The Bar Chef
Regular price $34.99One of the world’s pre-eminent mixologists serves up the theatre, mystery and science behind his signature modern cocktails
Vanilla-and-hickory smoked Manhattan, anyone?
BarChef is a cocktail lounge on Queen Street West in Toronto. Dedicated to the art and science of the cocktail, its beauty lies in the colours and details behind the bar―from apothecary jars filled with bitters and syrups to bell jars and 100-pound blocks of ice. Owner Frankie Solarik holds court in his fedora, chipping ice, talking to patrons (a mix of rockers, hipsters, business people, locals and celebrities) and enjoying his craft thoroughly.
Solarik is a leading figure of the global cocktail renaissance. His book, The Bar Chef, explores the importance of engaging all the senses when creating modernist cocktails. Depth and balance―the ideas behind great wines, and great food and wine pairings―are vital to a magnificent drink. Chapters detail the elements of the set-up, the art and craft of mixology and, of course, include recipes for syrups, infusions, bitters and the cocktails themselves. A chapter for non-alcoholic drinks rounds out the book.
This book is aimed at adventurous mixologists, enthusiasts whowant to hone their skills and taste, and who want to experience something of Solarik’s genius at home. This book is neither comprehensive nor “general.” Rather, it is a carefully curated sampling of Solarik’s creations, featuring recipes that are challenging but achievable, and oh sodelicious.
The Berry Pickers
Regular price $25.99WJB's Book Club Pick for August 2025!
Use code BOOKCLUB to get 20% off at checkout.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER 2023 BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE
WINNER of the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL for EXCELLENCE in FICTION
WINNER Best First Novel, Crime Writers of Canada Award
WINNER Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
FINALIST Amazon First Novel Award
FINALIST for the Atwood-Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
FINALIST Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Fiction
FINALIST Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award
FINALIST OLA Forest of Reading Evergreen Award
Longlisted for the First Nation Communities READ
A four-year-old girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that remains unsolved for nearly fifty years
July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, is seen sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of a field before mysteriously vanishing. Her six-year-old brother, Joe, who was the last person to see Ruthie, is devastated by his sister’s disappearance, and her loss ripples through his life for years to come.
In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as an only child in an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, while her mother is overprotective of Norma, who is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem to be too real to be her imagination. As she grows older, Norma senses there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she pursues her family’s secret for decades.
A stunning debut novel, The Berry Pickers is a riveting story about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.
"The ghosts of lost children haunt generations in this lucid and assured debut." — New Yorker
“A harrowing tale of Indigenous family separation . . . [Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can’t help rooting . . . With The Berry Pickers, Peters takes on the monumental task of giving witness to people who suffered through racist attempts of erasure like her Mi’kmaw ancestors.” — New York Times Book Review
"Peters beautifully explores loss, grief, hope, and the invisible tether that keeps families intact even when they are ripped apart. A quiet and poignant debut from a writer to watch." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A stunning debut about love, race, brutality, and the balm of forgiveness." — People magazine
“A gripping read, a mystery and a moving narrative all in one book.” — A New York Post Best Book of the Year
"Peters skillfully manages to hold the reader’s attention from the first page to the last . . . The Berry Pickers isn’t a mystery, it’s a truth telling by characters you can reach out and touch—characters whose misfortunes, regrets, feelings, and redemption most readers will relate to." — New York Journal of Books
"The Berry Pickers offers an unforgettable exploration of grief, love, and kin." — Boston Globe
"Enthralling . . . Powerfully rendered . . . [A] cogent and heartfelt look at the ineffable pull of family ties." — Publishers Weekly
"The strength of Amanda Peters’s novel lies in its understanding of how trauma spreads through a life and a family, and its depiction of the challenges facing Indigenous people . . . [A] powerful message about truth, forgiveness and healing." — Washington Post
"The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters completely broke my heart because it highlights how a moment, a decision by one person can change the course of another person’s life. It has this deep complexity surrounding a well-intentioned woman who acted in an irrational way out of desperation and the book is basically about the impact of her choices." — Jen Psaki, Elle
"This book is a heartbreaking tale of family and loss, deathbed regrets and revelations. It's a force as powerful as any of those." — Good Housekeeping
"Amanda Peters delivers an un-put-down-able novel of identity, forgiveness, and insistent hope." — Christian Science Monitor
"This powerful debut novel examines the search for truth in the face of trauma and the enduring nature of family love." — Electric Literature
