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In 1914, the American artist Rockwell Kent escapes his bustling life in New York City for the quaint, rural town of Brigus, Newfoundland. He has been drawn north by the picturesque landscape of the Atlantic, seeking a simpler, quieter life. Always fascinated and inspired by cold climates, Kent imagines his new home to be a utopia and the perfect place to work on his art and marriage.Notorious for his flighty relationships with various women and his radical, socialist thinking, the artist’s beliefs and way of life run drastically against those of the community.

France Daigle casts a droll eye on what it means to be born a writer in the middle of the twentieth century. 1953 crackles with wit, intelligence, and insight, and the year in question emerges as a turning point not only for the heroine, but for the entire world.

Indian summer, 1607. Intrepid explorer and map-maker Samuel de Champlain has founded a new and precarious settlement in Annapolis Royal, New France (present-day Nova Scotia). As winter looms, two threats emerge: boredom amongst the men and the deadly sickness scurvy. Champlain hits upon the idea of a moveable feast -- an order of good cheer -- where nobles and men can enjoy good local food, excellent wine, and camaraderie.

Hush, hush, hushHere comes the Bogeyman . . .London during the long, dark days of the Blitz: a city outwardly in ruins, weakened by exhaustion and rationing. But behind the blackout, the old way of life continues: in the music halls, pubs, and cafés, soldiers mix with petty crooks, stage magicians with lonely wives, scandal-hungry reporters with good-time girls — and DCI Edward Greenaway keeps a careful eye on everyone. But out on the streets, something nastier is stirring: London's prostitutes are being murdered, their bodies left mutilated to taunt the police.

A vivid and powerful novel set in post-WWII Japan, Fireflies chronicles the lives of four interweaving characters navigating the war-torn streets of Tokyo during the American occupation. August 1945. Japan has been defeated in the Second World War. The country lies in ruins. Satsuko Takara and her teenage brother, Hiroshi, have lost their parents, and each other, during the firestorm that devastated Tokyo five months before.

In nineteenth-century Quebec a woman plots the murder of her husband after the death of their child. After brewing a poison, she is arrested, denounced as a witch, and in a devastating conclusion, released from her terrifying obsessions.

Yichang municipality, Hubei province, China, early 1970s. High-school student Jingqiu is one of many educated urban youth sent to the countryside to be "re-educated" under a dictate from Chairman Mao. Jing's father is a political prisoner somewhere in China, and her mother, a former teacher branded as a "capitalist," is now reduced to menial work to support Jing and her two younger siblings.

A classic of Canadian literature, here is the A List edition of Daphne Marlatt’s utterly original novel about rescuing a forgotten woman from obscurity. Featuring a new introduced by celebrated author Lynn Crosbie. Ana Historic is the story of Mrs. Richards, a woman of no history, who appears briefly in 1873 in the civic archives of Vancouver. It is also the story of Annie, a contemporary, who becomes obsessed with the possibilities of Mrs. Richards’s life.

Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award: Fiction Bonus e-book content includes two out-takes from the novel -- how Antonio Garcia got his beautiful horse and how Miguel Orozco became mayor -- and two essays by Robert Hough: the true history of Dr. Brinkley and Robert Hough's decades-long infatuation with Mexico.

Set in a turn-of-the-century Hindu community in the Eastern Caribbean, No Pain Like this Body describes the perilous existence of a poor rice-growing family during the August rainy season. Their struggles to cope with illness, a drunken and unpredictable father, and the violence of the elements end in unbearable loss. Through vivid, vertiginous prose, and with brilliant economy and originality, Ladoo creates a fearful world of violation and grief, in the face of which even the most despairing efforts to endure stand out as acts of raw courage. With a foreword by Dionne Brand.