52 works of Canadian fiction coming out in spring 2024

Check out these Canadian novels and short story collections coming out in spring 2024.

Broughtupsy is a novel by Christina Cooke. (House of Anansi Press, Eli Jules)

In the novel Broughtupsy, the death of her brother brings Akúa home to Jamaica after a decade. There, she struggles to reconnect with her estranged sister while they spread his ashes and revisit landmarks of their shared childhood. A chance meeting with a stripper named Jayda forces Akúa to reckon with her queerness, her homeland, her family and herself over two life-changing weeks.

Broughtupsy is out now.

Christina Cooke is a Jamaican Canadian writer based in New York City. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Caribbean Writer, Prairie Schooner and Epiphany: A Literary Journal. She has won the Writers’ Trust M&S Journey Prize and Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award. Broughtupsy is her debut novel.

A book cover featuring the deep ocean next to a Black woman with long curly hair smiling at the camera. — Naniki is a novel by Oonya Kempadoo. (Rare Machines)

The novel Naniki, or active spirits, allow shape-shifting sea beings Amana and Skelele to travel the Caribbean towards a strange, dreamed future. Devastation sends the pair back through time in this historical, magical realist novel in order to save their islands, seas and each other.

Naniki is out now.

Oonya Kempadoo is a Grenadian English Guatemalan author who lives in Montreal.

A Black woman with curly hair smiles at the camera. A yellow book cover with pink and orange-toned writing. — We Rip the World Apart is a book by Charlene Carr. (HarperCollins)

Following the multi-generational women of a Canadian Jamaican family, We Rip the World Apart is told across several timelines. In the past, Evelyn and her husband flee Jamaica to Canada with their first-born son Anthony. Years later, after Anthony’s murder, his grandmother arrives to help Evelyn’s family with their grief and connect the youngest, Kareela, with her Jamaican heritage. Present day finds Kareela at 24, unsure of an unplanned pregnancy and grappling with the struggles of her own racialized identity alongside the secrets her family has carried in silence for so long.

We Rip the World Apart is out now.

Charlene Carr is a Toronto-raised writer and author based in Nova Scotia whose work explores truth in fiction. She is also the author of the novel Hold My Girl. Carr was named one of CBC Books’ writers to watch in 2023.

A yellow book cover featuring 3 figures on a Penrose triangle next to a sepia toned photo of a man with close shaven hair and glasses smiling at the camera. — The Bezzle is a novel by Cory Doctorow. (Tor Books, Jonathan Worth)

The sequel to Red Team Blues continues the adventures of forensic accountant Martin Hench in The Bezzle as he navigates the long guerilla war between those who want to hide and find money. During a vacation on Catalina Island, Martin accidentally disrupts an on-going scheme and finds himself caught between the ultra-wealthy and California’s Department of Corrections, with hundreds of thousands of prisoners caught in the middle.

The Bezzle is out now.

Cory Doctorow is a Toronto-born author, activist and journalist living in Los Angeles. His work, spanning non-fiction and fiction, adult, YA and childhood audiences, has seen him inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and earned him the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Award for lifetime achievement. His book Radicalized was a Canada Reads 2020 contender, when it was defended by Akil Augustine

A white book cover featuring yellow flowers between images of two women with long brown hair. — Pale Shadows is a novel by Dominque Fortier, left, and translated by Rhonda Mullins. (Coach House Books, Carl Lessard, Owen Egan)

Pale Shadows tells the story of three important women in Emily Dickinson’s life: her sister, her brother’s wife and her brother’s mistress, who come together after Emily’s death. With nothing but the poet’s scribbled scraps of paper, Lavinia, Mabel and Susan work through their grief and anger to create a life-changing book.

Pale Shadows is out now.

Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator from Outremont, Que. Her other books translated into English include On the Proper Use of Stars, Wonder, The Island of Books and Paper Houses. Fortier’s first novel, Du bon usage des étoiles was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award and the Prix des Libraires du Quebec. Her novel Au peril de la mer won the Governor General’s Literary Award for French fiction.

