Freehand: 32 books

Halifax, 1917. Clare Holmes, a flaw checker at the local glassworks, is saving up for passage to England, to work for the Red Cross and be near her fiancé, Leo, who is fighting in France. But one normal Thursday morning, a deadly explosion in the Halifax harbour shatters the city—and Clare is caught...

After Morgan Wells's wife leaves him, a postcard from France arrives. It is addressed to a Morgan Wellsbut not the Morgan Wells who receives it. Desperate to be led out of his despair, Morgan decides to read the postcard as a sign and embark upon a surreal journey to find, observe, and meet the other...

It is 1993 on Vancouver Island. A group of idealistic environmental activists, convinced their peaceful protests have been in vain, turn to sabotage. But in a single night everything they’ve worked for goes terribly wrong: a security guard arrives just as the group sets off an explosion at a logging...

paulo da costa's stories get under your skin, bruise your consciousness with their exploration of the forces that hold us together, not always benignly, and those that pull us apart. A hunter and cougar ponder the positions of predator and prey under the dense canopy of a West Coast forest. A nine-year-old...

Jesse Patrick Ferguson brings music and poetry into conversation with each other in this compelling debut collection. Modeled on the fundamental tones and overtones of the harmonic series, poems in Ferguson's arrangement riff on one another, and words, phrases and images resonate sympathetically,...

Tom Brackett has created the perfect world for himself: he has a good job, a perpetually supportive wife, two kids, a mini-van, and even a golden retriever. But then, his mental instability causes him to commit a terrifying act of violence. Tom’s story, which is at once tragic and hopeful, shows...

A poverty-stricken, nineteenth-century guitar virtuoso navigates the tricky political landscape of Parisian society as he comes out of retirement for one final concert. A sessional instructor competing for the prestigious Interdisciplinary Chair in Aretha Franklin studies gets sidetracked by her obsession...

One Friday, Vancouver lawyer Paul Brenner has dinner with his son, Daniel. They talk about work, health, money, and music, and part ways. The following evening, Paul receives the phone call that is every parents worst nightmare: Daniel has been killed in Stanley Park. Hold Me Now is an unflinching...

Yasmin Ladha's experimental and provocative novel weaves story, essay, and poem together in an exquisite exploration of the ways in which one can love a country. Ladha playfully flirts with the idea of home in two geographically distinct sections. The first section follows an unnamed narrator of Indian...

Meet Roslyn, the plucky divorcée eager for new beginnings. Meet Duncan, the British conman with a penchant for collecting ex-wives. Meet Floyd, the lovable, foul-mouthed contractor who can fix anyone's house except his own. Each drags behind a mess of family and friends, each desperately trying to...

Mother Superior introduces Saleema Nawaz as a truly bold new voice in fiction. Gorgeous, sensuous prose and edgy, taboo-breaking subject matter combine to create a collection quite unlike anything else being published today. A prostitute takes shelter with a group of young anarchists. A sister goes...

Following a dramatic break-up with his long-suffering wife, Jack Vesoovian retreats to a Hamilton rooming house, where he impulsively decides to take to the road to track down his life-long colleague, Petronius Totem. Petronius Totem has disappeared following the unlikely success of his memoir, Ten...

Rutledge, an aging, divorced man, has treated himself to a Cruise on the Mariola. The Cruise is not just any cruise. It's the whole shebang. It's around the world. It's a lifestyle change: G & Ts and tuxedos and cigars and cognac galore. The service is top-rate. And Rutledge's steward, Raoul,...

Avery Gauthier can’t get far enough away from her past: the death of her beloved father, the abuse she suffered as a teen, and the religion that tore her parents apart. A reality-refugee, she’s managed to keep the chaos of her former life at bay … until now. When her husband returns to the Jehovah’s...