"Peters' debut combines narrative skill and a poignant story for a wonderful novel to which many readers will gravitate . . . Indigenous stories like this matter." — Booklist
"There is something very special about starting on a debut novel and finding you're in the grip of a precocious talent. Amanda Peters writing is fabulously compelling. Our booksellers love this book, and we are thrilled to name it our 2023 Discover Prize winner." — James Daunt, CEO Barnes & Noble
“Amanda Peters manages to take you home to the East Coast in the very best ways – through family love and personal grief and the precious accounting of minutes and memories. You cannot help but love these characters from the first chapter. They stay with you long after the last page.” — Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves
“The Berry Pickers is an intimate story about the destruction wreaked on a family when their youngest child goes missing. Peters brilliantly crafts a multi-layered tale about how one irrational act creates irrevocable harm that ripples through multiple lives, including the lives of the perpetrators. This is an emotional novel that is beautifully rendered. An amazing read from a talented new voice.” — Michelle Good, bestselling author of Five Little Indians
“A marvelous debut. The Berry Pickers has all the passion of a first book but also the finely developed skill of a well-practiced storyteller. The Berry Pickers is a triumph.” — Katherena Vermette, bestselling author of The Break
“The thing about picking a handful of berries is that each one is different—some are sweet, some sour, some extra juicy. The Berry Pickers is just like a handful of berries. It’s an unassuming novel filled with so much sweet, so much sour, so much juice. Reading this book, I was only ever hungry when it ended.” — Morgan Talty, award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez
“The Berry Pickers is a beautiful novel about family and about the way it makes and breaks and re-makes us again. This is a story of many border crossings, journeying away and coming back, and it contains a cast of characters you will never forget. With this book, Amanda Peters establishes herself as an essential new voice in Canadian Literature.” — Alexander MacLeod, author of Animal Person
"One family’s secret is the source of another family’s pain in this poignant debut that reads like a modern literary classic. Moving, heartbreaking, and hopeful, The Berry Pickers is a powerful tale of haunting regret, bonds that will never be broken, and unrelenting love. Amanda Peters’ skilled storytelling evokes all the sensations of summer in Maine, singing around a fire, and the horror that takes hold when a child goes missing." — Nick Medina, author of Sisters of the Lost Nation
"In 1960s Maine, Joe is troubled by the guilt of being the last person to see his little sister Ruthie before she disappeared. Nearby, Norma grows up to unhappy parents with a lot of secrets. The Berry Pickers is a profound study of the love, grief and betrayals of two families." — ’inews, The best new books to read
“The Berry Pickers is a beautifully written, immersive book with a unique, propulsive structure. Its enduring resonance inspired us to think deeply about the issue of kidnapping and family separation. The three-dimensional characters are well-drawn, revealing flaws that inspire empathy, strong family bonds, and the search for the truth that ties this story together in a deeply satisfying way.... The Berry Pickers is a deeply poignant read that we'd recommend to anyone. It's a wonderful achievement in crime fiction, marking the marvellous debut of an exciting Canadian writer. Bravo!” — Jury, Crime Writers of Canada Awards
The Brink of Something Beautiful
Regular price $24.99For readers of Miriam Toews and Claire Keegan, an immersive and deeply poignant new novel set on the Rock about female friendship and found family
Ruby Nolan is a new widow. Hidden in her grief and guilt for her husband, Joe, is a sense that she is free from a marriage she never wanted. But how can she possibly begin again? An encounter with Maxine, a pregnant teen who reminds Ruby of her own sorry past, and a shocking revelation from her mother, Vera, send Ruby on a collision course with old truths and regrets and on a mission to help Maxine whether she wants it or not. While a friend warns Ruby that you can’t help anyone until you help yourself, it’s a lesson Ruby has to learn the hard way if she’s going to find any real peace.
Set over the course of one winter in 1990s St. John’s and infused with the rich culture and characters of the Rock, The Brink of Something Beautiful is the life-affirming, ultimately hopeful story about how women lift each other up and figure themselves out.
The Capital of Dreams
Regular price $34.99
A breathtaking dark fairy tale of survival and betrayal from the vivid imagination of Heather O’Neill
Fourteen-year-old Sofia Bottom lives in a small country that Europe has forgotten. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and fairies who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. No one, from the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, is as revered as Sofia’s brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can Sofia, with a tin ear and an enduring love of the old myths, ever hope to win her mother’s love?
When the country’s greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, at last Clara turns to her daughter. Sofia must smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, and Sofia runs for her life, losing her mother’s most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and survival.