Rhonda Mullins is a translator based in Montreal. Her previous works include And Miles To Go Before I Sleep, The Laws of the Skies and Suzanne. A seven-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for translation, Mullins won in 2015 for her translation of Jocelyne Saucier’s Twenty-One Cardinals. Her translation of And the Birds Rained Down by Saucier was a Canada Reads contender in 2015, when it was championed by Martha Wainwright.

A yellow book cover featuring figures in black silhouette next to a woman with long grey hair and glasses smiling at the camera. — A Meditation on Murder is a novel by Susan Juby, the sequel to Mindful of Murder. (HarperCollins, Delgado Photography)

In the sequel to Mindful of Murder, we rejoin Buddhist butler Helen Thorpe in a A Meditation on Murder as she’s tasked to help an influencer, Cartier Hightower, re-examine and rebrand her life. Unfortunately, the plan is quickly derailed by a series of strange accidents that befall Cartier’s fellow content creators. Soon their ranch retreat is overrun with influencer friends and crashed by a murderer.

A Meditation on Murder is out now.

Susan Juby is an author from Vancouver Island whose book Mindful of Murder was nominated for the Leacock Medal for Humour. Her previous books include Getting the Girl, Another Kind of Cowboy and the Alice MacLeod series. Her novel Republic of Dirt won the 2016 Leacock Medal in 2016. She lives on the island with her husband and two dogs.

On the left, Chinese woman with bangs smiles at the camera next to a blue book cover featuring hands and fractured shapes. On the right is a woman with white hair and glasses looking off camera. — Aftershock is a novel by Zhang Ling, left, and translated by Shelly Bryant. (Amazon Crossing, Zhang Ling, Susie Gordon)

In the aftermath of an earthquake that ruptures the city of Tangshan, China, seven-year-old Xiaodeng is separated from her family through her mother’s agonizing, split-second decision. Three decades later, Aftershock finds Xiaodeng in Canada, now an acclaimed writer, still struggling with her childhood wounds. Her only recourse from a breaking point is to return to her home, find her mother and try to heal together.

Aftershock is out now.

Born in China, Zhang Ling moved to Canada in 1986 and began to write in the mid 1990s. Zhang’s works include A Single Swallow, which was translated by Shelly Bryant, Where Waters Meet, her first novel written in English and Gold Mountain Blues. Zhang has won the Chinese Media Literature Award for Author of the Year, the Grand Prize of Overseas Chinese Literary Award and Chinese Times’s Open Book Award.

Shelly Bryant is a poet, writer and translator. She has translated Chinese text for publishers such as Penguin Books and organizations including the National Library Board in Singapore and the Human Sciences Research Council. Her translation of Sheng Keyi’s Northern Girls was on the long list for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012, and her translation of You Jin’s In Time, Out of Place was shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize in 2016.

A woman with wavy grey hair looks at the camera next to a book cover featuring clouds and blue sky. — Followed by the Lark is a novel by Helen Humphreys. (HarperCollins, Ayelet Tsabari)

Followed by the Lark was inspired by poet and abolitionist Henry David Thoreau’s own journals and writing. Crafted as a series of short vignettes, the novel examines Thoreau’s connections to nature and its intimate ties with grief and loss throughout his life.

Followed by the Lark is out now.

Helen Humphreys is an author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from Kingston, Ont. Her 2015 novel, The Evening Chorus, was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award. Her memoir, Nocturne, was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. Previous novels include Coventry, a finalist for the Trillium Book Award; Afterimage, which won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; Leaving Earth, which won the Toronto Book Award; and The Lost Garden, which was a Canada Reads selection in 2003, when it was defended by Mag Ruffman.

