Linda Leith Publishing
In the taxi rides you're about to take, you'll be in the company of some classic drivers and of a perspicacious and sharp-eyed passenger, the writer and broadcaster Stanley Péan. Veteran translator David Homel, who introduced readers of English to Dany Laferrière with the publication of How to Make Love to a Negro without Really Trying, now brings us the other major voice of Haitian Montreal: Stanley Péan, here in English for the first time.
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept is the title of Canadian writer Elizabeth Smart's classic hymn to love, which novelist Angela Carter once described as being "like Madame Bovary blasted by lightning." Later, Carter wrote privately to a friend, saying that she would hate any daughter of hers to have to write such a novel, adding, "By Grand Central Station I Tore Off his Balls would be more like it, I should hope." And now along comes Montreal novelist Martine Delvaux with The Last Bullet Is for You. This stream-of-consciousness novel takes the form a love letter, but it is the last one. One last letter filled as much with the memory of love as the desire for revenge. Love is war, wrote Ovid, and this book is a battleground. Writing is both an act of passion and the means to end it once and for all. Writing is the last bullet, shooting through the love story and into what is left of the lover: a ghost, a fiction. And maybe that's what he was from the start.
Was it good for you? It was really good for Aislin! Montreal's infrastructure is crumbling at a faster rate than any city in North America - and there lurks Aislin amongst the thousands of orange construction cones, sketchbook in hand. Nationalism in Quebec would appear to be going through death throes while Aislin watches, just as he has since the beginning, pencil at the ready. And bully Stephen Harper finally has his majority, an event that Aislin will be caricaturing keenly, even after over forty years of watching Canadian Prime Ministers come and go. And then there are those rare quiet days in Canada when Aislin has a world full of events beyond our borders to draw upon. Was It Good For You? is a collection of Aislin's favourites drawn over the last three years. It is his 45th book. He is aiming for fifty.
In this trenchant essay, Salutin explores and defends public education at a time when the public sector "dares not utter its name for fear of derision and worse." He simplifies complex issues with the observation that "almost anything can work" if educators are genuinely committed and teachers are respected rather than demonized. He travels to Finland to study the world's most successful public education system. He challenges the sacred cow of educational "choice" and emphasizes that public element of public education instils a natural pride in community and diversity, something no other form of teaching can offer.
Alice Stein, a young graduate student living in a vivid and chaotic late-90s East Village, loses her father and grandmother in a single year. In the process of cleaning out her grandmother's Brooklyn apartment, she begins to unlock a family secret. Accompanied by her precocious downstairs neighbour, a twelve-year-old girl named Persephone, she sets out on a quest to understand her family and herself. In the process, she will discover lost children and buried love affairs, histories she wants to believe and people she can't trust, a village in Hungary and an artist's loft in Harlem. A coming-of-age story about hidden pasts and the legacy of trauma and displacement, A Joy To Be Hidden is told with humour and insight. We can never quite forget the title quote by D. W. Winnicott: "It is a joy to be hidden, and a disaster not to be found." We soon discover that it applies to everyone.
Tom `Brooder' Doran, Deputy Chief of the Police in Beaufort, Quebec, has his hands full when financier Paul Carignan is struck by a stray bullet. Tom investigates but collides with the unwillingness of town leaders to investigate what really happened. Carignan's teenage sons take on the residents they're sure are responsible for the shooting--and are then besieged in their house with the men they've taken captive. Their mother, Catherine, must decide whether to support her sons in their dangerous campaign for justice-or side with local police. Either way, Beaufort is in for a fiery shakeup.
Rebellion is Portuguese literary celebrity Cristina Carvalho's international debut. Born a rebel, Lena escapes her provincial existence and heads for Lisbon as a young woman to make a more exciting life for herself. Once there, however, she makes a series of fateful decisions--spending a night in a brothel, embarking on a marriage she lives to regret, longing instead for the blue-eyed man of her dreams. The timeless, anchorless, startling, and entirely credible narrative voice of Cristina Carvalho's extraordinary novel lays bare the intimate difficulties of Lena's life, first at her parents' boarding house and then, later on, with her husband and their son in the city. No matter where we live, every one of us knows a woman like Lena, but few of us have ever found ourselves right inside Lena's mind before-not in fiction, not in any language.
