New on the Shelf

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Mary Foley, Mary Doyle: Unravelling A Mother’s Secrets by Marjorie Doyle

Synopsis: Mary Foley, Mary Doyle is Marjorie’s journey to uncover the layers of her mother’s life. It is not a straightforward story to tell secrets, omissions, and equivocations were the tools Mary relied on for protection.
Mary Foley was raised in the 1920s and 30s in a bleak mill town on the west coast of Newfoundland. The Foleys of Corner Brook were urban poor; Mary never mentioned an address, just the relentless pursuit by landlords, one of whom hauled the roof off their house to force them out.
With the help of her ambitious illiterate mother and a convent of nuns, Mary earned her secretarial diploma, her ticket to St. John’s. She married her boss, a wealthy widower 25 years her senior and the father of five boys.
A deep-rooted contrariness complicated every relationship. She fell out with maids, doctors, neighbours, siblings, and her best friend and faux lover, a priest. A smouldering disquiet that the world was not fair, born of early years when poor and vulnerable she couldn’t fight back, haunted her.
Marjorie Doyle stitches together her mother’s story from family recollections, archival work, and personal papers found after Mary’s death. Mary remains centre stage as Marjorie’s challenger, admirer, and detective, herself part of the narrative tries to record a life and penetrate the shield of a proud and secretive woman.
Publisher: Boulder Books
Available: via Boulder Books, at Chapters, Indigo, and other local retailers

The Truth Marches On, Book One by Boyd Holloway

Synopsis: In 1914, a courageous middle-aged lady from Nova Scotia crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence with plans to arrange showings of a 9-hour slide and moving picture presentation called “The Photo-Drama of Creation.” In the face of intense opposition, she thereby introduced to the old British colony of Newfoundland a new religious movement, then known as Bible Students (today active in 239 lands as Jehovah’s Witnesses). The book recounts the history of the Witnesses in this province from 1914 to the present, and endeavours to preserve stories and anecdotes of the people, including the Holloway family of Bloomfield, Bonavista Bay. Since he was raised in the faith from an early age, Boyd’s personal story provides intimate insights into the life of a young boy and teenager growing to adulthood in a religious movement whose beliefs and practices are sometimes controversial. This book is the first of a planned trilogy.
Publisher: Self-published via JBK Publishing 
Available: via the author or at Garnish General Store in Garnish, NL.

Barber, Black Sheep by Ann Neville

Synopsis: England, 1870. Four years after finishing the prison sentence that stole a decade of his life, Oliver finds himself an uncomfortable lodger in his childhood home. Although he has the support of his siblings and the barber that he works for, he lives a life of quiet despondency, still battling the kleptomania that landed him in prison. When one of Oliver’s aristocratic clients invites him to a social gathering, he’s unwittingly implicated in an act of theft which — for once — he did not commit. As he tries to keep his head above water and piece together how this happened, he finds company in Kittie, a scullery maid torn between her familial obligations and her burgeoning dreams of a happier life. In this tale of desperation and desire, Oliver struggles to overcome the hardships his illness poses on his everyday life — and its impacts on his family, employer, and newfound love.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via Amazon

Eat Where You Are by Christine Faour

Synopsis: Have you visited Newfoundland and returned home wanting to make some of their delicious foods? Did you wonder what a touton was? Ever eaten hummus, tabouli or baklava and wanted to make those and other Lebanese dishes? How about Quebec cuisine? While you are eating turkey at Christmas, what are Les Quebecois eating? What is the secret to good Poutine? How do you make Lobster Chowder and Nova Scotian Oatcakes? These questions and more are answered in this very different cookbook/memoir.
Born in Newfoundland to a Lebanese family, Christine has developed an eclectic cooking repertoire. From these roots, she raised her own family in Quebec and prepared some popular French-Canadian dishes. Here you will find a compilation of recipes and stories from those years as well as some of her family’s favourites, both past and present. This book also reveals the incredible story behind Christine’s famous Divorce Fudge.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via Amazon

Behind the Dress by Christine Faour

Synopsis: The docuseries, Shiny Happy People, tells the student’s stories of abuse, control and brainwashing that took place in The ATI cult. Here is a mother’s story of the life and rules she lived by until she found herself out of the cult but unable to live in the world like a ‘normal’ person.
A woman from Newfoundland, who was in the ATI for 14 years, she didn’t know that it was a cult. She spent the next nine years trying to deprogram. The ATI had the hallmarks of a cult, but Christine’s family believed they were God’s chosen. Join her as she navigates the cult, gives up wearing pants for the duration, goes through a divorce, finds out she was in a cult and subsequently unlearns all she believed to be true. Written with humor and candor, her story is both heart wrenching and humorous at the same time.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via Amazon

A Queer History of Newfoundland by Rhea Rollmann

Synopsis: “There have always been queers in Newfoundland and Labrador.” The powerful story of queer community-building and activism in Canada’s most easterly province has never been told in comprehensive book form – until now. A Queer History of Newfoundland provides an unprecedented glimpse into this important history and the people and organizations that drove Newfoundland and Labrador’s twentieth century queer liberation movement.
Part community oral history, part archival study, A Queer History of Newfoundland chronicles the fight for human rights protections, AIDS activism, the growth of the vibrant queer bar scene, lesbian struggles for space in the feminist movement, trans struggles for recognition and health care, and more. Drawing on nearly 150 interviews with community members, it showcases the important activism that helped overcome ignorance, bigotry, repressive laws and traditions as well as geographic barriers in the fight for equality and rights. The story of the queer liberation movement in this province is one of great pride and joy; one of hardship and struggle; and ultimately one of triumph. Why? Because there have always been – and always will be – queers in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Publisher: Engen Books
Available: Via Engen Books, Amazon

I Dreamed I Was an Afterthought by Allie Duff

Synopsis: A sometimes satirical reflection on hope in a time of hopelessness, the poems in I Dreamed I Was an Afterthought use stubborn humour to grapple with the anxiety of moving forward during late capitalism. While many of the poems are set in Newfoundland, the book also echoes the universal experience of loss, leaving, returns, and never being able to return. The first section, titled “Some Disasters,” introduces real and imagined catastrophes. The St. Lawrence tidal wave, the history of resettlement, and the Muskrat Falls debacle stand next to poems that live in an imagined future where the capelin refuse to roll and snow refuses to fall. The second section is titled “I dreamed I was an afterthought.” Here, the eclectic poems turn to a more personal perspective of place, Duff’s struggles with mental illness, and a feminist exploration of familial relationships.
Publisher: Guernica Editions
Available: for pre-order via Guernica Editions