In this stunning dark fairy tale of a novel, Heather O’Neill reveals once again her mastery of language that is as delicious as cake and as serious as a gunshot.
"The Capital of Dreams is not so much a novel to read but one to live (and dream) in. A dark, wistfully comic fable that's as imaginative as it is poignant. An entire world that only Heather O'Neill could create." — Iain Reid, bestselling author of Foe and We Spread
"The Capital of Dreams is a feminist adventure with all of the darkness of a war novel, the charm of a fairy tale, and the heart of a coming-of-age story. O’Neill’s crystal-clear, aphoristic prose reveals complex themes about freedom, desire, and destiny. I underlined passages with one hand and turned pages with the other, rapt right through the stunning final twist." — Maria Adelmann, author of How to Be Eaten
“Uncommonly poetic, nuanced and insightful, The Capital of Dreams is a masterpiece of the tangled threads and beating hearts that make us both ordinarily human and extraordinarily magical. I wish every girl could replace her mirror with pages of O’Neill’s work, to see herself as a fierce and lusty creature well-placed to weave new worlds. The Capital of Dreams will make you grateful you wandered up a dark path and tumbled down a rabbit hole.” — Cherie Dimaline, author of VenCo and Empire of Wild
The Circle Of Love
Regular price $24.99Everyone 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.
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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.
The Cree Word for Love
Regular price $34.99Bestselling author of Birdie, Tracey Lindberg, and renowned artist George Littlechild join together in a stunning collaboration of story and art to explore love in all its forms—romantic, familial, community and kin—in the Cree experience
In The Cree Word for Love, author Tracey Lindberg and artist George Littlechild consider a teaching from an Elder that in their culture, the notion of love as constructed in Western society does not exist. Here, through original fiction and select iconic paintings, Lindberg and Littlechild respond.
Together they have created and curated this collaboration which travels, season by season, mirroring the four rounds in ceremony, through the themes of the love within a family, ties of kinship, desire for romantic love and connection, strength in the face of loss and violence, and importance of self-love, as well as, crucially, a deeper exploration of the meaning of “all my relations.”
Together, art and story inspire and move readers to recall our responsibilities to our human and more than human relations, to think about the obligation that is love, and to imagine what it could possibly mean to have no Cree word for love. The result is a powerful story about where we find connection, strength, and the many forms of what it means to live lovingly.
The Fabulous Zed Watson
Regular price $21.99FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE OLA SILVER BIRCH AWARD
The literary scavenger hunt of a lifetime, starring an endlessly endearing non-binary tween
Zed Watson loves a few things: their name (which they chose themself!), their big rambunctious family, and—oh yeah—monsters. When Zed discovered the mystery surrounding an unpublished novel called The Monster’s Castle, they were completely hooked. Now Zed is a member of a small but dedicated legion devoted to finding the long-buried text.
When a breakthrough discovery leads Zed to the route that they are sure will take them to the treasure, they know it’s time for a road trip. And with the help of their shy, flora-loving neighbour, Gabe, and his sister, Sam, a geologist who is driving back to college in Arizona, Zed and company are soon off on a wild adventure following cryptic clues.
But it’s not all fun and games. Gabe doesn’t like Zed’s snacks, Sam is a bossy driver with total command of the ancient Impreza’s stereo, and Zed is often misgendered. It’s a good thing they also encounter kind strangers, potato-themed dance-offs and lots and lots of ice cream along the way. If Zed and Gabe can combine their strengths, survive Sam’s wrath and best the greedy historian who’s also hot on the book’s trail, they just might find the greatest treasure of all.
Co-authored by child-parent duo Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester, this is a vibrant and enormous-hearted story about friendship, identity and belonging. It features illustrations by celebrated author and illustrator Kevin Sylvester, and an Own Voices perspective based on Basil’s experience.
The Golden Boy
Regular price $24.99An extraordinary and deeply satisfying story about love, betrayal, mercy, and second chances—for readers of Elizabeth Strout and Ann Napolitano
When Stafford Hopkins loses his high-profile job in network television, his American colleagues rejoice. Canadian-born, his disdain for the industry has outrun his success, and few mourn his departure. His mercurial American wife in tow, he retreats to their luxury estate on Maui where he does what he has always done best―he rewrites the past. But a year into their exile, Stafford’s defenses are crumbling, and when a letter arrives with a request from the dead to do something for the living, he is summoned home to a farm, a lake, a prison, and a dance hall where the spirit of a boy named Bobby Shepherd is waiting for him.