A cartoon book cover of a man and woman fishing off a dock. A photo of a woman with long black hair wearing a pink dress. — The Catch is a book by Amy Lea. (Amy Lea, Berkley)

American influencer Melanie and burly Canadian B&B owner Evan collide on Canada’s eastern fishing coast in The Catch. Attempting to rescue her fading brand, Melanie agrees to be Evan’s fake fiancée, whose family is in the midst of a longtime feud over the B&B. Sparks fly in the Canadian wilderness despite their best efforts and Melanie must quickly decide if they’re worth giving up her perfect city life.

The Catch is out now.

Amy Lea is an Ottawa-based contemporary romance writer and Canadian bureaucrat. Her previous novels include Woke Up Like This, which was on the Canada Reads 2024 longlist, Exes and O’s and Set on You.

A Chinese woman with long black hair wearing a white dress stares at the camera next to a green book cover. — Silver Repetition is a novel by Lily Wang. (House of Anansi Press, Maxana Goettl)

Silver Repetition traces Chinese Canadian Yuè Yuè’s struggle to understand herself as she moves through her early 20s. Grappling with a divide between herself and her Canadian-born sister and longing to reconnect with a cousin from back home, Yuè Yuè’s story straddles the line between memory and dream, delving into what it means to have culture, language and identity.

Silver Repetition is out now.

Lily Wang was born in Shanghai and immigrated to Canada when they were six. They have an MA in English and creative writing from the University of Toronto and currently still reside in Toronto.

A book cover featuring a painting of a pristine valley, with the book cover title and author name floating in white font over it. — The Other Valley is a book by Scott Alexander Howard. (Simon & Schuster, Veronica Bonderud)

The Other Valley follows the story of Odile Ozanne, who lives in a town with a magical valley. To the east, the town exists twenty years forward in time. To the west, it’s 20 years behind. Odile seeks to join the Conseil, who decides which of the town’s residents may cross the border into the valley to see departed loved ones. When she recognizes two mourners by accident, Odile realizes they have travelled from the future to see someone Odile knows in her present — setting off a chain of events that change the course of several lives.

The Other Valley is out now.

The Other Valley is Scott Alexander Howard’s first novel. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard. He currently lives in Vancouver.

A pink and blue book cover of a woman sitting on a couch next to a blonde woman with curly hair and red lipstick smiling at the camera. — A Friend in the Dark is a novel by Samantha M. Bailey. (Brilliance, Dahlia Katz)

To cope with a sudden divorce and her daughter’s estrangement, Eden Miller reaches out to Justin in A Friend in the Dark. A connection from 20 years ago, she and Justin rekindle their relationship online. But something more sinister is at work here. Soon, Eden is forced to fight for her family — and their lives.

A Friend in the Dark is out now.

Samantha M. Bailey’s previous books include Woman on the Edge and Watch Out for Her. She currently lives and works in Toronto.

A yellow book cover of a woman diving into shark infested waters next to an Asian woman smiling at the camera. — Never Been Better is a novel by Leanne Toshiko Simpson. (HarperCollins, Soko Negash)

Each with their own struggles that landed them in the psych ward, Dee, Misa and Matt became inseparable friends in Never Been Better. When Misa and Matt are set to be married at a destination wedding a year after being discharged, Dee arrives with her own form of baggage. She’s in love with Matt, and unlike everyone else attending the wedding, Dee knows how Misa and Matt met. Telling him would jeopardize not only their friendships but mutual support systems — but Dee will have to decide what matters most.

Never Been Better is out now.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson lives with bipolar disorder while teaching at the University of Toronto. Never Been Better is her first novel, and she was Acarborough’s Emerging Writer in 2016 and was nominated for the Journey Prize in 2019.

A black and white photo of an Asian woman looking downwards next to a blue book cover. — The Invisible Hotel is a novel by Yeji Ham. (Bond Street Books, Kim Ji-hye)

Amid her family’s on-going struggles — a brother stationed at the North Korean border, a sister in tragedy, her mother’s health waning — Yewon has constant dreams of The Invisible Hotel. In it, there are infinite keys to infinite rooms. As Yewon struggles with feeling trapped in her tiny South Korean village, her dreams lead her to a disarming truth about her country and its collective heritage.