ART by Marin Darmonkow

Synopsis: Art is autistic and artistic.
Art has just one friend – his teddy bear.
Art does not speak but he makes art.
Art that defies even gravity.
The publication crowns the artist and turns royalty into a mere audience.
The sophisticated illustrations inspire readers to express their emotions, verbalize their feelings and create their own stories.
Publisher: Fontreal
Available: via on Amazon, IngramSpark

My Sam Johnson by Wayne Jones

Synopsis: My Sam Johnson is a biography of the great 18th-century English writer, Samuel Johnson. It traces his life from his birth in the small town of Lichfield in 1709 to his death in London in 1784. Along the way, it focuses on both his character and on his numerous and diverse publications. He was depressive and often very critical of his supposed laziness, but he managed to produce a huge oeuvre of writing during his life: essays, poetry, a novella, a play, political pamphlets, and travel writing. He also published an annotated edition of Shakespeare’s plays as well as a collection of biographies of writers mostly in his century and the 17th. He’s perhaps most famous for also compiling the first modern dictionary of the English language, which was the authoritative source well into the 19th century.
Publisher: Self-published via William & Park
Available: via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indigo, and Audible

Magic Mushrooms and Other Hallucinations by Svea Beson

Synopsis: Join best friends Laela and Sally, as they navigate the ups and downs of teenage life in 1980s Newfoundland. In a world of peer pressure and raging hormones, the two girls are determined to have fun and make their mark. While Sally longs for a stable home life, she is welcomed into her friend’s family with open arms. But trouble is never far away, chapter one finds the friends embroiled in a wild adventure involving magic mushrooms, a boy, and a deserted swimming pool. Through it all, the girls learn important lessons about family, love, and the power of friendship. This coming-of-age tale is a nostalgic journey back in time, offering a glimpse into the world of teens who live for the moment, with little thought for the future. Despite the challenges they face, Laela and Sally forge their own path and strive for a better tomorrow.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via Amazon

Face into the Wind by Rosalind Gill

Synopsis: Following on the success of her first collection of short stories, Too Unspeakable for Words, Rosalind Gill’s new collection of ten short stories features mainly women protagonists embroiled in situations of thought-provoking social conflict and explores their struggle to resolve their problems. Two of the stories are set in Ontario, where the author has had her academic career. In the words of the author, “I am a Newfoundland writer and Face into the Wind is an identifiably Newfoundland collection. I grew up in a story-telling family in a story-telling society. This is how we find meaning and make sense of things in my culture. As well, I have always been fascinated by language. I am also a literary translator and language academic. I see my writing as a unique, modern-day literary extension of traditional oral story-telling. The narration is infused with the ironic humour and imaginary of the Newfoundland language and cultural idiom and echoes the richness of oral Newfoundland English.”
Publisher: Mosaic Press
Available: via Mosaic Press and Coles

Lore Isle by Jiin Kim

The Dirty Dozen: A Novel from the Dauntless Files by Weston Raske

Synopsis: In the post pandemic world, a shadowy group of European elitists are determined to take on the existential threat to humanity posed by climate change… and they are willing to sacrifice countless American lives to do it.
Standing in their way are Blake and Kat Zane of The Clean World Organization, their formidable super-yacht, Dauntless, and her fearless crew. Pointed in the right direction by an old friend and business associate in the CIA they begin to unravel the murderous plot.
From North Korea to North America and across the seven seas, they face impossible odds – racing against time, piecing together the unthinkable to prevent the unimaginable.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via the author’s website

We’d Rather Fight Than Eat by Jay McGrath

Candid Conversations: Life. Lessons. Growth. by Margaret Aligbe

Indie Rock by Joe Bishop

Synopsis: In 1820, young Irish lad Peter Lynch signed on to an English fishing vessel, which was to ply the codfish-rich waters off the coast of Newfoundland. His dreams were soon dashed when mistreatment and hardship became the norm for him. Before the schooner was to return in the fall, Peter decided to take his chances by jumping ship and running inland. His escape was burdened with injury, after which he was taken in by the native Beothuk tribe.
One hundred and eighty years later, Inspector Bob Lynch of the Irish police force An Garda Síochána decided to emigrate to Newfoundland, Canada, where he joined the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. He was always aware of his great-great-uncle Peter Lynch, who had at one time lived in Newfoundland. His ancestor had written a vivid memoir, and it is this memoir that comes to mind when Constable Lynch is assigned to an unusual homicide—one whose victim was killed by an arrow to the neck. The arrowhead is made of a stone that was used by the native people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
As the investigation proceeds, a pattern emerges. Similar murders in Brazil, North Dakota, and British Columbia also involve the ancient Ramah stone from northern Labrador. How could that be? And what connection might these crimes have to the now-extinct Beothuk tribe?
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: via Flanker Press, Chapters, Coles and Costco

The Toy Maker by Melanie Flynn

Message in a Bottle by Holly Hogan

Synopsis: From the heart of the Labrador Current to the furthest reaches of our global oceans, Message in a Bottle conjures an exquisite diversity of marine life and warns of a central threat to its survival: ocean plastic.
In Message in a Bottle, wildlife biologist and writer Holly Hogan brings to extraordinary life the wonder and resilience of these creatures and many other birds, fish and marine mammals she has encountered in sea voyages from the Arctic to the Antarctic oceans.
Bringing together nature, science and adventure writing, seabird biologist Holly Hogan shines a light on our plastic-addicted lifestyle and offers a compelling, eyewitness account of its devastating effects on the marine environment—70% of our planet. With lyrical prose and a reverential eye for the majesty and fragility of our natural world, Message in a Bottle is a clarion call to protect global oceans and the life they sustain, including our own.  Finally, Hogan offers hope, by empowering the reader to make choices that support healthy oceans and restore marine life.
Publisher: Knopf Canada (Penguin Random House)
Available: via The Travel Bug & The Bees Knees, Chapters and Indigo stores, Amazon