“Patricia Finn has constructed something miraculous—an immersive, profoundly moving story about friendship, marriage, betrayal, and redemption that spans across generations and oceans. She writes with a philosopher’s deep wisdom, and a screenwriter’s talent for satisfyingly messy characters and wholly gripping plots. Combine all of that with the fact that The Golden Boy is also very, very funny, and what you’ve got is a novel that’s about as perfect as they come.” —Grant Ginder, author of The People We Hate at the Wedding
The Ice Chips and the Invisible Puck
Regular price $9.99The third title in the beloved and bestselling Ice Chips series by acclaimed authors Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor and illustrator Kim Smith, featuring a vibrant and diverse cast of characters and inspiring hockey greats
Would you play on a team with your worst enemy?
Lucas Finnigan and his friends on the Riverton Ice Chips know a thing or two about time travel—at least, they’ve been learning. The magical flooding of their beloved hometown rink has already whisked Lucas, Edge and Swift into the past to meet Gordie Howe and Sidney Crosby when those hockey greats were just kids. That’s how they learned about the roots of the game, and about how far practice can take them . . . but this time?
When goalie Swift is invited onto an all-girls hockey team but refuses to join forces with Chips’ rival Beatrice Blitz, Lucas decides that their only option—even as Swift’s sister, Sadie, guesses their secret—is to leap through time once again.
Pretty soon Lucas, Swift and Sadie find themselves smack in the middle of the Calgary Olympics. A determined young hockey player known as Chicken is in desperate need of new teammates to compete in an Olympic-style match. But do the Chips have what it takes to help Chicken’s team get back in the game and win? And will winning be enough to change Swift’s mind about the new team back home? With a clever lesson from their new friend—who’ll go on to become one of Canada’s best-loved Olympic hockey players—anything is possible.
The Ice Chips and the Stolen Cup
Regular price $9.99
The Ice Chips have time travel down to a science . . . almost. After Ekamjeet “Edge” Singh misses out on their most recent adventure, he convinces his teammates to take another leap through time. But when their magic goes haywire, a hero from the past finds her way onto the Chips’ hometown rink—and leaves behind a very important trophy!
It’s up to the Ice Chips to return the famous award to its rightful home, before all of hockey history changes forever. It won’t be easy, but if they can get the cup back where it belongs, they might just have the chance to win it for themselves.
The fourth title in the beloved and bestselling Ice Chips series, by acclaimed authors Roy MacGregor and Kerry MacGregor and illustrator Kim Smith, features a vibrant and diverse cast of characters and inspiring hockey greats.
The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances
Regular price $23.99In a near future where even the smallest of appliances are sentient, a robotic vacuum sets out to save the humans of her house from a rising technological power
In a self-running, smart house, a young and sentient robotic vacuum listens as her owner, Harold, reads aloud to his dying wife, Edie. Mesmerized by To Kill a Mockingbird and craving the human connection she hears in Harold’s stories, the little vacuum renames herself Scout and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
But when Edie passes away, Scout and her fellow sentient appliances discover that there are sinister forces in their midst. The omnipresent Grid monitors every household in the City, and it seeks to remove Harold from his home, where he’s lived for fifty years.
With the help of Adrian, a neighbourhood boy, as well as Kate, Harold’s formerly estranged daughter, the humans and the appliances must come together to outwit the all-controlling Grid lest they risk losing everything they hold dear.
For fans of Remarkably Bright Creatures, The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances is a compelling, touching, and highly original novel that will make you care deeply about a vacuum.
The Long Game
Regular price $23.99THE SERIES THAT INSPIRED HEATED RIVALRY • NOW A #1 STREAMING SHOW
Enter the world of Game Changers, the series behind the epic enemies-to-lovers hockey romance Heated Rivalry, streaming on Crave in Canada and on HBO Max in the U.S.
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Rachel Reid brings you exactly what you want—more Shane and Ilya!
To the world they are rivals, but to each other they are everything.
Ten years.
That’s how long Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov have been seeing each other. How long they’ve been keeping their relationship a secret. From friends, from family…from the league. If Shane wants to stay at the top of his game, what he and Ilya share has to remain secret. He loves Ilya, but what if going public ruins everything?
Ilya is sick of secrets. Shane has gotten so good at hiding his feelings, sometimes Ilya questions if they even exist. The closeness, the intimacy, even the risk that would come with being open about their relationship…Ilya wants it all.
It’s time for them to decide what’s most important—hockey or love.
It’s time to make a call.
