The title of her second novel might well have been a discarded option for her debut; Riel Nason is back in familiar territory: the intersection between memory and identity, the line between mysticism and madness, and sibling bonds in a coming-of-age tale. Goose Lane, 2016 Now it is 1977
Nothing really happens. Here, the "main event is simply a view of the water". So Ruby's story should not be a page-turner. But, in fact, The Town that Drowned is a coming-of-age story with a curious momentum. No single element is responsible: character and voice, setting and structure, all work
"The past presses so hard on the present, the present is badly bruised, blood brims under the skin." These lines from Brenda Shaughnessy's poem “Nachträglichkeit”* fit beautifully with Darren Greer's new novel, Advocate: Not only because much of Advocate is preoccupied with memory, with what the characters carry with them
Only ten this year, so far. Without my Alice Munro project to steer me, I am not reading as many short story collections now. Over the summer, I read Cherie Dimaline's A Gentle Habit (2015) as part of All Lit Up's summer bookclub. Dimaline is a member of the Georgian
Sun-Mi Hwang's The Hen Who Believed She Could Fly was a runaway bestseller for its Korean author, who had previously published more than 50 books and was surprised to find her work such a phenomenon, not only in Korea but beyond. Abacus - Hachette, 2016 The Dog Who Dared