Na Lanni (Kidnapped children of Culdina) by Gail Aylward

Synopsis: Allison Carey set out from Chance Cove, a small village on Newfoundland’s Southern Shore, for a day of trouting. A strange fog descends, stranding her overnight by the side of Aidan’s Pond. Footfalls squelching through rain-soaked moss in the night frighten Allison and, when she stands to investigate, a fall renders her unconscious.
She awakes in Shoshanna surrounded by impossible beings, asked to embark on a perilous trek to rescue five kidnapped children— faerie children. Na Lanni (Our Children) are captives in the dungeons of heartless Tragen Dowhan. Allison must summon every fiber of strength and courage she possesses to succeed.
Allison experiences failure and triumph, heartache and joy, betrayal and love, and experiences unbelievable marvels. The journey turns her world upside down, forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about faeries, family, and herself.
Six Seandra Dowhan (faeries) and one human set out. Not all return.
Publisher: Self-Published
Available: via Amazon, the author’s website, local stores and libraries

Love, Sex and Codependence: Poems and Stories by Dawn Evans

Synopsis: Dating post-divorce, when you really have no idea what a loving, healthy relationship looks like, is a ride. Especially when you’ve committed to doing it with your eyes open.
I have spent the last three years trying to understand what healthy love and self-love is and how to achieve them. It is coming through practising emotional intelligence, meditation, and through heaps of therapy and self-help reading. Those have given me an understanding of attachment needs, trauma, and the correlations between my childhood and how I act now. Applying that knowledge to what I was doing with men has made for the hilarious, enlightening, depressing, romantic, hopeful, raunchy, and spiritual writings here.
This collection of poems and stories embodies self-acceptance, feminism, freedom, body image, a journey to self-love and a whole lot of learning.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via Amazon

Addictions Anonymous by Spencer Crawford FitzGerald and P.A. MacDonald

Synopsis: Long-time collaborators, FitzGerald and MacDonald, have taken the plunge into poetry through Addictions Anonymous. This has led to the creation of a work that speaks beautifully about Affections, Feelings, and Addictions that impact human existence. As life is a descriptive use of words commingled with daily human interactions, the duo have penned about Fears, Gambling, and Connectivity.
Publisher: Olympia Publishers
Available: via Olympia Publishers, Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, and local bookstores/retailers.

Water/Wept by Daze Jefferies

Synopsis: This short and playful collection explores intergenerational touches and relations that wash through the lives of trans sex workers in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland).
Publisher: Anstruther Press
Available: via Anstruther Press 

Saving Maria Lindsey by John Goodland

Synopsis: Maria Lindsey: Legend has it that she was a maniacal madwoman, the Pirate Queen of the Seas to the west of Newfoundland and into the St. Lawrence. Intent on cruelty and malice, crews of captured ships were given no quarter as she slaughtered them to a man by heinous means. Aided by her lover Eric Cobham and their rag-tag crew of fishermen turned pirates, plundering and sinking ships was secondary to the thrill of satisfying Maria’s sadistic needs.
Yet the reality of any legend depends on the teller of the tale.  Peter Lindsey, Maria’s younger brother, is along for the ride and knows there is a different side to his one and only sister. Peter loves Maria, and wants nothing more than to protect her, to save her. What happened to the gentle and loving young girl that he knew? Could the rigours of 18^th century life really transform Maria into the monster they say she was, or is there something more to her story? Can Peter save Maria from her life and herself? Love and tragedy sail hand in hand, and only Peter’s story can reveal the truth.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: as an eBook via Kobo, eBook and paperback via Amazon, and in local bookstores.

Greenwood Fires by Geraldine Ryan-Lush

Synopsis: “Greenwood Fires” marks an outstanding contribution on the literary landscape, the amazing 19th publication of a prolific author and poet, who has demonstrated excellence in all genres and categories of writing for the past three decades. The multi-award-winning author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry collections, Ryan-Lush has long been lauded for her poetic expression. Her book “Hairs On Bears” was a Best Book Of The Year by School Library Journal, N.Y., and an entry on the American Bookseller’s Pick Of The Lists, while “Goodbye Wart” and “Mumps Mania” were each awarded a Canada Book Award, for outstanding accomplishment and timelessness. Her first collection of poetry for adults, “Once When I Wasn’t Looking,” was considered for the Griffin Poetry Prize, and is contained in the Journal Of Canadian Poetry, University Of Toronto, as well as being on collection at major universities nationally and internationally.
In “Greenwood Fires,” in a manner, the author comes full circle. The collection is elegiac, part memoir in free verse, part a poetic take on modern society, rife with arresting observation, painting a palette of influences past and present, naked, bold, and skeletal,  from the battery radio on a shelf, to stick fences, to Hillbilly Shakespeares, and 1940’s torch songs, to coffee shop blues, to worrying about retirement.  In the words of her poem “News,” this work is a “chastising liquid of bark like strength,”-enduring, entrenched, and palpable.
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Available: Amazon, Chapters/Coles, and numerous online sites, in Paperback and Kindle

Chirp’s Large Day by Rebecca Gladney

Synopsis: Join Chirp as he explores downtown St. John’s! Many opportunities to engage with children outside of just reading the book, including having your own adventure and “Large Day” around town. A great way to share the magic of this city with those missing home, those who’ve visited, and those you wish would visit!
Our font was specially designed by an ABA to help those with text processing issues to read along as well, and the rhyming scheme is helpful for language development in young children.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via ChirpsAdventures.com and in-store at The Downhome (Water Street and Avalon Mall locations), GeoCentre gift shop

From The Shadows​: Surviving the Depths of Mental Illness by Pauline Spurrell

The Two Lights by Luanne Langdon

Synopsis: The tall red and white striped tower had stood on the headland of Green Point for many years. Through fair and foul weather, it had successfully guided vessels into safe harbours. This, however, was a vicious storm. Could it once again bring frightened and weary mariners to a safe haven? This story is based upon a true incident that occurred in a small community in Newfoundland during the 1930s.
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Available: at The Tickle Trunk (245 Duckworth Street, St. John’s), Canon Richards Tea Room (Bareneed), Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online sellers

