Great Historical Fiction

It may be easy to overlook this slim novel on the bookshelves, especially with those Giller long-listed heavyweights vying for your attention, but please pick this one up. It will leave you gasping.

Desjardins masterfully pulls you along as the characters slowly reveal the grievances and hurts of their pasts. Just as you begin to wonder where it is heading she unleashes the brutal, shocking climax, ending the novel with no concern for the sentimental reader. It is perfect. That Lily McEvoy is swallowed whole by her bitterness, that her selfishness and pride erodes her soul (as literally as does her obsession with and consumption of salt) leaving her bereft and isolated is a just and fully satisfying outcome. Hats off to Desjardins.

Praise:
“In carrying us to a very dark place where totters the border between our country and that of legends … Desjardins offers to Québécois literature one of its great contemporary Gothic novels … [A] true jewel from a writer as discreet as gifted.” — Le Libraire

Do not skip this gem when you're out shopping for this fall's great Canadian literature.

A Covenant of Salt
Martine Desjardins

Talon Books * 978-0-88922-566-4 * $17.95 paperback * In stock

For more about the book go to Talon Books.com

Purchase from your favourite local bookstore or click here:
Amazon.ca
Chapters.ca

Polar Bear Scare

It's common knowledge that human activity is leaving a terrible stain on our planet. No where is this felt more accutely than in the Arctic and Canada's northern territories. The ice caps are melting and polar bears are now officially facing extinction. What can we do and where do we begin?

Jean Davis Okimoto's picture book Winston of Churchill comes at precisely the right time. IChurchill, Manitoba, the Polar Bear Capitol of the world, is the setting for her story about global warming, starring the indomitable Winston. There is no other picture book that takes on global warming with such intelligence, clarity, and humour. Getting our children reading about these issues early is the key to cultivating a greener society.

Winston of Churchill will be published this December by Sasquatch Books.
978-1-57061-357-9 * $19.95 cloth * Ages 6 to 10
Written by Jean Davis Okimoto
Illustrated by Jeremiah Trammell

To purchase go to your favorite local bookstore or click here:
Chapters.ca
Amazon.ca