The Word On The Street Toronto

Hench

“How can I describe a book so compelling that I couldn't put it down and so engrossing that I screamed out loud? Natalie Zina Walschots has taken many of the tropes of the superhero genre and twisted them to look at the real human cost of those actions. HENCH asks what separates a villian from a hero and how much are we willing to sacrifice in the quest for "justice". Her characters are flawed in exquisite ways, and real enough that even if they are villains the reader still wants to spend time with them. I loved HENCH and cannot wait to see what she does next. Content warnings: assault, gaslighting, violence, body horror.”

Faith, Page 158 Books

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Travel to the land of Couldn't Be More Timely."--Margaret Atwood on Lean Out, in the West End Phoenix

"What begins as one woman's critique of our culture of overwork and productivity ultimately becomes an investigation into our most urgent problems: vast inequality, loneliness, economic precarity, and isolation from... Read more »

Modern witchcraft blends with ancient Celtic mythology in an epic clash of witches and gods, perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy and A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her... Read more »

Mexican Gothic

“Creepy and romantic, Mexican Gothic is easily one of my favorite books of 2020! Upon receiving a strange letter from her cousin, Noemi Taboada goes to investigate the happenings of High Place, a decaying manor filled with secrets, and is plagued by terrifying dreams and visions. Moreno-Garcia delivers a fresh take on a classic gothic novel that will grab your attention from the very first chapter!”

Tyrinne Lewis, Rakestraw Books

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Vine Award in Non-Fiction

"A comedy for catastrophic times." --CBC

"A hilarious memoir of effervescent misadventures." --Toronto Star

"How am I laughing at someone's mother's cancer? How? We think we can't laugh about death, about cancer, about our... Read more »

Scotiabank Giller-winner Sean Michaels is back with his widely anticipated second novel, The Wagers, a deeply satisfying story of long odds, magical heists and the dizzying gamble of life. Where does luck come from? What is it worth? And how much of it do you need to be happy?

Theo Potiris is a grocer and a comedian who never repeats his jokes.... Read more »

WINNER OF THE 2021 ETHEL WILSON FICTION PRIZE
 
Inspired by Petra Kelly, the original Green Party leader and political activist who fought for the planet in 1980s Germany, Shaena Lambert brings us a captivating new novel about a woman who changed history and transformed environmental politics--and who, like many history-changing women, has been... Read more »

WINNER OF THE 2020 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION

“Wondrously and elegantly written in language that astonishes and moves the reader…This is an important book: an emotional and intellectual tour de force.” —Jane Urquhart

An experimental memoir about Partition, immigration, and generational storytelling, This Red Line Goes... Read more »

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A BEST BOOK OF 2020
CBC – The Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2020
The Globe and Mail’s Globe 100: Our Favourite Books of 2020
Chatelaine’s 10 Best Books of 2020
The Walrus’s Favourite Books of 2020


For readers of Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air and Will Schwalbe, the moving, inspiring story of a young husband and father who,... Read more »

"In these dark days, Saleema Nawaz dares to write of hope. Songs for the End of the World is a loving, vivid, tenderly felt novel about men, women, and a possible apocalypse. I couldn't put it down." –Sean Michaels, author of Us Conductors and The Wagers

NATIONAL BESTSELLER. An immersive, deeply engaging, and hopeful novel about the power of... Read more »

The tragic and resonant story of the disappearance of eight men--the victims of serial killer Bruce McArthur--from Toronto's queer community.
 
Shortlisted for the 2021 Toronto Book Awards



In 2013, the Toronto Police Service announced that the disappearances of three men--Skandaraj Navaratnam, Abdulbasir Faizi, and Majeed Kayhan--from Toronto's gay... Read more »

When Sharifa and her husband travel to India, she expects her time will be spent researching her great-great grandfather, a wealthy businessman and philanthropist. However, what she doesn’t expect is to be swept up in the story of his four wives, oddly excluded from her family history.
 
As Sharifa’s imagination is overtaken with these four... Read more »

An urgent, informed, intimate condemnation of the Canadian state and its failure to deliver justice to Indigenous people by national bestselling author and former Crown prosecutor Harold R. Johnson.

"The night of the decision in the Gerald Stanley trial for the murder of Colten Boushie, I received a text message from a retired provincial court... Read more »

WINNER OF THE 2020 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE 2021 TRILLIUM BOOK AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, the PEN AMERICA OPEN BOOK AWARD, and the DANUTA GLEED AWARD
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Named one of Time's Must-Read Books of 2020, and featuring stories that have appeared in Harper's, Granta, The Atlantic, and The... Read more »

A high-stakes, pulse-pounding thriller from the bestselling author of Girl Last Seen.
A year after a brutal home invasion that left her traumatized, Cecelia, along with her husband and their three-year-old daughter, move into a new house with a complex security system that is supposed to make her feel safe.
But reality proves different as strange... Read more »

Opt out of expectations and live a more intentional life with this refreshing guide from the national bestselling author of The Year of Less.
We all follow our own path in life. At least, that's what we're told. In reality, many of us either do what is expected of us, or follow the invisible but well-worn paths that lead to what is culturally... Read more »

Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty? If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and...

Moon of the Crusted Snow

“Highly recommend this audiobook of Moon Of The Crusted Snow. Narrator Billy Merasty brings Rice's characters to life and enriches the traditional Anishinaabe stories with his lyrical storytelling voice. The story itself, of a Canadian Anishinaabe band forced to contend with a new reality when the power goes out and deliveries halt to their Reserve just as winter sets in, is gripping and shockingly realistic and a damning take on reservation life. Evan Whitesky—father, husband, and one of the young leaders—has been learning traditional ways so he's better equipped to hunt and forage than other members of the band who've come to rely on video games and other modern trappings for survival and entertainment. Just as it becomes clear that the power outage is widespread and likely the result of some catastrophic event, a menacing stranger arrives, threatening the band's unity and possibly its very survival. Completely immersive.”

Susan, Belmont Books

In this “chilling, profound” (Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Malorie) horror story based on true events, the President’s late son haunts the White House, breaking the spirit of what remains of the First Family and the divided America beyond the residence’s walls.

The year is 1853. President-elect Franklin Pierce... Read more »

GUL haS SPENT HER LIFE RUNNING. She has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, and in the kingdom of Ambar, girls Bhathena with such birthmarks have been disappearing for years. Gul’s mark is what caused her parents’ murder at the hand of King Lohar’s ruthless soldiers and forced her into hiding to protect her own life. So when a group of rebel... Read more »