With one side in Mile End and the other in Outremont, Hutchison Street is inhabited by characters from many different backgrounds, including a community of Hasidim and a writer whose newest project is a novel about the people she has lived among for thirty-nine years. She traces the life stories of an aging singer, a bag-lady who feeds birds in a back alley, an Italian widow who grows tomatoes in her front yard, a Jamaican woman who longs to dance the night away, and a young Hasidic girl who keeps a diary. A moving account of isolated individuals attempting to reach out to one another in one of Montreal's most diverse neighbourhoods.
Morgan Turner's grief over her sister's brutal murder has become a rut, an everyday horror she is caught in along with her estranged parents and chilly older brother. In search of a way out, she delves the depths of a factory abattoir, classic horror cinema, and the Canadian criminal justice system, as it tries her sister's killer and former lover, who is arguing that he is "Not Criminally Responsible" for his actions because of mental illness. Whatever the verdict, Morgan -- with the help of her immigrant coworkers, a do-gooder, and a lovelorn schizophrenia patient -- uncovers her own way to move on.
When Nadia Eid leaves Montreal in search of her Palestinian father who has been missing in Cairo, she is far from imagining that she her true discovery will be a complex relationship with Manal, a young Egyptian artist. But what to do when nationality and personal relations refuse to coexist? With Manal's career poised to take off and her father's secret life revealed, the intifada rages across the border and Nadia must choose between family and destiny.
Professor Nada Marjanovic, professor of Sanskrit at the University of Zagreb, has spent more than twenty years translating an obscure text on the vetala, a parasitic, vampire-like being that possesses the bodies of his victims. When her mentor and collaborator in the Indian city of Pune dies, she finds herself face-to-face with the undead that the text describes, an evil which long ago killed her fiancé - and set her on the path of an obsessive scholarly revenge. She must rely on her intellect, mythic lore, and even dreams to piece together the mystery of the manuscript. The vetala's opposition grows increasingly violent as Nada nears the book's conclusion, and with the help of two colleagues, struggles to decipher its climactic secret, which would allow her to exorcise the demon at last - freeing not only the mysterious man whom he has possessed for centuries, but also, perhaps, her own imprisoned and forgotten love. Suspenseful and unforgettable, Phillip Ernest's debut novel captures the most universal elements of human experience - even the monsters we face.
Xue Yiwei's life has been marked by that of the legendary Montreal surgeon Norman Bethune, who died in China in the cause of Communism. Like other Chinese of his generation - the generation that has turned China into the world power it is today - Xue Yiwei was inspired by Dr. Bethune's example during the Cultural Revolution. But unlike his peers, he went to the lengths of moving to Montreal, where he has lived for sixteen years as a writer acclaimed in China and - until now - unknown in Canada. This subversive novel is the story that only he could write. Dr. Bethune's Children, which is banned in China (it is available only in a Chinese language version published in Taiwan), focuses on individual lives marked by some of the traumatic events of recent decades that have been veiled by official secrecy. In showing us the effects of the distress and repression that have marked his whole generation, Xue Yiwei unveils the human heart.
Worlds collide when a naïve young heiress takes a tumble for a bootlegger with a murderous temper and his business partner falls in love with Montreal, the way Americans are prone to do. One world war has ended and a second is in the wings. In the space between, the neon-powered city on the St. Lawrence is notorious for its lavish nightlife, obsessive gambling and evident corruption. Controlling the action from behind the scenes is a large and mysterious figure called the Carpenter. He is the city's fixer, mediator and manipulator. He is the boss of the night, le caïd de la nuit. In this cinematic and genre-bending novel, George Fetherling both honours the roots of serious noir fiction while also pushing its boundaries.
The first book in English by acclaimed Chinese-Canadian writer Xue Yiwei, Shenzheners is inspired by the young city of Shenzhen, a market town north of Hong Kong that became a Special Economic Zone in 1980 as an experiment in introducing capitalism to Communist China. A city in which everyone is a newcomer, Shenzhen has grown astronomically to become a major metropolitan centre. Hailed as a Chinese Dubliners, the original collection was named one of the Most Influential Chinese Books of the Year in 2013, with most of the stories appearing in Best Chinese Stories.