The Invisible Hotel is out now.

Yeji Y. Ham is a Korean Canadian writer who lives in B.C. Her previous works have appeared in journals such as Wilderness Journal, The Rivet Journal and The Broome Street Review. Part of her first short story collection Doraesol won the Frances Mason Harris’ 26 Prizes in Fiction.

A book cover featuring flowers and a brown bull cow next to a Black woman with straight hair smiling at the camera. — Pride and Joy is a novel by Louisa Onomé (Atria Books, Linda Arki)

In Pride and Joy, the titular Joy Okafor grapples with the pressure of planning a perfect 70th birthday for her mother Mary. However, the celebrational weekend grinds to a halt when Mama Mary does not wake from a nap. With her Auntie Nancy staunchly believing that Mary will rise like Jesus on Easter Sunday, Joy must plan a funeral. The rest of the family throws open their doors to the Nigerian Canadian community and a television host, all while avoiding the true meaning of their loss.

Pride and Joy is out now.

Louisa Onomé is a Nigerian Canadian writer whose most recent books include the YA novels Twice as Perfect and The Melancholy of Summer. She lives in the Toronto area.

An Asian man with short grey hair smiles at the camera wearing glasses and a navy suit with his arms crossed. Next to him is a navy book cover with a red circle. — The Laundryman’s Boy is a novel by Edward Y. C. Lee. (HarperCollins, Alvie Islam)

Hoi Wing’s aspirations of education are dashed when the 13-year-old is forced to work in a Chinese laundromat in St. Catherines, Ont as The Laundryman’s Boy. There, amid the mindless toil of handwashing clothing, he meets Heather. The Irish scullery maid shares Hoi Wing’s love of books, and their friendship — and reading hideout — blooms in secret. An entrepreneur, Jonathan Braddock, is the founder of the Asiatic Exclusion League and if he wins his mayoral bid, Hoi Wing will be deported.

The Laundryman’s Boy is out now.

Edward Y. C. Lee was born in Montreal and now lives with his wife and daughter in Toronto. His writing has been published in literary magazines and publications like the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. The Laundryman’s Boy is his debut novel.

A book cover featuring an illustrated couple under an umbrella next to a Pakistani woman in an orange dress smiling at the camera. — Maya’s Laws of Love is a novel by Alina Khawaja. (HarperCollins, Sabrina Khawaja)

Maya’s life has always been guided by a series of rules, always rooted in misfortune: Maya’s Laws of Love. Chiefly, that anything that can, will in fact go wrong. Things seem to be looking up when Maya sets off for Pakistan for an arranged marriage to a handsome doctor, a match she’s all too happy to accept. But when disaster strikes at every turn, Maya finds herself stuck in Switzerland with a cynical lawyer, Sarfaraz, wondering if this detour is exactly what she needs after all.

When you can read it: Mar 26, 2024

Alina Khawaja is a Canadian Pakistani writer who lives in Ontario. She holds degrees in English, history, creative writing and literatures of modernity. Maya’s Laws of Love is her first novel.

A graduation portrait of an Indigenous woman next to a book cover featuring burnt trees on a water horizon under orange sky. — Firekeeper is a novel by by Katłıà. (Roseway Publishing, Carla Unger Photography)

After being kicked out of her home, teen Nyla accidentally sets fire to an ex’s building and winds up in jail for arson. Community diversion leads her to a reserve as the titular Firekeeper, but Nyla’s new home is quickly endangered by encroaching wildfires. In her fight to save the reserve, Nyla learns to heal, reclaiming both her culture and identity.