A Heartbeat Away from You by Ann M. Miller

Synopsis: After a daredevil play on the baseball field leads to a four-minute-long cardiac arrest, seventeen-year-old Ali Benton is lucky to be alive. Now she wants to make the most of her second chance—and she’s not going to let a pesky little pacemaker, or her helicopter dad, slow her down.
Between chairing multiple school clubs and working two jobs to help his single mother pay the bills, Max Delaney has got every second of every day planned. His childhood nemesis, Ali, doesn’t figure into any of them. But when her overprotective father offers him cash to keep an eye on her and steer her away from baseball, his plans change.
Ali can’t figure out why Max, the condescending know-it-all, is sticking to her side like Krazy Glue, and Max can barely tolerate headstrong Ali. But opposites attract, and before long, fighting turns to kissing. Even as sparks fly, the secrets they’ve been keeping threaten to tear them apart. When Max learns Ali’s been putting herself in harm’s way and playing ball in secret, he struggles with how to tell her father. If he tattles, he’ll lose her trust. If he doesn’t, he may lose her heart…in more ways than one.
Publisher: Sword and Silk Books
Available: via Books2Read and in print locally in St. John’s NL at Elaine’s Books, Chapters Kenmount Road, Coles Avalon Mall and Coles Village Mall.

Great Future LOL by Gary Evans

Synopsis: 5 tales of defeat and humiliation!
Publisher: Black Lamb Press
Available: via Black Lamb Press

Synopsis: (Inspired by True Events.) In his youth, Richard “Dickie” Dalton had the potential to become a writer. Instead, he became an offshore oil worker who settled down in his hometown of Dildo, Newfoundland, with his wife, Morely, and his daughter, Maggie. Now, years later, when ten-year-old Maggie starts displaying bizarre behaviour, and after an unexplainable tragedy occurs at her elementary school, Dickie begins documenting the events that plague his family and haunt the town. In their search for answers, Dickie and Morley begin to question whether Maggie might be possessed by a demon.
Dickie Dalton’s first-person manuscript, which includes witness accounts from the doctors who treat Maggie, the local police who respond to the school incident, Maggie’s teachers, news reports, and documentation of the involvement of a visiting Nigerian priest, Father William Carlow, gives a full account of the possession of Maggie Dalton. This manuscript follows Maggie’s exorcism, which took place in the Dalton home during the fall of 2010.
Publisher: Flanker Press Ltd.
Available via: Flanker Press Ltd.

Jellies In The Belly: A Sea Turtle’s Atlantic Journey by Carol McDougall

Synopsis: Jellies in the belly. Swim far sea turtle, swim far . . .  Join Lally the leatherback sea turtle from her birth on a tropical beach to her long migration north and then back again.  During her journey, the sea turtle protects fish populations by feeding on jellyfish in the Atlantic Ocean.
Publisher: Boulder Books
Available: via Boulder Books

Dear Billie: A World War II Love Story by Karen Lundy

Based on the full text of ninety-two letters written during the Second World War and beyond. Dear Billie tells the true story of a longdistance romance that began during the war and lasted a lifetime. Written by Roland “Vern” Ploughman of Bay Roberts to his girl, Lillian “Billie” Wenman of Toronto, these letters follow a tank gunner’s experience of training, combat wounding and return home. Years later, in 2019, Vern and Billie’s daughter, Karen Lundy, discovered the letters among her parent’s possessions. She presents them here for the first time.
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: via Flanker Press, Coles, Chapters

Running Before the Wind by Jerome Jesseau

Haunted Towns, Volume Two: More Ghost Stories Of Newfoundland & Labrador by Geraldine Ryan-Lush

Synopsis: Following the wildly bestselling first collection of true ghost stories of NL, “Haunted Towns: Ghost Stories Of NL,” comes an astounding 2nd volume, packed with even MORE shivers from a place where the spirits never rest! Who IS the ghost child on the moving escalator at St. John’s airport? Don’t hire a moving truck that is possessed by the revengeful ghost of a man whose wife gave away his furniture! What is the true story of the love triangle murder spirit in a St. Pierre hotel? Who is the lonely spirit boy of a resettled Bonavista island who refused to leave? Ever laugh at Ouija boards? Read “Sizzling Seances”, and never laugh again. Who or what is the entity who saved a woman from certain death during Snowmageddon?   The pot is stirred,  and thick with shivers from every corner of NL.  This voluminous 2nd collection involves orally-rendered true encounters, augmented with historical research as perspective. Once more, a delectable dish is served up, of creepiness, horror,  and intrigue that scales the heights of paranormal suspense, and holds us spellbound, quaking, questioning, and questing!  Settle back, you’re on the ghost train again, and this time you may never get off!
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Available: via Coles/Chapters, Amazon, Kindle

The Smile by Marin Darmonkow

Synopsis: In a land where there is six months night and six months day, where thewind rarely rests, and food is scarce, a girl and her family struggle to survive. When mother and father leave to find food, Ahnah and her favourite dog, Akiak, must endure on their own, but by following a dream, they may bring a smile to more than one face.
THE SMILE will be a permafree book – forever. Why you may ask? Download the book and you will read the story.
Publisher: Fontreal
Available: via Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, Draft2Digital, Scribd and more.

Adventures Of A Lightkeeper by Barry Porter

Synopsis: For 23 years, Barry Porter worked as a lighthouse keeper with the Canadian Coast Guard on the NE coast of NL. His adventures began at Surgeon’s Cove Head Lighthouse, which guided shipping to and from the busy ports of Botwood and Lewisporte. Barry also worked at Bacalhao, Puffin Island, and the historic Long Point Lighthouse on Twillingate Island. He was the last lightkeeper to live in this majestic 146-year-old dwelling while working there. There, he observed some of the most dedicated hunters and fishermen in the world.
Barry had many close encounters with Arctic foxes, hungry polar bears, snowy owls, humpback whales, and towering icebergs. His journals describe the isolation, the history of the lighthouses, the hardy pioneers who first kept the light, marine rescues, near misses, and vicious storms. Completing this lightkeeper’s tale are memories of the Canadian Coast Guard ships, the helicopters and technicians he worked alongside, rescues Barry performed while off-duty, and his efforts to rehabilitate a paralyzed beagle that lived with him at Long Point Lighthouse. Also included is a chapter devoted to Richard Wells of Exploits Island.
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: via Flanker Press, Costco, Chapters Indigo/Coles & other fine book stores.

