Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2007)

2021-02-01T10:55:31-05:00

Last summer, walking in Little Jamaica in Toronto, I picked up a copy of a community newspaper with a cover image of protesters overseas burning the cover of Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes. HarperCollins, 2007 Book burning: it's a headline-grab alright. It certainly captured this reader's attention.

Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (2007)2021-02-01T10:55:31-05:00

The Handmaid’s Tale (1986)

2014-07-11T16:28:48-04:00

Houghton Mifflin, 1986 "I want everything back, the way it was. But there is no point to it, this wanting." So says the narrator, whom we know as Offred. But that's not her real name. And it doesn't feel to her that this is her real life, what

The Handmaid’s Tale (1986)2014-07-11T16:28:48-04:00

Lemon-Sweet: Half-Blood Blues

2020-05-21T15:55:57-04:00

I spent a ridiculous amount of time touching this cover (and wishing the hole in the centre was actually cut) Esi Edugyan's Half-Blood Blues Thomas Allen Publishers, 2011  In the opening pages of Esi Edugyan’s second novel, readers meet Heiro, Chip, Delilah and Sid, and are immersed in

Lemon-Sweet: Half-Blood Blues2020-05-21T15:55:57-04:00

George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls (1990)

2014-03-13T21:01:24-04:00

George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls (1990) Raincoast Books - Polestar, 2000 George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls tells the story of a group of Afro-Canadians on the south shore of Nova Scotia. Readers can gather that from a quick glance at the book’s front and back covers. But what readers won’t

George Elliott Clarke’s Whylah Falls (1990)2014-03-13T21:01:24-04:00

Thomas Wharton’s Icefields (1995)

2014-03-13T20:55:15-04:00

Thomas Wharton's Icefields (1995) Readers will recognize quickly whether there is a match to be made between them and Thomas Wharton's first novel. Ten pages should do it. First, there is the epigraph, from Michael Ondaatje's Coming Through Slaughter: "As if everything in the world is the history of ice."

Thomas Wharton’s Icefields (1995)2014-03-13T20:55:15-04:00
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