When you can read it: April 1, 2024

Katłıà has written multiple books, including the memoir Northern Wildflower and the novel Land-Water-Sky / Ndè–Tı–Yat’a, and splits her time between her ancestral homelands in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Lekwungen Speaking Peoples Coast Salish Territory.

A book cover featuring an abandoned waterpark next to a woman with light brown hair in a bob looking at the camera. — What’s Not Mine is a novel by Nora Decter. (ECW Press, Nora Decter)

In What’s Not Mine, Bria Powers’ 16th summer is full of strange and dark occurrences. From plagues of insects, wandering bears and forest fires to the tightening grip of fentanyl throughout her hometown, Bria’s life is divided in two. She lives and works with her cousin, babysitting and slinging burgers by day, and hangs out with an older guy, Somebody, by night. All the while, the creeping shadow of dependence hangs over Bria — until we wonder if she’ll ever beat the odds stacked against her.

When you can read it: April 2, 2024

Nora Decter’s is a writer from Winnipeg. Her previous work includes How Far We Go and How Fast, which won the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize in 2019.

Black and white photos of two men with short hair, one older one younger, on either side of a black and white book cover. — The Hollow Beast is a novel by Christophe Bernard, left, and translated by Lazer Lederhendler. (Biblioasis, Kelly Jacob, Monique Dykstra)

The source of The Hollow Beast’s 100-year feud between two Quebec families lies in a 1911 hockey game, when Monti Bouge catches a puck in the mouth and lands with his head across the goal line. He’s sought justice against the ref, Victor Bradley, ever since it was ruled a good goal. Revenge schemes sprawl three generations, until Monti’s grandson François must make sense of the vendetta that has shaped two families and their entire town.

The French version of The Hollow Beast was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 2018.

When you can read it: April 2, 2024

Originally hailing from Carleton-sur-Mer in the Gaspé region of Quebec, Christophe Bernard now lives in Burlington, Vermont. He has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-to-French translation.

Lazer Lederhendler is a translator and academic from Montreal. He has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for French-to-English translation several times. He won the prize in 2008 for his translation of Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner and again in 2016 for his translation of The Party Wall by Catherine Leroux and in 2020 for If You Hear Me.

A book cover featuring a woman in a yellow top, next to a woman with short grey hair in a blue sweater looking at the camera. — The Secret Keeper is a novel by Genevieve Graham. (Simon & Schuster, Snickerdoodle Photography, Nicola Davison)

Once inseparable, twin sisters Dot and Dash Wilson’s lives are fractured by the Second World War in The Secret Keeper. Dot’s skill with puzzles and Morse code lands her in a top-secret spy school, while Dash escapes their family’s personal tragedy by training as a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary. Secrecy oaths threaten to tear the sisters apart, but Dot’s loyalties are tested when a close contact goes missing in a Nazi-occupied territory. With all eyes on her operation, Dot uses all her skills to save lives.

When you can read it: April 2, 2024

Genevieve Graham has written many novels, including The Forgotten Home Child, Letters Across the Sea and Bluebird. She lives and writes in Alberta.

A Black woman with her hair pulled up smiles at the camera next to an orange book cover featuring sunflowers. — Village Weavers is a novel by Myriam J. A. Chancy. (Tin House Books, N. Affonso)

Childhood friends Gertie and Sisi are extremely close, despite the socioeconomic differences that separate their daily lives in 1940s Port-au-Prince. An end-of-life secret tears their families apart in Village Weavers, and we follow the girls across the decades as Sisi moves to Paris and Gertie marries into a rich Dominican family — eventually both landing in the United States. A sudden phone call forces their lives back together, where they might finally be able to forgive and trust again.