The Birds Come Back In The Spring by Hannah Jenkins

Synopsis: Forming a narrative of one woman’s journey to adulthood from the ages of six to twenty-one, the poetry of Hannah Jenkins is an uncompromising look into the grace, torment, and beauty of all things feminine. The goal of the book is to neither demonize nor glorify any one age of its storyteller but instead to retroactively insert kindness into the unrest of ageing and say to the ever-growing, ever-healing child in all of us: I hear you.
Publisher: Engen Books
Available: via Engen Books

Jesse and the Seven Wonders of St. John’s by Herbert F. Hopkins

Synopsis: On the heels of Herbert F Hopkins’ internationally acclaimed children’s book, “Jesse and the Seven Wonders of the World,”  Hopkins’ storytelling returns to his beloved St. John’s, Newfoundland.
In this travel adventure, Jesse (gender is the reader’s choice) and the one-eyed mutt, Pilot, fly in their dreams to find the greatest wonder of St. John’s. Sabeen, a Cameroonian refugee befriends the duo and joins them in visiting some of  the city’s iconic landmarks. All is going well until Sabeen falls into Deadman’s Pond. But something wonderful is also revealed.
Between Corey Majeau’s captivating illustrations and Hopkins’ poetic and insightful storytelling,  Jesse and the Seven Wonders of St. John’s will surely become one of your child’s favourite books. Ages 5-95.
Publisher: Words and Wood Publishing
Available: via www.jesseandthesevenwonders.com and where local books are sold.

Kate’s Magical Play Dates; Nope Not Me! by Courtney Wicks

Synopsis: Every day Kate skips to her room, sits by her toy box, and pulls out a toy for a magical adventure. This time it’s Star, a beautiful unicorn who takes her to Sparkle Cove. Along the way, Star discovers Kate is feeling sad and decides to bring her to meet some of his perfectly imperfect pals! What will Kate discover about herself on this adventure? Illustrations by Darlee O. Orbiztondo.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: via www.courtneywicks.com, via Amazon,  Facebook and Instagram

Desolate by Carolyn R. Parsons

Synopsis: It is the year 2047 and Jean Adler knows precisely three things.
First, she adores her adopted town of Desolate Island and wants to live there forever.
Second, leading her community through the fallout that plunged their world into darkness, forcing her to decide if they will stay or leave, is way outside her skillset.
And third, it is guaranteed that only a lucky few of her beloved community— and her brand new family— will make it out alive.
What she doesn’t know though is: who?
Publisher: Engen Books
Available: via Engen Books

The Merchant’s Mansion by Brad Dunne

Synopsis: There’s something haunting the merchant’s mansion in Cachot Cove.
Nick O’Keefe’s parents bought the old house to transform into a bed and breakfast as a retirement project. Then he watched as they grew old before their time, their minds unmoored from their bodies. Now the house is his responsibility, but it turns out the previous owner isn’t done with it—or its tenants.
Caught in the web of a malevolent spirit, Nick must unravel the dark secrets surrounding the merchant’s mansion or he too will suffer the same fate as those unfortunate souls who came before him.
Publisher: Engen Books
Available: via Engen Books

Flown into the Arms of Angels: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Unsung Heroes of 9/11 by Mac Moss

Synopsis: This book is about Newfoundland and Labrador’s response following 9/11. For the first time, Mac Moss tells the stories of people across the entire province—from Stephenville to Gander, to Goose Bay and St. John’s—who pitched in and helped approximately 13,000 stranded passengers in 2001 after terrorist attacks in the United States changed the world forever.
He has interviewed municipal and service organization leaders of that time, former airport personnel, members of the RCMP and Canadian Red Cross, educators, clergy, and many others who volunteered to give the passengers shelter, food, laundry, and love. This book captures true accounts that, until now, have never been told.
Read about professionalism, dedication, laughter, caring, love and grief as told by those who made this remarkable story happen. All of these individuals are heroes who have not yet been recognized. This is their story.
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: via Flanker Press

My Sister Lily, Who Doesn’t Have Autism by Natalie Dalton

Synopsis: Discover a beautiful children’s book that explores autism and celebrates our differences!
Blending colorful illustrations with a heartwarming story, My Sister Lily, Who Doesn’t Have Autism is a touching book that seeks to provide an illuminating perspective on autism and neurodivergence. Told through the eyes of Ben, an autistic boy who is best friends with his neurotypical sister, this story encourages children and parents alike to better understand autism, practice acceptance, and cherish the many things that make us unique.
From their daily habits to the many differences in their feelings, attitudes, and quirks, this lovely book is a testament to the power of friendship, showing us that no matter our differences, we can still be friends!
Publisher: AAPC Publishing
Available: via AAPC Publishing, Amazon

Foreign Danger: Drama, Suspense and Intrigue by Gordon Snow

Synopsis: The first novel based on offshore fisheries surveillance – Josh Davis leaves the Canadian Army and becomes the Director of Resource Management, Federal Department of Fisheries in St. John’s. He has responsibility for protecting fish stocks among domestic and foreign vessels in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean. The drama he encounters requires a steely nerve and pinpoint judgement. Suspense envelops the mysterious travel of personnel to Spain; RCMP and RNC become involved. There is the mysterious sinking of a patrol ship and the forceful intrusion of animal rights protesters in the seal hunt. Precautions are required during an invitation to the Soviet Union that includes a lady escort. Experience harassment of a female Fishery Officer onboard a Soviet vessel. Most exciting and threatening is an espionage operation on the high seas. Things get out of hand and he employs pre-emptive action when participating in a spying effort that involves ships and planes from three countries.
Publisher: Olympia Publishers, UK
Available: via Amazon.ca, Amazon.com,  Olympia Publishers (Paperback/Kindle), and via www.GordonSnow.com