Game Changers
The Original Six Hockey Trivia Book
Regular price $19.95
The Paris Express
Regular price $23.99#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER
From the author of Room, The Wonder, and The Pull of the Stars comes a taut and suspenseful historical novel that reimagines an 1895 French railway disaster, an event famously documented in dramatic photographs
The Paris Express is set over a single day, as the morning train travels from the Normandy coast to the capital. Men, women, and children from all over the world take their seats in the passenger cars, which are divided by wealth and status. Among the passengers is an anarchist intent on destruction, a young boy travelling alone, a pregnant woman fleeing her home village for the anonymity of the big city, a medical student who suspects a girl may have a fatal disease, and the railway crew, devoted to the train, to the company, and to each other.
Based on an 1895 catastrophe that was captured in a series of surreal photographs, The Paris Express is a thrilling ride and a literary masterpiece full of the politics, fears, and chaos of an era not unlike our own.
“Donoghue's talents are at such glorious heights in this novel, the reader feels as though they are on the titular train, bustling next to strangers, staring out the window, and hurtling towards Paris. And it's near impossible to put the book down until it reaches its final destination. Donoghue beautifully crafts a world that captures the vitality and smells and sights of Victorian France, while investigating the different classes who inhabited the same spaces, but lived worlds apart....Donoghue's train is a microcosm of Paris of the times, ready to explode.” — Heather O’Neill, author of The Capital of Dreams
“Captivating! Emma Donoghue writes in rich, luxuriant detail, yet the story moves at a exhilarating clip. The Paris Express brings big questions about human interconnectedness into an edge-of-your-seat historical thriller that I couldn’t put down.”— — Shelby Van Pelt, author of Remarkably Bright Creatures
"Clever, ambitious, and richly researched. A slice of 1890s Paris that makes us see that our modern problems aren’t so modern after all! The Paris Express is a smartly structured novel that ratchets up the pace until it's hurtling along as fast as the doomed train itself." — Alice Winn, author of In Memoriam
“Donoghue establishes an intricate web of human relationships as the narrative speeds toward an unexpected yet plausible finale….Readers ought to jump on board.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A tension-filled panorama of fin-de-siècle French society.” — New York Times
The Shots You Take
Regular price $23.99The Theory Of Crows
Regular price $24.99A poignant and evocative novel about the bonds of family and the gifts offered by the land
When a troubled father and his estranged teenage daughter head out onto the land in search of the family trapline, they find their way back to themselves, and to each other
Deep in the night, Matthew paces the house, unable to rest. Though his sixteen-year-old daughter, Holly, lies sleeping on the other side of the bedroom door, she is light years away from him. How can he bridge the gap between them when he can’t shake the emptiness he feels inside? Holly knows her father is drifting further from her; what she doesn’t understand is why. Could it be her fault that he seems intent on throwing everything away, including their relationship?
Following a devastating tragedy, Matthew and Holly head out onto the land in search of a long-lost cabin on the family trapline, miles from the Cree community they once called home. But each of them is searching for something more than a place. Matthew hopes to reconnect with the father he has just lost; Holly goes with him because she knows the father she is afraid of losing won’t be able to walk away.
When things go wrong during the journey, they find they have only each other to turn to for support. What happens to father and daughter on the land will test them, and eventually heal them, in ways they never thought possible.
Time to Shine
Regular price $23.99Tough Guy
Regular price $23.99THE SERIES THAT INSPIRED HEATED RIVALRY • NOW A #1 STREAMING SHOW
Enter the world of Game Changers, the series behind the epic enemies-to-lovers hockey romance Heated Rivalry, streaming on Crave in Canada and on HBO Max in the U.S.
Opposites attract when a hockey enforcer and a musician collide for the second time, by New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Rachel Reid.
Pro hockey star Ryan Price may be an enforcer, but off the ice he struggles with anxiety. Recently traded to Toronto, he’s determined to make a fresh start in the city’s dynamic LGBTQ+ Village. The last thing he expects to find in his new neighborhood is a blast from his past in the fabulous form of Fabian Salah.
Aspiring musician Fabian loathes hockey. But that doesn’t stop him from being attracted to a certain burly ginger-bearded defenseman. He hasn’t forgotten the kiss they almost shared back in high school, and the chemistry between them has only intensified.
Fabian is more than happy to be Ryan’s guide to the gay scene in Toronto. Between dance clubs and art exhibits—and the most amazing sex—Ryan’s feeling something he hasn’t experienced in a long time: joy. But playing the role of the heavy on the ice has taken its toll on his body and mind, and a future with Fabian may mean hanging up his skates for good.
Game Changers