Abdallah's encounter with the military governor on the eve of his departure for America opens this collection of stories, and Khalil al-Ibrahami's moving search for his lost fiancée in Jerusalem closes the collection. In between, Issa J. Boullata's stories show what it's like to be an Arab from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, or Egypt making a new life as an immigrant in Canada or the United States. This is what it is, to be displaced. This is what it is to leave your home and start over in a new country.
It's already passé to ask if parity is important for today's Canada. What's needed now is to ask how we can make sure more women run for office and that they're well-represented in government. There are no easy answers to this, but it's clear that half-measures just won't do. Pascale Navarro argues that quotas are essential for women to achieve parity with men in politics. Over a hundred other nations worldwide have already established parity as a goal. What are we waiting for?
At thirteen, bookish Veronica Reid lives in a world inside her head, even if she isn't entirely successful at resisting the intrusions of the world outside. It's bad enough that she has to wear awful new glasses; it's downright disastrous that she'll have to spend the summer at Laughing Willows Trailer Park with her obnoxious younger brothers and unhappy mother. She can't imagine anything worse. Lonely and bored, she begins to observe the activities of the local crows, even as she gradually finds a community among the odd denizens of Laughing Willows. When violence erupts, she finds unexpected strength both inside herself and in the people-and the crows-around her. LGBTQ interest.. YA crossover.
The poet Li Bai has journeyed across the world and perhaps across centuries. When he comes across a bag of money in a downtown parking lot, we also meet the delinquent who lost the bag of money in the first place. The assemblage in Jack Hannan's first novel are driven by wordsmithery, trickery, and flights of such fancy-for an instant, the signal comes in clearly, and we might all step into this world where anything is possible.
The landlord, the husband, the wife, and the lover. Giulio di Orio, an assistant lecturer in Philosophy, brings one of his students, known as Torp-short for Torpedo-to the Vancouver flat he shares with his wife Nicole. Soon their landlord is convinced that Torp is the devil incarnate, and the police have arrested him for the street bombings that have been plaguing the city. A sexually-charged tale bubbling with lust, suspected murder, and the twilight of the flower children-all set against the backdrop of martial law in 1970 Vancouver.
Mordecai Richler meets Jane Austen in The Book of Faith. Faith, Rhoda, and Erica, affectionately known the Three Graces, are members of a liberal Jewish congregation in contemporary Montreal. Rabbi Nate wants a grand new synagogue; Marty, the congregation's treasurer, harbours a raunchy secret; and Melly is a hard-nosed Holocaust survivor with an agenda. Award-winning author Elaine Kalman Naves's debut novel is a delicious send-up of synagogue politics. It is also a paean to friendship.
Counterterrorism and Identities presents a detailed analysis of Canadian public opinion on questions of national security, terrorism, and counterterrorism. Where we live, our religious identification, our age, gender, and values all have an impact on our views on these issues, as do events such as 9/11 and more recent terrorist incidents in Canada and abroad. With the safety of the public and the fight against terrorism increasingly regarded as a responsibility shared between government and its citizens, it is vital that the public support our institutions and have confidence in their approaches to counterterrorism. This groundbreaking assessment is essential reading for researchers, policy-makers and community leaders looking to comprehend the mindset of Canadians on this critical aspect of our wellbeing.
A Guatemalan journalist is kidnapped, and the only message from her kidnappers is the murder of her lawyer. In a race against time, Luc Vanier sets about reconstructing her life, through the sordid world of human trafficking, the secretive underbelly of a multinational mining corporation, and the hiding places of desperate refugees. When Vanier is brutally warned off the investigation, he throws away the rule book and goes after the villains with a vengeance.