Taking New Jericho by Michael Morey

Synopsis: What do you do when the credit card is declined and you discover the family fortune is gone? If you are Samantha Walcot, formerly of the Toronto Walcots, you write a best-selling memoir called Rich Girl, Poor Woman that leaves no sordid detail off the table. But now, with her book out of print and a journalism career cut short by corporate downsizing, Sam pays the rent as a writer-for-hire. Her new assignment: a travel piece on New Jericho, glittering playground for the wealthy tourist, not to mention the first permanent settlement on the moon. Rate a few hotels and restaurants, list the touristy highlights, say some nice things about moon people, all expenses paid. It sounds brilliant. The problem is, the mayor of New Jericho happens to be the man she left standing at the altar ten years ago, and he’s about to lead a revolution. And he’s pulling Samantha into the fray.
Publisher: Lulu.com
Available: via Amazon and Lulu.com

A Kingdom of Iron & Wine (The Ironworld Series Book 1) by Candace Osmond

Synopsis: She’s part Fae with sunlight in her veins. He’s a vampire with a soul. It’s a match made in magical hell, and Avery can’t seem to stay away. But while her mortal heart may belong to Cillian, her immortal soul was long promised to a dark Fae Lord…and he’s coming to collect.
With her crew of misfit friends–Fae, vampires, witches, and shifters–Avery uncovers a secret society of werewolves selling Fae blood to vampires on the black market.
Set against the backdrop of downtown Halifax, A Kingdom of Iron & Wine is a fantastical tale of magic, danger, and love as one young woman stumbles upon a hidden mythical world and her own buried past.
Publisher: Guardian Publishing
Available: via Amazon and Etsy for signed paperbacks and other merchandise.

The Last Thing is Longing by Michelle Rebidoux

Synopsis: Written over a period of approximately 20 years, the poems in this collection are unified in a single theme—the experience of longing. The poems explore multiple expressions of longing—longing for love, for friendship, for youth, for beauty, for creativity, for the divine, for transcendence, for immortality—which are explored through the generous use of symbolic (sometimes theological) language, and often through images of nature. The ultimate “thesis” of the book is that, while longing serves as the potency to carry one along the road of one’s spiritual journey, it is also the last thing that must be let go of in order to reach one’s destination—the last thing to be sacrificed before the heart is able to open to transcendent joy.
Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf & Stock)
Available: via Wipf & Stock website, Amazon, Chapters/Coles

The Dollhouse: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter

Synopsis: Alice’s world is falling apart. Her parents are getting a divorce, and instead of a lazy summer holiday at a cottage, Alice is heading to a small town where her mother has taken a job as a live-in nurse to a rich and cantankerous old lady.
The house is huge, imposing and spooky. Things start to get weird when Alice finds a dollhouse in the attic that’s an exact replica of the house. They get even weirder when she wakes up to find a girl asleep next to her in her bed — a girl who looks a lot like one of the dolls from the dollhouse. Alice is troubled by recurring headaches and begins to dream about being in the dollhouse every night. Soon her life in the dollhouse seems as real as her waking life and Alice is caught between two realities. Who is the ghost?
Publisher: Tundra Books
Available: via Chapters, Coles Avalon Mall, Coles Village Shopping Centre and online at Indigo and Amazon.

Bizzie Tizzie’s Odd Socks by Yvonne Bryant

The Little Heartbroken Angel by Phil Riggs

Synopsis: The little angel is selected to sing in the heavenly choir for the first Christmas. But her voice is anything but heavenly. She tries many NL remedies, especially, a delicious bar from the NL Chocolate Company to solve her problem. Come along on her humorous adventure to see how her voice improves and she becomes gloriously happy on the Big Event.
Publisher: Independent
Available: via Amazon and Facebook

The Secret of Bell Island by Mike Phelan

Synopsis: When Matt McCarty travels five thousand miles to Newfoundland, his only intention is to put the ghosts of his past to rest along with his estranged, recently deceased alcoholic father. Instead, he will be drawn into danger and the adventure of a lifetime, unknowingly continuing the taciturn mystery man’s unfinished, clandestine wartime mission from 1942. U-boats have already torpedoed shipping within sight of Bell Island’s shore, but now, seventy-five years later, something terrible left behind by the enemy threatens a cataclysm that could destroy the peaceful existence of everyone in Conception Bay. As father and son’s stories weave back and forth in time, the present will collide with the past as Matt discovers both beautiful and deadly secrets above and deep below in the long abandoned iron ore mines of Bell Island.
Publisher: Friesen Press
Available: via Friesen Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Chapters Indigo.

The Write Day by Floyd Spracklin

Synopsis: The Write Day will resonate with writers of all ages. This book offers a portal into my life-long writing journey as well.
From my earliest days in a creative story-telling family up to this moment, I offer a ton of advice about recording the colourful and memorable stories that compose the tapestry of our lives. Whether it’s a simple, no-frills recording of a family member’s story for a limited and privileged few or a much larger project with an aim to publication, I hope my advice will be useful.
Labradorians should be delighted as I also include some of their unwritten Hopedale and Nain stories from my time spent in their wonderful and culture-rich communities.
Publisher: DRC Publishers (2021).
Available: Available worldwide online from DRC Publishing at info@drcpublishingnl.com, shopdownhome.ca, amazon.ca, www.kobo.com, and Indigo Books. Books also available in Corner Brook at Coles Book Store, Island Treasures, Mr. Wilson’s Convenience Store, Barnes Sporting Goods, City Pharmacy, Newfoundland Emporium, Pennyworth, George’s Ski World Liquor Express in Steady Brook, in Deer Lake at Gros Morne Coffee Roasters, on the Viking Highway at The Jackladder, and The Howley Shopping Centre, Downhome Store locations Province-wide, and in St. John’s at Coles Book Stores and Chapters.