When you can read it: April 2, 2024

Myriam J. A. Chancy is the author of four novels and four books of literary criticism. Her novel The Loneliness of Angels won the Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Award in 2011 and was shortlisted for the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize in Carribbean Literature for fiction. Chancy was raised in Haiti and Canada and now resides in the United States. Her previous book, What Storm, What Thunder, was longlisted for the 2022 Aspen Words Literary Prize and the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

A black book cover featuring a Black man wearing wired headphones with his eyes closed, next to a Black man with his hair closely shaven wearing a blue collared shirt and glasses looking at the camera. — Perfect Little Angels is a collection of stories by Vincent Anioke. (Arsenal, Samuel Nwaokpani)

Perfect Little Angels is a short story collection set mostly in Nigeria, pondering questions of expectation, desire and duty among its various characters. From boarding school tensions to secret rendezvous between lovers in a hill, the stories explore masculinity, religion, othering, queerness, love and self-expression.

When you can read it: April 9, 2024

Vincent Anioke was born and raised in Nigeria and now lives in Waterloo. Ont. He has been a finalist for the 2023 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and won the Austin Clarke Fiction Prize in 2021. His short story Utopia was longisted for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize. His work has been featured in SmokeLong Quarterly, The Rumpus, The Masters Review and Passages North.

A person with short, curly brown hair looks at the camera with their chin in their hand next to a red book cover with a half wolf, half deer illustration. — Grey Dog is a novel by Elliott Gish. (ECW Press, William Dicks)

When Ada Byrd, amateur naturalist and spinster, accepts a teaching position in the isolated Lowry Bridge, it seems like the perfect escape. Here, no one is privy to her past full of shame and grief, until Ada is suddenly plagued by strange, disturbing nature: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a half-formed faun. Soon, Ada loses her grip on the real, the delusion, or the traumatic memory and takes to the woods. There she wonders if the real horror isn’t the Grey Dog behind these horrible offerings, but Ada herself instead.

When you can read it: April 9, 2024

Elliott Gish’s work has appeared in journals such as New Quarterly, the Baltimore Review and the Dalhousie Review. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2022. Gish lives and works in Halifax.

On the left, a Black bald man wearing a black turtle neck sitting in front of a mantle looking at the camera. In the centre, a multi-colour book cover. On the right, a Lebanese man with short dark hair and facial hair looking at the camera. — The War You Don’t Hate is a novel by Blaise Ndala, left, and translated by Dimitri Nasrallah. (Vehicule Press, Pascale Castonguay, Bruno Destombes)

As Montreal documentary filmmaker Véronique Quesnel accepts awards and praise for her telling of Sona’s story, a young woman who escaped sex slavery, danger emerges. Across the ocean, on the other side of The War You Don’t Hate, Master Corporal Red Ant and his cousin Baby Che are on a mission for truth and vengeance after the Second Congo War and they’ve set their sights on Véronique.

When you can read it: April 10, 2024

Blaise Ndala is the Ottawa-based Congolese Canadian author of the novels J’irai danser sur la tombe de Senghor, which won the Ottawa Book Prize in the French Fiction category and Sans capote ni kalachnikov, winner of the 2019 edition of the Combat national des livres.

Dimitri Nasrallah is the author of four novels. His most recent book Hotline, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and championed by Bhangra dancer Gurdeep Pandher on Canada Reads 2023. Nasrallah was born in Lebanon in 1977 and moved to Canada in 1988. His previous books include The Bleeds, Niko and Blackbodying.

A book cover featuring a bison on a yellow background next to a black and white photo of a bearded man in sunglasses and a cowboy hat. — Prairie Edge is a novel by Conor Kerr. (Strange Light, Jordon Hon)

Isidore “Ezzy” Desjarlais and Grey Ginther live together in Grey’s uncle’s trailer, passing their time with cribbage and cheap beer. The former is cynical of what she feels is a lazy and performative activist culture, while the latter is simply devoted to her distant cousin. So when Ezzy concocts a scheme to set a herd of bison loose in downtown Edmonton, Grey is along for the ride — a ride in Prairie Edge that has devastating, fatal consequences.

