When the Saints, by Sara Mian
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins
What It's About
Is it possible to redeem a family name that has been spoken as a curse word for generations?
A decade after being cast off to live with strangers, Tabby Saint returns to Solace River, Nova Scotia, to find her childhood home deserted. She quickly latches on to the lonely tavern-keeper, West, who informs her that her family was run out of town. Tabby heads out to nearby Jubilant to find the fragments of her family: her addict sister, Poppy, and her two young kids; her brothers, Bird and Jackie, one crippled by a vicious attack and the other holding a dangerous grudge against the men responsible; a threadbare version of the bulletproof mother she remembers; and an ailing father, a man so vile he is unworthy of forgiveness even on his deathbed. Irreverent and mouthy as they ever were, the Saints are still a lightning rod for trouble. When a new storm arises, Tabby must choose whether to stay or run back the way she came.
Original, gut-wrenching and incessantly hilarious, When the Saints is the story of a family of outsiders whose redemption might be found in what they longed to escape: each other.
What People Say
"It’s easy to imagine Wes Anderson or the Coen brothers adapting this beguiling novel."—Quill & Quire
"Mian’s debut novel, When the Saints, is the kind of gem that makes other writers wish their name was on the cover."—Toronto Star
**
The Afterlife of Birds, by Elizabeth Philips
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Freehand Books
What It's About
Finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award
A gorgeous, deeply felt debut novel about obsession, loneliness, and the surprising ways we find to connect with each other.
Henry Jett's life is slowly going nowhere. His girlfriend recently left, and his job in a local garage is uninspiring, considering that he doesn't particularly like cars. Henry finds solace in his eccentric passion, rebuilding the skeletons of birds and animals. Meanwhile Henry's brother, Dan, is disappearing into an obsession of his own.
Without Dan to rely on, Henry begins to engage in new ways with the people around him in his Prairie city: the 80-year-old Russian émigré who delights in telling stories; the very pregnant former employee of his mother's; the lawyer who may or may not be his brother's ex-girlfriend. Gradually they demand that Henry become a participant in his own story, and Henry must forge his own way of living in the world.
In The Afterlife of Birds, award-winning poet Elizabeth Philips draws together unforgettable characters who subtly, powerfully demonstrate the beauty of ordinary lives and finding our place in the world.
What People Say
"Philips' novel is a gift, her prose flawless, her characters endlessly engaging; the book itself offering us a new voice in fiction, one we should listen to with all our hearts."— Patrick Lane, author of Red Dog, Red Dog
“Liz Philips has accomplished the most difficult thing in literature. She has written an original love story."—Fred Stenson, author of Who By Fire
**
Late Breaking, by K.D Miller
Genre: Short stories
Publisher: Biblioasis
What It's About
Inspired by the work of Alex Colville, the linked stories form a suite of portraits that evoke the paintings’ looming atmospheres and uncanny stillness while travelling deeply into their subjects’ vividly imagined lives. Throughout, the collection bears witness to the vulnerability of the elder heart, revealing that love, sex, and heartbreak are not only the domain of the young, and deftly rendering the conflicts that divide us and the ties that bind. Husbands and wives struggle to communicate, romantic relationships flare and falter, parents and children navigate their complicated feelings, and older women struggle with diminishing status in a youth-obsessed culture while the threat of violence haunts young women and girls. Yet as the stories intersect and the characters’ lives are increasingly entwined, fear, guilt, estrangement, and the fact of death are met by courage, redemption and the fragile beauty of love, in all its myriad guises. Brilliantly observed, both tender and tortured, and in no way afraid of the dark, these stories confirm K.D. Miller as one of our best and bravest writers.
Accolades
FINALIST FOR THE 2019 GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY AWARD
NOMINATED FOR THE 2019 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 TRILLIUM BOOK AWARD
NOMINATED FOR THE TORONTO BOOK AWARD
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2018
A QUILL & QUIRE BEST BOOK OF 2018
A 49TH SHELF EDITORS' PICK
**
Tarry This Night, by Kristyn Dunnion
Genre: Dystopian fiction
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
What It's About
In this eerily relevant, cautionary novel, a civil war is brewing in America. Below ground, a cult led by the deluded and narcissistic Father Ernst is ensconced in an underground bunker, waiting out the conflict. When the "Family" runs out of food, Ruth, coming of age and terrified of serving as Ernst's next wife, must choose between obeying her faith and fighting for survival. Cousin Paul, sent topside to scavenge for food, may return with proof that it is safe for the Family to ascend again. But is it enough to invest all hope in Paul's unlikely return?
In this unsettling modern take on the Lilith tale, spirited women resist their violent, racist culture and, in so doing, become outlaws. Family members navigate a secretive and deadly arena where faith eschews autonomy and righteousness precludes mercy. With an unwavering eye, Tarry This Night dares to imagine the unthinkable that is present-day America, offering a place for resistance and hope for a new and better world.
What People Say
"A beautiful tale of female resistance ... Tarry This Night is exactly the kind of story we need to remember what it means to endure despite the most dire circumstances."—THIS Magazine
A "Immediate and terrifying, Dunnion's fresh new narrative adds to the growing conversation about misogyny and freedom. A surefire hit for fans of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale."—Booklist
**
The Sweetest One, by Melanie Mah
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Cormorant Books
What It's About
Winner, Trillium Book Award
Cosmopolitan and curious seventeen-year-old Chrysler Wong suffers from a debilitating fear brought on by belief in a family curse. Three of her siblings have died after turning eighteen and venturing beyond the borders of their tiny rural Alberta town, and the fourth, her favourite, has recently left and is incommunicado. Is she destined to share their fate—or worse, doomed to live a circumscribed life?
What People Say
"With lines and imagery that are as unique as they are beautiful, Melanie Mah has crafted a story of an under-told Canadian experience with deft, humour and so much grit. The Sweetest One introduces us to the Wongs, a tragic Chinese-Canadian family in small town Alberta layered with isolation, anxiety, language and loss. Each member, even as they become absent, is a presence so huge you cannot help but love them. Mah’s work is exciting and exacting and precisely what was missing from CanLit.”—Trillium Book Award Jury Citation