Is This A Cry For Help? – Emily Austin

   Full disclosure: this book is a tribute to libraries and librarians! Darcy is a 32-year-old librarian who is recovering from a sick leave precipitated by the death of a former partner. So part of the story is a professional analysis of her insecurities and her need to please others. And there are important library challenges to principles of intellectual freedom and inclusivity due to censorship demands. So, a book that deals with important contemporary issues.

PS: Emily Austin also wrote Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead

The Cure For Drowning – Loghan Paylor

   This book is the well-deserved winner of the 2026 Canada Reads competition, championed by the formidable and eloquent Tegan Quin.  This is brilliant historical fiction: small town Ontario in 1939 and then WWII in Halifax and Europe. There are two principal characters: the non-binary Catherine/Kit/Christopher and Rebekah. These vivid individuals are grappling with identity and belonging, so different perspectives on life are featured. And there is some magic realism, aka folklore: highly recommended.

A Far-Flung Life – M. L. Stedman

   Simply put, this is a very fine book. First, there is the context. Place – Western Australia, with an outstanding description of the physical geography of a one million acre sheep station that accommodates 20,000 sheep. There is profound isolation, heat and insects, and the terrifying consequence of a cyclone. Time – principally 1958-59 and a decade later. And second, there is a compelling human element. What is the human cost of multiple tragedies? How do “survivors” cope with paralyzing grief and guilt? What about self-forgiveness? This is an epic novel that has breathtaking scope. Thanks to Catherine for this recommendation.

   PS: Ms. Stedman previously wrote the acclaimed The Light Between The Oceans.

Foe – Iain Reid

   This is a fascinating book, set in an unknown place in a somewhat future time. Junior and Hen(rietta) are married and living a quiet life on a farm. A stranger arrives with surprising news: Junior has been “selected” in a lottery to travel to a space station. What does this mean to their married relationship? Can a biomechanical replica replace Junior? The story creates unease, a really creepy feeling. At its core, this story is about relationships, with shifts in the balance of power creating compelling reading. Highly recommended.

Wild Life – Amanda Leduc

   Ms. Leduc, the author of the brilliant The Centaur’s Wife, has created an imaginative fable, a fairy tale that explores the boundary between humans and animals. There are talking hyenas, the feral disciples. There are pilgrims, a maybe prophet, and a “religion”. Importantly, there is an animal reawakening, an acquisition of language and consciousness. This is an epic tale from 1908-2041 that is both surprising and exhilarating: what is human, what is wild?

The Inheritance Of Loss – Kiran Desai

   This book, published in 2006, deservedly won the Man Booker Prize. The setting is India in the late 1980s, a town in the north-eastern Himalayas. The main characters: a retired cantankerous old judge and his orphaned grand-daughter, and the cook with his undocumented son struggling to survive in New York. And there are many other vivid characters.  The complexity and intensity of India is illustrated graphically, like perfect details of the sounds and smells of monsoon rains. And there is the chaos of a Nepali insurgency with excruciating civil unrest. Simply put, this is tour-de-force writing and a joy to read.

The Burning Library – Gilly MacMillan

   Reading this book produced vivid memories of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, except women take centre stage. Two rival organizations of women, The Fellowship of the Larks and the Order of St. Katherine, are in a bloodthirsty race to recover an ancient medieval manuscript. And there are puzzles and a protagonist with an eidetic memory, and settings that include Scotland, England and finally Verona. Ruthless ambition and obsessions include murder, so entirely entertaining.

The Hunger We Pass Down – Jen Sookfung Lee

Simply put, this is a seriously spooky book about trauma that spans five generations of Asian women, from Gigi, a comfort woman in Hong Kong during World Warr II, to Alice and her daughter Luna in contemporary Vancouver. Can terrifying physical abuse and anger create vengeful ghosts? How can unspoken legacies of violence shape a family? Moments of love and kindness are contrasted with evil and cruelty. Ms. Lee’s story progresses to a truly terrifying end – highly recommended.

The Game – Ken Dryden

Full disclosure – this is a book about hockey. But in my defense, this extraordinary book is widely considered to be the greatest hockey book ever written. For context, Dryden was the goaltender for the Montréal Canadiens during their epic success in the 1970s. Specifically, he writes about 1979 and the performance of the team and himself. Importantly, Dryden is a thoughtful and articulate observer. Has the team been spoiled by success, and is the team in decline? Dryden has also decided to retire after his 9th season: why? He describes ball hockey as a child, and offers cogent observations on his teammates. This is a great book about people and performance, aspects of image and reputation, and even superstition.