When you can read it: April 16, 2024

Conor Kerr is a Métis/Ukrainian writer who hails from many prairie towns and cities, including Saskatoon. He now lives in Edmonton. A 2022 CBC Books writer to watch, his previous works include the novels Old Gods and Avenue of Champions, which was longlisted for the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and won the ReLit award the same year. Kerr currently teaches creative writing at the University of Alberta.

A woman with brown hair in half top knot sits in a forest smiling at the camera next to a forest themed book cover. — Play is a novel by Jess Taylor. (Book*hug, Angela Lewis)

Paulina “Paul” Hayes spent much of her childhood playing in The Lighted City, an imaginary place with her cousin Adrian. Decades later and struggling with PTSD, Adrian’s death and constant reports of missing children, Play finds Paul returning to her hometown and the ravine of The Lighted City in order to come to terms with “the day everything happened.”

When you can read it: April 23, 2024

Jess Taylor is a writer and poet based in Toronto. Her previous short story collections are Pauls and Just Pervs. The title story of Pauls won the 2013 Gold Fiction National Magazine Award, while Just Pervs was a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Fiction. Play is her first novel.

An illustrated cover of a couple stranded on the beach next to a woman with long brown hair wearing a green sweater and jeans smiling at the camera — Not How I Pictured It is a novel by Robin Lefler. (HarperAvenue, Alex Dekker)

Agnes “Ness” Larkin surprises herself more than anyone when she signs up for the reboot of a hit teen TV drama she starred in 20 years ago. Joining her are former best friend Libby and Hayes, the one who got away. The drama begins quickly in Not How I Pictured It when the group of seven actors and their production assistant are stranded on a remote island with only a derelict mansion and each other for survival. Can they learn from the past, and each other, and make it through the storm?

When you can read it: April 23, 2024

Robin Lefler lives and writes in her hometown near Toronto. Her first book is called Reasonable Adults.

A book cover of a half-eaten beach with a bee near the juice. A woman with long Black hair smiles. — Death By A Thousand Cuts is a short story collection by Shashi Bhat. (McClelland & Stewart, Olivia Li)

Death by a Thousand Cuts traces the funny, honest and difficult parts of womanhood. From a writer whose ex published a book about their breakup to the confession wrought by a Reddit post, these stories probe rage, loneliness, bodily autonomy and these women’s relationships with themselves just as much as those around them.

When you can read it: April 23, 2024

Shashi Bhat’s previous novels include The Family Took Shape, a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and The Most Precious Substance on Earth, which was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 2022. Her short stories won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Bhat lives in New Westminster, B.C.

A book cover featuring a couple walking through an old city, next to a photo of an older man with grey hair sitting on a chair outside, looking at the camera. — Mr. Good-Evening is a novel by John MacLachlan Gray. (Douglas & McIntyre, Beverlee Gray)

Mr. Good-Evening tangles the stories of same-name radio news host Ed McCurdy, burgeoning celebrity; Dora Decker, accused of being the Fatal Flapper murderer; and Inspector Calvin Hook, determined to piece together a twisting mystery. Third in the Raincoast Noir series, this crime thriller pulls readers through the gritty streets of 1920s Vancouver, full of history and intrigue.

When you can read it: April 27, 2024

John MacLachlan Gray is a writer-composer-performer for stage, film, television, radio and print. He is the author of seven crime novels, including The White Angel and Vile Spirits. An officer of the Order of Canada, Gray lives in Vancouver.

An Indian woman wearing a red top with long dark hair smiles at the camera next to a colourful book cover featuring a hand holding up a mirror with several eyes in the reflection. — Peacocks of Instagram is a short story collection by Deepa Rajagopalan. (House of Anansi Press, Ema Suvajac)

The collection of stories in Peacocks of Instagram paint a tapestry of the Indian diaspora. Tales of revenge, love, desire and family explore the intense ramifications of privilege, or lack thereof. Coffee shop and hotel housekeeping employees, engineers and children show us all of themselves, flaws and all.