All I Brought Back by Travis House

All I Brought Back is a poetic hitchhiking memoir with hopeful sights on the adventurer-to-be, in an attempt to give back to the collective inspiration of travelers and seekers of all kinds. The stories and experiences accumulated over nearly a decade of roving finally find their home, loosely sectioned off into three chapters; The Rove, The Ache and The Dharma, (or reckless travel, matters of love and the underbelly of reality). These themes all share moments of understanding and confusion, an ideal realized but also a dream shattered. A grand departure from the picture-perfect road trip found on plastic Instagram feeds, here we explore the shadow and worm of Freedom, and perhaps get no further ahead. There is a price to pay for everything, this is the receipt.
Publisher: Self Published
Available: www.travishouseless.com

Peace be the Journey by Travis House

Synopsis: Peace be the Journey is both a trip in the passenger’s seat of a campervan and a reflective book of vulnerability containing poems and previously unpublished journal scans. This mantra-titled collection spreads out past the travel ever so often to show the fruits of a mind at home. Falling in love, wasting time, skateparks and questioning the narrative of the lowest common denominators fill the spine and ever onwards we chase, hoping to never actually catch it.
Publisher: Self Published
Available: www.travishouseless.com

Urchin by Kate Story

Synopsis: They say Dorthea’s family is cursed. The house built by Great-Great-Grandfather on the Southside Road has never been at peace. Old people say it lies on a fairy path – a gateway to the world of the Little Strangers.
All Newfoundland is enthralled when Marconi arrives with a wireless telegraphy team. Dor takes on a new identity as newspaper errand boy Jack, and joins the famous experimenter on Signal Hill. Becoming Jack is a profound personal awakening. But Jack also discovers that Marconi has a secret mission: receiving the first wireless trans-Atlantic radio signal. And this new technology is wreaking havoc on the Little Strangers.
Then Dor’s mother disappears. Has she been kidnapped in revenge? Will Jack be forced to sabotage Marconi’s experiments to save her?
Dancing between the hidden realm of fairylore and the dynamic world of early 20^th-century scientific innovation, Urchin is an exuberant story of self-discovery, from the author of Blasted and YA fantasy duo Antilia.
Publisher: Running the Goat Books & Broadsides
Available: via Running the Goat, Chapters/Indigo, Amazon.ca, and Barnes & Noble

The Degrees of Barley Lick by Susan Flanagan

Synopsis: Life has been hard for sixteen-year-old Barley Lick: he split with his girlfriend, his father died, and now his mother has a new boyfriend, a cop named Fred Newton. Not even Barley’s new Great Dane, Stanley, can make things right.
When Newton wants Barley to use his geocaching skills to help him solve a mystery, it would mean losing a huge geocaching competition to his ex-girlfriend and arch-enemy Phyllis. But Barley soon realizes that a young boy’s life may be in danger, and time to rescue him is running out.
Publisher: Running the Goat Books and Broadsides
Available: Via Running the Goat Books and Broadsides

North Atlantic Crossroads: The Royal Air Force Ferry Command Gander Unit, 1940-1946 by Darrell Hillier

Synopsis: Released in July 2021, North Atlantic Crossroads chronicles the activities of the Royal Air Force Ferry Command Gander unit from 1940 to its closure in 1946. During the Second World War, Gander was a bustling hub of aviation as thousands of bombers passed through on their way to Britain. In North Atlantic Crossroads, the challenges and hazards of transatlantic ferrying come alive. Tales of search and rescue, aircraft salvage, medevac missions, and VIP visits highlight the activities of the Ferry Command Gander unit, notably the work of its aircraft maintenance department, headed by the incomparable John Joseph “Joe” Gilmore, and supported by his talented civilian staff of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Postwar, the boom in commercial air travel transformed Gander, setting the airport on its way to becoming the crossroads of the North Atlantic. Includes a detailed bibliography, index, endnotes, and fifty photographs.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: In St. John’s at Coles (Village Mall) and Elaine’s Books (Duckworth Street), in Gander at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum and the Town Square Book Stop, Amazon, and from the author.

Tombstories by Kelley Power

Synopsis: “At each stop you will see torment or death.” TOMBSTORIES plunges Kinna Chaytor and her friends into a virtual reality horror experience like no other. From one girl’s obsession with an ancient evil, to the hellish punishment of a young criminal for his sins, the stories of Cramon Cemetery’s dead play out in the minds of the four teens, to their delight…and terror.  But when the lines between the real and the virtual begin to blur, will these friends be able to escape the cemetery, or will they end up with their own tombstories?
Publisher: Engen Books
Available from: Engen Books, Amazon.ca, or Amazon.com

Newfoundland Stories from Handy Harbour Island by Lillian Bouzane

Synopsis: Newfoundland Stories from Handy Harbour Island is a book of linked short stories. The stories are written from the point of view of the writer – as an adult. A number of stories are written by the writer’s grandmother, who is the outport nurse and comes from outside. There are three main characters: the writer, her rather odd friend, Suky Vey, and her grandmother.
In the first half of the book the writer tells the story of growing up on a remote island off the north-east coast of Newfoundland, although she is not aware of the isolation while she is living there. Her friend, Suky Vey has “the power” and uses it. The writer, like her father, believes in ghosts and sees them.
In the second part of the book the writer and her grandmother tell the stories. The writer, at this time is an adult and an occasional  visitor to Handy Harbour Island. From her grandmother’s stories she is given a view of life nearer the bone.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: Via Amazon

Before the Heart Went Down: Selected Poems by Robert Billings by Sharon Berg

Synopsis: Sharon Berg collects twelve new poems with a selection from Robert’s six books, and ends with touching memoirs by Cathy Ford and Sharon Berg. Bruce Meyer says, “…this book is long overdue… Billings was one of the leading young lights of Canadian poetry in the Eighties.” James Deahl claims, “…readers have had a long, too long, wait for a selected poems of this remarkable writer.” Michael Clarkson, Robert’s high school friend, asserts, “Somewhere, along a stream or in a forest alive to the senses, my friend is smiling.”
Publisher: Cyberwit
Available: via Amazon, from the Publisher, or from the Author.

Stars in the Junkyard by Sharon Berg

Synopsis: This is a large poetry collection that begins in the 1980s and stretches through to the 2020s in its poems. As Maureen Hynes says in her back cover quote, it is “a book of perceptive truth-telling. With clarity, purpose and skill, Sharon Berg examines losses, traumas, betrayals – both personal and political… extend[ing] widely across continents.” In his blurb, Russell Thornton claims “no matter how painful the truth, whether of her own searing individual history or the wider world’s, she refuses to pretend her way out of it… [T]his is a transforming, triumphant book…”
Publisher: Cyberwit
Available: Via Amazon, from the Publisher, or from the Author.

