National Network for Equitable Library Service

This magical new novel by Governor General and Trillium Prize nominee Mark Frutkin, set in 13th century Venice and Cathay, is a dazzling fresco of shimmering language, brimming with golden tableaus of arid deserts and cobblestone alleys, the wafting scent of cardomin and the mystical trill of a praying friar. It is the story of Marco Polo as he is about to set sail on an arduous and lengthy pilgrimage with his father, uncle and faithful guide across the sun-soaked silk route, the rich path of the carpet-makers and the black seas of the Indian Ocean.

International intrigue on the eve of the birth of a nation at Britain’s Highclere Castle, aka Downton Abbey. In late 1866, John A. Macdonald and other Fathers of Confederation arrived in London to begin discussions with Britain to create Canada. Macdonald and two of his colleagues stayed briefly at Highclere Castle in Hampshire, the stately home of the Fourth Earl of Carnarvon, Britain’s colonial secretary. Those are the facts.Today Highclere Castle is widely known as the real-life location for the popular television series Downton Abbey.

A young First Nations man sets out from his Muskoka home in a quest for redemption after a terrible fire. In the early 1930s, Oscar Wolf, a 13-year-old Native from the Chippewas of Rama Indian Reserve, sets fire to the business section of his village north of Toronto in a fit of misguided rage against white society, inadvertently killing his grandfather and a young maid. Tortured by guilt and fearful of divine retribution, Oscar sets out on a lifetime quest for redemption.

In this third novel in the series, Thaddeus Lewis and his son journey into the heart of disaster. When the bloated corpse of a man dressed in women’s clothing washes up on the shore of Lake Ontario near Thaddeus Lewis’s home, nothing is found on the body except a small scrap of green ribbon. The year is 1847 — "Black ’47" — and 100,000 Irish emigrants are fleeing to Canada to escape starvation. The emigrants bring with them the dreaded "ship’s fever," and soon Canadian ports are overflowing with the sick and dying and entire families are being torn apart.

The Emerald Key is lost, and James must leave Ireland for Canada to rescue his brother and the treasure. In 1847, after a confrontation with British soldiers, Jamie Galway awakens from a coma to find his brother, Ryan, and the ancient Irish text they had sworn to protect are missing. Jamie learns that his brother has been forced onto a ship bound for Canada. The ancient script, one of the keys to the secret location of a priceless treasure, has gone with him.

When Nathan Elliott disappears, can a Methodist circuit rider discover what truly happened? After an absence of many years, Nathan Elliott returns to the lakeside village of Wellington in Ontario’s Prince Edward County to be at his dying father’s side. Within a few days of his return, his brother reports that Nathan disappeared while the two were cutting firewood and no trace of him can be found. Shortly after, Nathan’s wife arrives in the village. Claiming that she can contact the dead, she begins to hold séances for the villagers. Thaddeus Lewis, a Methodist circuit rider, is outraged.

Angus and his family are sent from Scotland in 1813 on a voyage to start a new life in the strange and cruel new land of western Canada. In 1813, cleared out from their beloved Scottish Highlands, 15-year-old Angus, his mother, father, small brother Rabbie, and 100 others sail for Canada to seek a better life with assistance from Lord Selkirk. Angus, his family, and their friends the O’Hares, with their aloof, unsmiling daughter Maggie, share the hardships and terror of the sea voyage only to be dumped onto the shore of a forbidding land.

A coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of "peace, love, rock and roll," and the Vietnam War. It’s the summer of 1971, and fifteen-year-old Darlene travels with her mother to cottage country. This year her wild cousin, Elizabeth, is staying with them in the hopes that time away from Toronto will straighten her out – but Elizabeth has other plans. It’s her summer mission to torment Darlene by manipulating her friends and seducing every eligible male in her path.

When 14-year-old-Johanna learns that her orphanage is experimenting on babies, she kidnaps one of them and sets off for Amsterdam. Johanna is a 14-year-old Jewish girl who lives in Hamburg, Germany, in the early 18th century. She feels stifled by the daily drudgery of her life and dreams of seeing what lies outside the confines of the Jewish quarter. Johanna lies about her identity and gets a job as a caregiver at an orphanage. Until it’s too late, she doesn’t realize a secret experiment is taking place that results in the deaths of babies.

Commended for the 2004 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selection, short-listed for the 2005 Red Maple Award and Rocky Mountain Book Award When the Armenians of Turkey are marched into the desert to die in 1915, Mariam is rescued by her Turkish friend Rustem, and lives with mixed acceptance as a guest in his father’s harem. Kevork is shot and left for dead in a mass grave in the desert, but is rescued by nomadic Arabs and nurtured back to health. Both teens must choose between the security of an adopted home or the risk of death in search of family.