National Network for Equitable Library Service

"A gem of a novel." - Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour Longlisted for the 2024 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Stephen Millburn moved halfway across the country, from Ottawa to Victoria, to fulfill his dream of being an early-morning radio host, but he's barely holding it together. Trying to balance parental duties (he and his wife have a newborn son) with his work schedule leaves Stephen running on coffee fumes and falling asleep at the most inconvenient times, including mid-broadcast. Stephen treads a narrow path at CIFU.

A thirteen-year-old girl on a family vacation becomes stranded alone in the wilderness when the family's GPS leads them astray. A compelling survival story for ages 10 to 14, for fans of Hatchet and The Skeleton Tree. Francie and her parents are on a spring road trip: driving from British Columbia, Canada, to hike in the Grand Canyon. When a shortcut leads them down an old logging road, disaster strikes. Their truck hits a rock and wipes out the oil pan. They are stuck in the middle of nowhere.

To the untrained eye, Sam Shelstad may look a lot like a Value Village cashier who shares an apartment with his Uncle Herman and has just emerged from a failed relationship with a woman forty years his senior whom he met at his mother's book club. But Sam is a successful novelist--or will be soon, he's certain. The manuscript of his debut novel, The Emerald, is currently on the desk of a celebrated indie publisher. While he waits to hear back, he's hard at work on two ambitious writing projects. The first is the Molly novel, a fictional rendering of Sam's newly defunct relationship.

In Quid Pro Crow, Mordecai Crow continues to search for his long-lost family. With his young friend Podd, Crow follows the trail deep into dangerous Luddite territory. There, new allies offer hope for Crow's quest, but that hope is accompanied by grave risks. Not only are their lives in constant danger from Luddite attacks and the deadly dystopian landscape they must traverse, but their friendship will be strained to its breaking point. Will Crow and Podd be able to unlock the mysteries hidden in newly discovered old tech? What secrets lurk within the fabled Tesla Firewall?

Alice of Spades continues the story of a kingdom on the brink of revolution. Alice, now the sole heir to the Spade throne, is the target of a group of religious zealots bent on twisting her to their cause. With only her lazy cat and the clothes on her back, Alice must flee her privileged life and embark on a journey where any turn could be her last. Forced to work as a servant in a foreign land, Alice must use all her wits to stay alive whilst searching for an opportunity to escape the Club palace. Meanwhile, factions across the kingdom continue their plans for their bloody conquest.

The Undrowned Order rules the land. Their horrific plans dance to the whims of ancient cosmic entities, fuelled by the fears forced upon every soul in sight. It is believed that the young woman Helmina is their messiah, that the darkness lurking within her will one day unleash an unimaginable horror upon the earth. As that day approaches, Helmina, after a lifetime of wrestling with her cosmic affliction, must do more than run and hide from the cultists, her own mind, and the world itself to put an end to the madness.

Darby Swank's entire life changed when her Aunt Bea was murdered in their rural Saskatchewan community. Now in college, Darby tentatively develops new friendships and connections, including her charismatic cousin Brynny, a young woman who leads an exciting and inclusive church in rural Alberta. After landing a sought-after gig with an established Toronto band, Darby begins to make a name for herself on the Canadian music scene. Yet she remains haunted by the violence in her past-especially as fame and its trappings force Darby to confront what matters most.

A powerful debut about the lives of women and girls caught in the orbit of the military.Female recruits weathering toxic masculine environments. Military wives stretched thin across countless military moves, new cities and new selves. Military kids whose mercurial friendships flare and fade to the rhythm of their parent's career path.

Liza, an orphan girl living on the cold streets of London in 1834, is able to rise above her squalid surroundings to bring joy to the lives of others. Although only 11, she displays amazing courage as she cares for a younger child and ekes out a bare existence through the approaching winter, guided by the wisdom embodied in letters left to her by her mother. When Liza meets a wealthy gentleman, her mysterious, almost magical manner causes him to re-examine his own life. Over time, he and others around him are transformed as they begin to understand the depth of Liza's insight.

Richard searches for a deeper understanding of his miraculous healing in the sequel to Second Chance, He returns to Maui where he reunites with Johnathan and Mamma Lila. Once again, he finds their wisdom intellectually contradictory, but most intriguing. In Quest of the Pearl, like Second Chance, is a simply told, very moving story bringing the reader into a world of soft tropical beauty, where undiscovered depths of feeling are waiting to be discovered.