Preview: Jeanne's Road

It is 1933. A journalist travels to the small mining town of Rouyn in northern Quebec — a community that has become a refuge for Russians, Finns, Ukrainians, Chinese, and Jews. While there, he crosses paths with famed Canadian Marxist Jeanne Corbin, who has come to rally a group of striking workers, and sees his life forever changed. Jeanne’s Road is an essential read, bringing to life a lost era of Quebec history through its powerful yet unsentimental love story.

Read the preview here

Preview: Hooked on Canadian Books - The Good, the Better, and the Best Canadian Novels Since 1984

Having been a contributing reviewer for The Globe and Mail for more than twenty years, T.F. Rigelhof knows good literature. This conversational survey of the novels published since 1984 presents his readings of well-known Canadian writers while bringing the work of newer and lesser-known voices to more deserving attention.

Read the introduction

Preview: The Queen of Unforgetting

For a postgrad study, Mel takes a job at the newly reconstructed historical site at Sainte-Marie-among-the-Hurons, where Jean de Brébeuf and seven other missionaries met their tragic ends. But when an obsessed admirer threatens to destroy her academic career, Mel soon learns that delving into Ontario history is no escape from her own past.

Read a preview excerpt

Preview: Such a Good Education

Tracing the formative years of a teenaged girl in 1950s Montréal,Such a Good Education is a scathing critique of traditional values, exposing the ignorance and poverty that troubled many French-Canadian families during the mid-twentieth century.

Read the online preview

Valentine's Fall trailer feat. The Foggy Hogtown Boys

The above trailer for Cary Fagan's fantastic upcoming novel Valentine's Fall presents a bit of a milestone for us. It's the first (of hopefully many) trailers featuring music by awesome local artists who deserve as much of the spotlight as they can get.

The soundtrack for this video is 'Gladstone Hornpipe', off of the 2007 album Pigtown Fling by Toronto underground bluegrass legends The Foggy Hogtown Boys.

For more on the Foggys, as well as to listen to sample tracks (my personal favourite is 'Paul David' from Pigtown Fling), visit their website at www.foggyhogtownboys.com.

And don't forget to check out this awesome article on Valentine's Fall at mandolincafe.com, a great web resource for all things mandolin-related.

Preview: Because I Have Loved and Hidden It by Elise Moser

Thirsting for love, for sex, for connection, Julia grasps at
threads of those who have left her behind. She grapples with
the mystery of a family secret, as well as the absence of her
lover, and a second passionate affair that takes her by surprise.
Because I Have Loved and Hidden It asks where we fit
in others' lives, and where we fall through the cracks.

Read the online preview

Preview: The Honey Locust by Jeffrey Round

War may scar the globe, but home will break your heart.

Globe-trotting photojournalist Angela Thomas is sent to cover the civil war in Bosnia. While there, she makes unexpected attachments that open her eyes and cast her old life and old problems in a completely different light.

Read the online preview
Visit Jeffrey Round's website

Because I Have Loved and Hidden It trailer

Previews are great!

Dear Summer,

I just want you to know, first off, that I do love you. However, I think there are a couple of things we need to talk about.

There's this thing called 'punctuality'. I was hoping you'd heard of it, but I guess they don't teach good manners at season school. See, it's not such a big deal if you show up a little late. We understand. You're in a very difficult situation, what with global warming mucking up your schedule and all. But still, it would be nice if you stop in for your fully allotted time, and not just for brief visits.

Speaking of which: the whole 'not-staying-long-enough-for-morning-coffee' act is getting a little old. I may not be as exotic as my cousin Sydney or as slick as my friend Miami, but I have my qualities and I think I deserve a bit of respect. That's all.

I miss you, I really do. And I hope to see you soon.

Love,
Toronto

***

So we've got a couple of sneak peeks for you today.


First off is the preview for Cary Fagan's Valentine's Fall: a wicked awesome novel about, in brief, how leaving high school doesn't guarantee that high school will leave you. Check it out!


Next - and I'm breaking the news here first - we've got an online catalogue coming out for our Fall list. Excited? You better be. Here's a look at the cover:


The image is a photograph from our upcoming book City of Words - and believe me when I say there are even more breathtaking shots featured inside. It's a must-have for any fan of photography AND literature.

