National Network for Equitable Library Service

The Horseman’s Last Call presents the closing chapters in the life of Wild Jack Strong. The story opens with Jack content on the ranch he had always dreamed of, with a loving wife and an adopted son. His good friend Jim Spencer and Jim’s family live just down the road, so life couldn’t be better. However, things take an unwanted turn when war breaks out in Europe and Jack once more feels the need to heed his country’s call. But the war changes his life in unexpected ways as he discovers that not only does loyalty sometimes go unrewarded, it can also be one-sided.

The latest addition to TouchWood Editions’ Classics West Collection, Klondike Cattle Drive is the colourful tale of a formidable trek undertaken by legendary Cariboo rancher Norman Lee.In 1898, Lee set out to drive 200 head of cattle from his home in the Chilcotin area of B.C. to the Klondike goldfields—a distance of 1,500 miles. He was gambling both his cattle and his life. This is his story, derived from the journal he kept, his letters and the loyal men who accompanied him. Throughout the daunting weeks of coping with mud, cold and sheer bad luck, Lee kept his sense of humour.

In the early sixteenth century, the first exploratory ships arrived on the Pacific Coast of North America. These rovers were seeking gold and silver, fur pelts, a safe passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and above all, adventure. Though many of the voyagers didn’t survive the dangerous sea crossings or the perils that awaited them on land, their stories live on in Pioneers of the Pacific Coast. Agnes C. Laut chronicles long-forgotten true stories packed with hazards and surprise.

Canada’s 150th birthday is the perfect opportunity to start exploring this country with your kids while finally experiencing the spectacular Canadian destinations you’ve been dreaming about. Planning a family getaway can be overwhelming, but award-winning freelance travel writer and blogger Jody Robbins puts you on the right path with savvy suggestions for families who are keen to explore Canada with their little loved ones.

Out of print for more than 40 years, this is an intimate and heartwarming biography that throws a whole new light on one of Canada's most beloved and iconic artists. In 1916, Emily Carr wasn’t famous. She was poor, and she taught art classes to children to make a living. One of her students was seven-year-old Carol Pearson. Pearson spent hours every day with Carr: they painted together at the water’s edge, and she helped care for the dogs, birds, monkey and other animals that Carr kept as pets.

Our quest for origin and, by extension, identity is universal to the human experience. For the twenty-five contributors to Somebody’s Child, the topic of adoption is not—and perhaps never can be—a neutral issue. With unique courage, each of them discusses their experience of the adoption process. Some share stories of heartbreak; others have discovered joy; some have searched for closure. Somebody’s Child captures the many unforgettable faces and voices of adoption.

A vividly wrought memoir, Last Dance in Shediac is a collection of the author’s personal memories of her mother—celebrated Canadian artist Molly Lamb Bobak—and a tender meditation on life and death. Molly Lamb Bobak (1922–2014) was the first woman to travel overseas as an official Canadian war artist. She was also the daughter of famous Canadian artist Harold Mortimer-Lamb, whose contemporaries included Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, and Jack Shadbolt. In this homage to her artist mother, Anny Scoones rounds out her mother’s public profile by revealing personal stories.

Original, witty, and subtle, these stories feature characters who must navigate life in a small town, and will appeal to fans of Miriam Toews and Kathleen Winter. This collection of beautifully crafted short stories features complex characters whose internal struggles manifest in their most intimate relationships, told by a writer with a compassionate eye. A narrator watches her social sphere deteriorate after her boyfriend’s rough-housing leads to his best friend’s tragic paralysis.

Widely recognized as a classic of northern-exploration literature, A Journey to the Northern Ocean is Samuel Hearne's story of his three-year trek to seek a trade route across the Barrens in the Northwest Territories. Hearne was a superb reporter, from his anguished description of the massacre of helpless Eskimos by his Indian companions to his meticulous records of wildlife, flora and Indian manners and customs.

"Chase Joynt and Mike Hoolboom here give each other the gift so many people only dream of: ample, unhurried space to unspool crucial stories of one's life, and an attentive, impassioned, invested, intelligent receiver on the other side. The gift to the reader is both the example of their exchange, and the nuanced, idiosyncratic, finely rendered examination it offers of biopolitical experiences which, in many ways, define our times.