness is all-consuming. Soon, their childlike games take on the thrill of danger and then become deadly.

Forced to separate, the girls spend their teenage years engaging in acts of alternating innocence and depravity, until a singular event unites them once more, with devastating effects. After Marie inherits her father's sugar empire and Sadie disappears into the city's gritty underworld, the working class begins to foment a revolution. Each woman will play an unexpected role in the events that upend their city—the only question is whether they will find each other once more.

From the beloved Giller Prize-shortlisted author who writes “like a sort of demented angel with an uncanny knack for metaphor" (Toronto Star), When We Lost Our Heads is a page-turning novel that explores gender and power, sex and desire, class and status, and the terrifying strength of the human heart when it can't let someone go.

From the author of the beloved and bestselling Canada ABC and Canada 123 comes this wonderful addition to the Canada board book series. Come explore some of the many special sports, games, activities and festivals that are a special part of how we love to have fun!

A dazzling, original novel of slavery and freedom, from the author of the international bestseller Half-Blood Blues

When two English brothers arrive at a Barbados sugar plantation, they bring with them a darkness beyond what the slaves have already known. Washington Black – an eleven year-old field slave – is horrified to find himself chosen to live in the quarters of one of these men. But the man is not as Washington expects him to be. His new master is the eccentric Christopher Wilde – naturalist, explorer, inventor and abolitionist – whose obsession to perfect a winged flying machine disturbs all who know him. Washington is initiated into a world of wonder: a world where the night sea is set alight with fields of jellyfish, where a simple cloth canopy can propel a man across the sky, where even a boy born in chains may embrace a life of dignity and meaning – and where two people, separated by an impossible divide, can begin to see each other as human.

But when a man is killed one fateful night, Washington is left to the mercy of his new masters. Christopher Wilde must choose between family ties and young Washington's life. What follows is a flight along the eastern coast of America, as the men attempt to elude the bounty that has been placed on Washington's head. Their journey opens them up to the extraordinary: to a dark encounter with a necropsicist, a scholar of the flesh; to a voyage aboard a vessel captained by a hunter of a different kind; to a glimpse through an unexpected portal into the Underground Railroad. This is a novel of fraught bonds and betrayal. What brings Wilde and Washington together ultimately tears them apart, leaving Washington to seek his true self in a world that denies his very existence.

From the blistering cane fields of Barbados to the icy plains of the Canadian Arctic, from the mud-drowned streets of London to the eerie deserts of Morocco, Washington Black teems with all the strangeness of life. This inventive, electrifying novel asks, What is Freedom? And can a life salvaged from the ashes ever be made whole?

Ooko has everything a fox could want: a stick, a leaf and a rock. Well, almost everything . . . Ooko wants someone to play with too! The foxes in town always seem to be playing with their two-legged friends, the Debbies. Maybe if he tries to look like the other foxes, one of the Debbies will play with him too. But when Ooko finally finds his very own Debbie, things don't turn out quite as he had expected!

A quirky, funny, charmingly illustrated story about finding friendship and being true to yourself.

One of CBC Books’ Canadian Nonfiction to Read in the Fall • A Tyee Best Book of 2023

We need community to live. But what does it look like? Why does it often feel like it’s slipping away?

We are all hinged to some definition of a community, be it as simple as where we live, complex as the beliefs we share, or as intentional as those we call family. In an episodic personal essay, Casey Plett draws on a range of firsthand experiences to start a conversation about the larger implications of community as a word, an idea, and a symbol. With each thread a cumulative definition of community, and what it has come to mean to Plett, emerges.

Looking at phenomena from transgender literature, to Mennonite history, to hacker houses of Silicon Valley, and the rise of nationalism in North America, Plett delves into the thorny intractability of community’s boons and faults. Deeply personal, authoritative in its illuminations, On Community is an essential contribution to the larger cultural discourse that asks how, and to what socio-political ends, we form bonds with one another.

AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From beloved celebrity influencers and #1 bestselling authors, Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer, over 135 all-day joyful recipes to help you whip up feel-good meals.

Inspired by cozy memories of those sweet, simple days enjoying wholesome meals together with their large close-knit family, bestselling authors and cousins Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer share an all-new collection of favourite recipes straight from the heart of their bustling kitchens. Featuring over 135 everyday recipes along with some beloved classics that have a modern, healthyish, often plant-forward twist, inspired by the smart hacks their moms and granny used to whip up memorable, easy-to-make meals.

Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts is filled with simple, feel-good recipes that focus on fresh, whole foods for you and your loved ones to enjoy any day of the week. The book is plant-forward with ways to adapt recipes for vegan versions wherever possible like Baked Crispy Cauliflower Sandwiches, Vegan Mac and Cheeze, and Tropical Tofu Bowls. All the recipes are family-friendly and perfect for weekday or casual weekend meals including Sheet-Pan Breakfast Pizza, Fish Tacos, and Butternut Squash Gyros. And sure to please everyone, you’ll find plenty of heart-warming recipes including cozy soups, one pot/pan meals, easy-to-make breads from Granny’s Cinnamon Buns to No-Knead Bread, and flavourful, rustic desserts from Lazy Daisy Cake to Baked Apples with Oat Crumble.