Preview: Walking On Water

Walking On Water
by Jeffrey Round

This latest short story collection from award-winning author Jancis M. Andrews searches for the intimate moments of life that reveal the fantastic amongst the mundane. Andrews explores the jutting coasts and heaving mountains of British Columbia, crawls through the communities of poor Vancouverites, and brings to life characters fully imagined with tender care and aplomb. In each story, characters face a turning point in which they are forced to succumb to the suffocating crush, or rise above and walk away.

Read the preview!

Preview: Death In Key West

Death in Key West
by Jeffrey Round

Bradford Fairfax, special agent, has a romantic New Year’s Eve in store for his boyfriend Zach: a stay at a luxury resort in Key West. But their plans are turned upside down when the pair run into an improbable "heiress" to one of the world’s great fortunes — someone who is desperate to convince anyone that his father wants him dead. But how much of a grasp on reality can a drug-abusing mega-wealthy man who thinks he’s Maria Callas really have? And who or what is this mysterious "Baby" that he pines for? Does the transvestite ghost, Rosie, hold the answers to these and other troubling questions? Join Brad and his sidekick Zach for this second instalment in the Bradford Fairfax mystery series, a madcap and raunchy romp through the original gay Shangri-La.

Read the preview!

Online Previews

In addition to posting downloadable files for those who want to check out first chapter samples of our books, we've now also put up online browser-based previews for anyone who doesn't like to deal with PDFs.

Check them out!

Underground Trailer

In stores soon:

Underground

Preview: Underground

Underground
by June Hutton

Sixteen-year-old Albert Fraser believes that serving in the First World War will make him a man; but after a shell blast buries him alive in a trench, he instead finds himself withouat a sense of self or purpose. Spending the next few years on the roads and rails, taking whatever jobs he can, Albert seems destined to be a constant wanderer, until an exhibition of Picasso's Guernica shows him where his life went wrong, and what he must do to set it right.

A tribute to the outsider, to the underdog, to those who endure and those who long for something more, June Hutton's stunning debut reminds us that every road has a destination - but only for those with the strength to follow it to the end.

Read the preview!

Watch the trailer!

Preview: Oonagh

Oonagh
by Mary Tilberg

In 1831, eighteen-year-old Oonagh Corcoran emigrates with her sister from southern Ireland to Upper Canada. In the deep folds of cool, green forest off the vast inland sea of Lake Ontario, she believes she has found paradise — only to discover that the New World harbours its own horrible injustices when she meets a fugitive slave from Virginia named Chauncey Taylor. Love grows between them as Chauncey slowly reveals his terrible past to Oonagh, reliving the pain and tragedy he and his family suffered as slaves. The two find that even in their small, accepting community, there are certain lines that can never be crossed.

Based on historical research, Oonagh is both a powerful love story and a gripping tale that reaches deep into the secret heart of our nation’s past.

Read the preview!

Preview: The Heart Specialist

The Heart Specialist
by Claire Holden Rothman

As a young girl living at the end of the nineteenth century, Agnes White is drawn to the “wrong” things. Growing up, she finds herself fascinated by microscopes, dissections, and anatomy — hobbies that deem her unladylike. Yet despite the criticism of those around her, and the obstacles set in place preventing women from assuming traditional male roles, Agnes chooses to
pursue her calling to become a doctor, even if it means taking on the illustrious medical establishment at McGill University.

Inspired by the life of Maude Abbott.

Read the preview!

Preview: One Careless Moment, Terracide

Good Monday to you all. Today we present PDF previews of a couple of books due in stores this month:

One Careless Moment
by Dave Hugelschaffer

The second installment in the Porter Cassel Mystery series, One Careless Moment is the thrilling tale of a forest firefighter caught in the deadly politics of a small Montana town. A gripping mix of action-adventure, procedural mystery, and a detailed look into the lives of the brave few who defend the forest.

Written by Dave Hugelschaffer, who knows a thing or two about fighting forest fires.

Read the preview!
Read the Globe and Mail online review!






Terracide
by Hubert Reeves

One of the top astrophysicists in the world, Montreal-born Hubert Reeves has turned his attention from the stars back down to Earth - and what he finds alarms him. First published in 2003 (before An Inconvenient Truth) and drawing from the latest scientific data, Reeves comes to the conclusion that we are in the process of making our planet uninhabitable, and discusses solutions that must be implemented before it's too late.

Read the preview!









For more PDF previews, check out our downloads page.

Coming soon: The preview of The Heart Specialist