Canada Lives Here tells the tumultuous story of public broadcasting in Canada, from its inception in 1933 to the CBC's current, controversial attempts to adapt to collapsing revenues and new technologies. It explores in detail the struggle to preserve public space and foster community in an environment devoted to profit-making, arguing that the ideals of public service broadcasting are more relevant now than ever. Rowland, author of the influential Saving the CBC: Balancing Profit and Public Service (2013), identifies the issues crucial to the CBC's survival and proposes carefully considered policy options. This is a book for everyone who wants to understand what's really at stake with the threatened eclipse of the nation's most impo
The second novel by award-winning novelist Jennifer Quist is a black comedy of birth, death, love, marriage, mothers-in-law-and five sassy sisters. When Suzanne's role as the perfect daughter-in-law ends in a deadly accident, she panics, makes a monumentally bad decision, and upends her world. The bond with her sisters is the strongest force Suzanne knows, and it may be the one that can keep her from ruin. Quist's new novel is hilarious, spine-chilling, satisfying, and original. A romp.
Her father has taken off, and the world is full of dangers she doesn't understand. Her friends have names like Manon-just-Manon, BB, and Valence Berri, and things seem pretty okay, most of the time, except that girls keep disappearing.
Both a literary novel and a mystery, The Siciian Wife is about two strong women. Fulvia, the Mafia Princess, must be a dutiful daughter or the family will be dishonoured. And Marisa is the police chief in Sicily investigating the death of Fulvia's husband.
Burlington VT private investigator Hack Loomis meets up with a UFO group run by a charismatic psychiatrist who treats people who believe they've been abducted by aliens and his partner, a disarmingly beautiful woman who claims to be in contact with an alien mother ship. As Loomis's investigation takes him and Connie to the edge of the lunatic fringe and beyond, they find themselves in danger from people far more frightening than true believers.
When an early-morning phone call from a former childhood friend threatens to derail the political fortunes of a popular PM, his director of communications must dig deep into the past to salvage the present. Part political and literary coming-of-age story, part lyrical meditation on friendship, family, and mortality, Sons and Fathers traces the fortunes of three men who develop their respective ability for manipulating words and people in the long shadows cast by their accomplished fathers. Filled with insights about the nature of politics, journalism, and fatherhood, this semi-autobiographical first novel established Daniel Goodwin as a unique voice in Canadian literature.
A Migrant Heart is about departures and arrivals, uprooting and attachment, resettling and returning. Denis Sampson left Ireland as a student, leaving behind the farming countryside of his childhood, the city of Dublin where he was educated, and the history and culture of his native country. He arrived in the cosmopolitan city of Montreal and discovered he was not the only one in search of a new life; and then that search became his life. He also discovered many different ways to return to Ireland, until slowly, what was painfully forced apart was rejoined in a life lived in two places and cultures.
Adam is happily married when he has a stroke at the age of fifty, and his behaviour changes to that of a ten-year-old. What are his secrets? Are there any he should be sharing? His wife would like to know. A Second Chance reveals its secrets slowly. We can see how changed Adam is, but we also sense that we don't know the whole story. The wife is loving, but there is a puzzling edge to her account of her days with Adam. It's only as we come to the devastating conclusion that we learn what happened before Adam suffered his stroke. A novel about devotion and betrayal, A Second Chance is also about forgiveness.
The distinguished Arabic scholar, author, and translator Issa J. Boullata grew up in a Palestinian family in the Jerusalem of the 1930s and 1940s, when Palestine was under the British Mandate. His memoir, The Bells of Memory, is delightful in its reflections on an idyllic youth and detailed in its recollections of family members, classmates and teachers, remembered scents and foods, the pleasures of reading, and his early experience of the working world. This is a love letter to a Jerusalem that was changed immeasurably by Al-Nakba, the Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 that dispossessed the Palestinians of their homeland and dislocated many as refugees when Israel was established.
The mere mention of the prostate gland is enough to make men cringe. Long a taboo subject, the walnut-sized man gland can cause mental anguish, emotional aggravation, bitterness, and anger. The prostate often affects everything from sexual performance to male ego-strength. When it is working well, the man's world is good, but when it is affected by change or disease, the male universe often collapses upon itself. In The Prostate, Dr. Taguchi tackles the most common prostate problems, treatments, and questions in down-to-earth language. If there is anyone who can dispel the fear associated with prostate issues, it is Dr. Taguchi.