National Network for Equitable Library Service

"The story of a successful young couple from Toronto whose comfortable life is gradually destroyed by a mysterious set of twins they adopt from Russia."--

When underachieving writer Larry Mann is granted the lucrative opportunity to ghostwrite the memoirs of the notorious and eccentric businessman-turned-politician Maxime Montblanc, he accepts immediately, tantalized by the financial benefits he’s promised. However, as the two men begin to learn about and confide in one another, hints of their pasts surface to reveal two men both breaking in their own ways and both searching for a brighter future that may not exist.

Told from two points of view--a mother and her daughter--Mad Cow examines farming life in small-town Alberta, a life fourteen-year-old Allyson wants only to escape. Meanwhile her mother, Donna, dealing with her own assortment of problems and setbacks, soldiers on through the daunting days. But when a strange affliction starts picking off the local cattle, everything changes, and when tragedy strikes the extended family, life as they know it is seemingly over forever.

"Seven Floors Down follows the lives of Ryder and Kendall through bouts of homicide and homelessness, beginning when Ryder gets out of jail and crashes with his alcoholic friend who, on the verge of being evicted, remains infuriated with an ex-cop who owes him thousands. Kendall is a raconteur who entertains with countless stories, often while lying supine on the floor, and Ryder decides to help his friend recover his money.

Earl Qume's poisoned mind has altered his reality and transformed his surroundings into omnipresent threats. After his wife kicks him out and he finds himself on the run from the law, he escapes the concrete confines of Toronto to find refuge in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. There he joins a group of travelers, led by a peculiar wilderness guide named Wolfgang Yellowbird, who takes them on a journey deep into the winter-scape of a massive and glorious wilderness. As Earl's mind calms and his body begins to heal, astronomical forces pulverize the outside world.

Inspired by a true incident of mass hysteria in Le Roy, New York in 2011-2012, Songs from a Small Town (in a Minor Key) is a novel written as a series of stories from different points of view. It examines a mysterious condition that strikes only teenage girls in a small farming town--their arms twitch and jump, and they can't control the movements--and while people speculate about what is causing the disease, no one knows for sure. As the stories progress, various facets of this bizarre phenomenon are explored, dark secrets come to light, and the hysteria grows.

Beneath the Statue is an inventory of the tactics of the weak, the methods of the contained and the imprisoned, and the weapons of those who cannot fight. Each story is like its own small island on a vast sea, an isolated world where things work differently. Yet among the family dramas, political machinations, the surreal dreamscapes, and the nightmares come to life, what rises again and again is the urge to struggle on, the need to fight even when it feels impossible.

Writing at the top of her game, Sharon Butala returns to the short story in this astounding new collection. In Butala’s world, the season of fury and wonder is the season of old age. The stories in this book are the stories of women who have had experiences; women who have seen much of life and have felt joy of success and the sting of shortcomings; women who hold opinions and come to conclusions about the lives they’ve lived.

Devin died five years ago. She got an infection, lost her arm, and died. How can Devin be in a picture posted online today?

Fourteen stories that illuminate the strange workings of the human heart.