National Network for Equitable Library Service

From the author of the bestselling Jalna series. This early novel from the pen of one of Canada’s most universally known writers sparkles with life and vitality. Here we find the primitive, the natural, and the innocent in conflict with the conventional, the civilized, and the corrupt. And here we meet Delight Mainprize, whose extraordinary beauty and charm come close to devastating an entire community.

Gathered together are three extraordinary books by renowned storyteller and memoirist Austin Clarke. ’Membering, Clarke’s breathtaking memoir, spans over fifty years of his life as a writer, chronicling his coming to Canada in the fifties, formative experiences with Malcolm X, Chinua Achebe, and LeRoi Jones, and bursting with cultural insights and poignant memories from a narrative master.

A story about one all-inclusive resort, the ghost of an unknown father, and the tragedies we can’t forget. What’s it like when everyone’s dream vacation is your job? Ameera works at a Mexican all-inclusive resort, where every day is paradise — if “paradise” means endless paperwork, quotas to meet, and entitled tourists. But it’s not all bad: Ameera’s pastime of choice is the swingers scene, and the resort is the perfect place to hook up with like-minded couples without all the hassle of having to see them again.

This special 3-book bundle collects three masterful novel by one of Canada’s finest writers of literary fiction. A Certain Mr. Takahashi: To Mrs. Hopper, Yoshi Takahashi may be just another name from her daughters’ past, but for Jean and her sister, Colette, he stands for much more. Years ago, Mr. Takahashi moved into their Toronto neighbourhood and sent the adolescent lives of Jean and Colette into a tailspin. They weren’t content merely to befriend the Japanese pianist - in their infatuation they sought to mirror his life as closely as possible.

Nik is an eccentric art student obsessed with painting his dancer girlfriend, Jennifer. When one day she inexplicably disappears, Nik’s world is shattered. Determined to find her, he embarks on a cross-country journey following a scant trail of clues. He doesn’t anticipate how far he’ll have to travel, what he’ll do when he runs out of money, or the fact that an intimidating stranger is looking for Jennifer, too.

A Canadian ex-pat and a Korean former "comfort woman," each scarred by their pasts, seek redemption. Two separate lives become connected in South Korea: traumatized former Korean "comfort woman" Eun-young, who struggles with her past of rape and violence; and Michael, a troubled young Canadian arriving in Korea to teach ESL, whose principles and humanity are tested by Seoul’s seedy expatriate underbelly. A world away and two generations apart, their lives collide through the fiery Jin, who challenges stereotypes of her race and gender as well as Michael’s morality.

2013 Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award — Winner 2012 Scotiabank Giller Prize — Shortlisted 2012 BMO Winterset Award — Finalist From critically acclaimed and award-winning writer, Russell Wangersky, comes a new collection of short fiction. Everyone has something they’re good at: one particular personal skill that they use to keep their lives moving forward when their worlds suddenly become difficult or near-impossible. For some, it’s denial; for others, blunt pragmatism. Still others depend on an over-inflated view of self to keep criticism and doubt at bay.

The Master of Happy Endings is a powerful new novel about memory, belonging, helping others, and the vagaries of the human heart. It is also a compelling story about how a man in his late seventies manages to conjure one more great adventure for himself. Axel Thorstad lives in a shack on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia. Once a popular school teacher and thespian who touched the lives of hundreds of his students, he now lives in retirement and mourns the recent death of his wife. But even this stoical giant of a 77-year-old finds the isolation too much.

Acclaimed Canadian poet Steven Price has conjured a stunning debut novel that explores what we ask from each other, and how much we are prepared to give. Set in the city of Victoria, British Columbia, Into That Darkness opens at the moment when a massive earthquake hits the entire west coast with devastating results. Amid the destruction of the city, survivors are left to negotiate a calamity in which bonds of civility are pushed to their limits and often broken.

When his best friend is murdered in a fit of jealous rage, Izzy Schneider is compelled to reconstruct the relationship and exhume a hidden past that tests the authority of truth and weighs the burden of history. In A Good Man, critically acclaimed novelist Cynthia Holz examines Izzy’s complex lifelong friendship with Phil Lewis. Izzy escapes from Nazi Germany as a young man, leaving behind his family, who later perish in the Holocaust; Phil, a war hero, stays and fights with the partisans and saves hundreds of lives.