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Twin brothers, born of a secret union, orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. An epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.

Publius Varrus, a veteran Roman officer, and his former general, Caius Britannicus, forge a government and military system that will become known as the Round Table — rich in historical detail and brimming with drama, intrigue and passion.

It is 1919, and Niska, the last Oji-Cree woman to live off the land, has received word that one of the two boys she saw off to the Great War has returned. Xavier Bird, her sole living relation, is gravely wounded and addicted to morphine. more…

This novel grabs your attention right from the start and doesn’t let go. We found it provocative, irreverent and very funny. It is the story of Balram Halwai and his truth about what it really takes to be a successful entrepreneur in the “New India”… more…

The Englishman’s Boy, published in 1996 won the Governor General’s Award for English language fiction and was a nominee for the Giller Prize. It is an historical novel, interconnecting two time periods, fifty years apart, 1873 and 1923. It is story about a mysterious young man, Shorty McAdoo, the Englishman’s boy, who, in 1873 finds himself caught up with a posse of merciless misfits on a mission into Canada to recover their stolen horses. more…

Some lively discussion followed our reading The Hunger Games! This book proved to be captivating, exciting, and disturbing with a deeper message. We all agreed we would not have chosen this book to read but once we started it was a real page turner! Why was this? more…

Set in the Depression era, this is the charming story of young Jacob, who at 23 finds himself destitute after the sudden death of his parents and loss of the family home and business. He runs away and throws himself on what turns out to be a circus train! more…

Govier’s incredible ability and elegant style of writing brings this novel, set in Japan in the years before World War II, to life in its own time and place. Although the novel begins in Vancouver, and indeed roams the world at times, it is Govier’s descriptions of Japanese pearl divers — the ama — which are central to the novel. more…

Set during Burma’s military dictatorship of the mid-1990s, Karen Connelly’s exquisitely written and harshly realistic debut novel is a hymn to human resilience and love. In the sealed-off world of a vast Burmese prison known as the cage, Teza languishes in solitary confinement seven years into a twenty-year sentence. more…

The Heart Specialist is a historical fiction written in the first person narrative style. A first novel by Canadian author Claire Holden Rothman, it is loosely based on and inspired by the professional life of Dr. Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott (1869 – 1940) who was one of Montreal’s first female physicians, thus illuminating a remarkable Canadian who succeeded in overcoming obstacles that prevented women from assuming traditional male roles. more…

Sailing to Sarantium is set in the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century Mediterranean. We discussed the genre of fantasy, how as adults we sometimes lose the ability we had as children to slip in an out of fantasy, and how through this storytelling genre Kay discusses real life issues — religion, art and the positing of gender, male/female. more…

This book was a compelling, powerful, lyrical tale of a young mute boy and his amazing connection with dogs, the Sawtelle dogs. Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm. The novel explores the deep and ancient alliance between humans and dogs, and the power of fate through one boy’s epic journey into the wild. more…

This novel reads like an historical journey through a small Cape Breton community and its townsfolk in the first half of the twentieth century while author, Ann-Marie MacDonald, slowly and mysteriously unravels deep dark secrets, and the consequences of these secrets, to lure us into the intimate psyche of the Piper family. more….

“Still Alice” is a powerful, realistic and well written portrayal of a woman living with Early Onset – Alzheimer’s Disease. Alice Howland is a cognitive psychology professor and a world renowned expert in linguistics. She has it all; a successful teaching career at Harvard University, three adult children and a husband who is also has very successful career of his own. But recently she has begun experiencing frequent memory lapses. more…

The author builds an interesting protagonist in the priest. One who is flawed but very self-aware and humane, with whom we can sympathize. His villain in the Bishop is also well-drawn and leaves us with a clear and distinct dislike of this cold, heartless, opportunistic homophobe. But even here, the author makes us speculate. This book is not a “whodunit” but the author builds suspense well. It is not until the end of the book that many of our questions are answered. more…

Juxtaposed against her central, motivating concern that women in Islam are oppressed is the theme of female strength which runs through the memoir like a bright, strong thread in a colourful tapestry. She describes the strength and tenacity of her grandmother and her mother, traits which she obviously inherited and which enabled her to survive. more…

In our discussion of The Walnut Tree we agreed, unanimously, that Blum’s writing style is unique and beautiful. It reminds us of poetry. She writes in partial sentences, which forces us to concentrate in order to comprehend, and this engages us. She writes the way people think, exploring life, moving through one idea into the next. She has the ability, with a minimum of words, to clearly express ideas and emotions that evoke understanding. more…

The Lacuna, published in 2009, won the Orange prize this year, a prestigious award which recognizes women’s writing worldwide. Barbara Kingsolver’s earlier novels, especially The Poisonwood Bible, are loved by many; we began with a brief overview of Kingsolver’s work and, for some of us, her influence on our lives and our daughters’ lives as well. We discussed the unique structure of the novel and how it affected the themes portrayed. more…

Set in Ontario, Adultery is written in straight, narrative prose form, chronicling one man’s fall from grace and his inept expectation of forgiveness. The prose is elegant and precise, yet pared down and unadorned, thus eminently suitable for the stark subject material of the novel. Having enjoyed Wright’s earlier prize-winning novel Clara Callan because of his sensitive, tender, insightful exploration of forbidden love and adultery and his ability to create female protagonist who is believable, genuine and three-dimensional, I expected a comparable protagonist in Adultery. I was disappointed. more…