VPL Picks: Contemporary Canadian Literary FictionLike this list

35 items

• Endling

  a Novel

  Reva, Maria

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  "Equal parts madcap caper, contemporary allegory, and wartime reckoning, Reva's debut offers a fresh take on the current Russia-Ukraine war from a diasporan point of view." —Library Journal WINNER OF THE 2025 ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS’ TRUST FICTION…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Records

  Thien, Madeleine, 1974-

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  Lina and her father arrive at a mysterious enclave, where past and future converge. She befriends historical figures, learning from their wisdom as she grapples with her family's tragic past and questions of guilt, responsibility, and redemption. A…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Paris Express

  a Novel

  Donoghue, Emma, 1969-

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  "A historical novel that reimagines an 1895 French railway disaster, an event famously documented in dramatic photographs. Set over a single day, as the morning train travels from the Normandy coast to Paris, men, women and children take their seats…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Real Ones

  a Novel

  Vermette, Katherena, 1977-

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  "From the author of the nationally bestselling Strangers saga comes a heartrending story of two Michif sisters who must face their past trauma when their mother is called out for false claims to Indigenous identity." — Publisher

• Held

  Michaels, Anne, 1958-

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  Winner of the 2024 Giller Prize. "...a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and reignite as the century unfolds. In radiant moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Study for Obedience

  Bernstein, Sarah (Literature teacher)

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  "A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him. . . . With a sharp, lyrical voice, Sarah Bernstein powerfully explores questions of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Birnam Wood

  Catton, Eleanor, 1985-

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  Set on New Zealand's South Island, this eco-thriller is the story of a guerrilla gardening collective and an American billionaire, both interested in the same abandoned farm land. The activist group, who call themselves Birnam Wood, want the land to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Snow Road Station

  a Novel

  Hay, Elizabeth, 1951-

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  Lulu Blake, an actor in her sixties, leaves the theatre after forgetting her lines to attend a wedding in the small village of Snow Road Station. Returning to Toronto after a long weekend of being unreachable, she finds herself unemployed and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fayne

  MacDonald, Ann-Marie, 1958-

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  Young Charlotte Bell lives at a secluded estate called Fayne, straddling the border between England and Scotland. Though she is intelligent, curious, and lively, she is kept in isolation due to a mysterious “condition.” “Charlotte's passion for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sleeping Car Porter

  Mayr, Suzette

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  This Giller Prize winning novel tells the story of Baxter, a queer Black train porter, working on a passenger train travelling from Montreal to Vancouver in 1929. The train gets waylaid by a mudslide near Banff. While working to fulfill the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Book of Form and Emptiness

  Ozeki, Ruth, 1956-

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  Winner of the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction. The newest title from a beloved local author, this book takes place between the public library and the youth psych ward. It is simultaneously whimsical, philosophical and heart-wrenching.

• The Mystery of Right and Wrong

  Johnston, Wayne

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  Wade Jackson, a young man from Newfoundland, falls in love with South African-born Rachel van Hout, the youngest of four damaged daughters. Slowly and inexorably, the terrible truth of the van Hout’s world is revealed. This intense novel is based on…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Town Called Solace

  Lawson, Mary, 1946-

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  Award-winning Canadian historical fiction, set in the 1940s through 1970s in a rural Northern Ontario community. A family reels when their teenage daughter going missing. Told through three distinct and compelling voices, Mary Lawson uncovers layers…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Indians on Vacation

  a Novel

  King, Thomas, 1943-

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  Mimi and Bird, on vacation in Prague, are tracing the journey of Mimi’s Uncle Leroy and the family medicine bundle he took with him to Europe almost a hundred years ago. As the story meanders and unwinds, it reveals sly humour, emotional layers,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Five Little Indians

  Good, Michelle

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  This Governor-General's Award winning novel follows the lives of five survivors of a remote residential school -- Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie -- and their attempts to find peace and recovery in the years after their release.

• Greenwood

  Christie, Michael, 1976-

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  Trees are the centre of this novel. It begins in 2038 on the British Columbia coast, with Jacinda Greenwood, a forest guide to wealthy eco-tourists in one of the world's remaining forests. The narrative spins the readers back in time to different…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Women Talking

  a Novel

  Toews, Miriam, 1964-

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  Eight Mennonite women meet to talk about a dark and secret crime occurring in their community, and to make a decision that will affect everything they hold dear.

• Washington Black

  a Novel

  Edugyan, Esi

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  Washington Black is an eleven-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation. When Black is chosen to work on a project with one of the owners, his life takes on a totally unexpected trajectory. This Canadian novel was the winner of the 2018…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Next Year, for Sure

  Peterson, Zoey Leigh

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  Unforgettable characters move in and out of each other’s lives in this contemporary novel about relationships, self-reflection, and the questioning of monogamy. This debut novel was long-listed for the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize and nominated for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Do Not Say We Have Nothing

  a Novel

  Thien, Madeleine, 1974-

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  Li-ling is living in Vancouver when Ai Ming, a young relative forced to flee China, arrives on her doorstep. As the two talk, Li-ling begins to reconstruct her family history through the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square.This novel won both…Read moreRead more of this annotation