My Father’s Son by Tom Moore

Synopsis: Felix Ryan is a school teacher in a serious mid-life crisis. But a phone call from Tammy, an ex-girlfriend, calls him back home to fight his father’s battle. A big US oil company has begun fracking in his home town. Led by a jovial Texan and represented by a crack young lawyer, the company is buying up land. The town is split in two over fracking and its new prosperity.
Sparks of attraction fly between Felix and Tammy even though he jilted her years before. Tammy reveals that she was pregnant when they split and the young lawyer, Joel, is their son. He believes that Felix abandoned him and his mother.
Felix’s father is leading the fight against the oil company and is killed in a suspicious auto accident. This draws Felix further into the fight against the company and against his own son. Felix has a new direction in his life, a woman who loves him, a son who hates him, and a battle worth fighting.
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: via Flanker Press

Edokko by Loren Greene

Synopsis: Sixteen and on top of the world, Lily is beyond excited to be setting off for a whole year as an exchange student in Tokyo. Fashion and fun are foremost on her mind as she arrives to meet her homestay family and embark on a grand adventure, live-streaming all the way.
What she isn’t expecting, however, is for her urban host family to cancel at the last moment and leave her hanging with nowhere to live. She’s shipped off to the small town of Ajimu (sorry, where!?), a billion miles from anywhere cool and exciting, with a neurotic host sister, no chances for romance, straight-up-vile classmates and a microscopic community watching her every move.
Too bad for the people of this small town—nothing’s going to hold Lily back when she wants something!
Publisher: HachiPress
Available: Chapters, Amazon, Kindle, or directly from the author. A full list of retailers can be found here.

The Mists of Morne by Justin B. Hodder

Synopsis: What would you do to ensure your legacy?
For Emily Owens, merely earning her archaeology degree was never going to be enough. She yearned for adventure, for a challenge—anything that could bring stimulation into her lackluster life. So, when a chance introduction and promiscuous encounter grant the opportunity, she soon finds herself bending her treasure hunting ethics to get one step ahead of her cohorts.
But while her journey leads her to the heights of Peru in search of a long-lost relic, she is thrust into the midst of a much more complex agenda already at play. Caught between her desire to find a mystical artifact that will undoubtedly make her career, and the rising threat of a rogue religious terrorist organization that will stop at nothing to harness its power, Emily must quickly decide if she will stop and retreat—or proceed and fight.
Along with the help of an explosive redhead, an old university flame, and a brother-in-law who holds more of the Owens family secrets than she does, Emily seeks to foil the opposition- while trying to preserve the sanctity and the historical significance of the artifact in the process.
The world doesn’t know her name yet … but it will.
Publisher: self-published
Available: Chapters, Coles, and many retail stores where books are sold. Mists of Morne is also available on Amazon or by contacting the author via email.

Of Sea and Sand: The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book II by Annie Daylon

Synopsis: Spectral matriarch of the Kerrigan clan, Kathleen resumes the gripping story of the lives of her family: feisty daughter Clara, brave granddaughter Kate, and troubled son Kevin. Through the tribulations of the Great Depression, they love and build and hide their secrets, but when war comes to their Newfoundland home, those secrets demand to be revealed. Their fishing and farming community of Argentia is doomed, razed to make way for a strategic United States Naval Base, and the Kerrigans find their destiny and fate caught up in the Second World War. For Kevin, the theatre of the European war is the stage for his quest for redemption.
In Of Sea and Sand, the riveting family saga of the Kerrigans continues with tragedy and hope on their ever-shifting horizons.
Publisher: McRAC Books
Available: Via Amazon

Wayward Paths by Gary Evans

Synopsis: Haunted ships, mysterious islands, strange sightings and more! 8 strange tales of surrealist horror!
Publisher: Black Lamb Press
Available: Via Black Lamb Press

A Turn for the Worse by Gary Evans

Synopsis: 50 poems laughing at dark times
Publisher: Black Lamb Press

Available: Via Black Lamb Press

The Advance by Gary Evans

Synopsis: Crewman first class Edmunds is fed up being subordinate to starship officers who use the missions as an excuse for adventure tourism. Light years from Earth, what happens when an astronaut quits?
Publisher: Black Lamb Press
Available: Via Black Lamb Press

The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School by Sharon Berg

Synopsis: A cross-genre history, this book starts with Berg’s M.Ed thesis on this school, adding poetry to a text braiding academic research, interview transcripts, and portraits of a unique research model developed by the author and Cree Elder and founder of the school, Pauline Shirt.
Founded in 1976 in Pauline’s Toronto living room and adopted by the Toronto Board of Education in 1977, the school serves as a model and lifeline for those seeking their traditional roots and culture. Expanding in 2017, the school now offers high school classes.
This book won a 2020 Ippy Award for Regional Nonfiction.
Publisher: Big Pond Rumours Press
Available: From the author.

Naming the Shadows by Sharon Berg

Synopsis: This is a collection of nine short stories and two novelettes, all dealing with ‘shadows’ while celebrating examples of light.
Berg turns her inquisitive eye to examining the many layers of memory in relationships between generations as her protagonists focus on setting goals to become better people.
In the passage from innocence to experience, they find themselves in situations that transform how they see and define themselves, other people, and the world around them.
The process of metamorphosis is examined as children move into adulthood, ultimately finding strength and agency in their transformations.
Publisher: Porcupine’s Quill
Available: From Porcupine’s Quill, Amazon or from the author.

This Is How It Is by Sharon King-Campbell

Kimmy & Mike by Dave Paddon

Our Random Acts of Kindness by Phil Riggs

Synopsis: “Our Random Acts of Kindness” may be in our DNA makeup, just waiting for the right occasion to be acted upon. Sometimes we may need someone to record them so that people can see what a wonderful moment it was for the kind and thoughtful person. This is what this book is about. There are stories of different kinds of Santa Clauses who perform such random acts out of the goodness of their hearts. Others perform these kindly deeds and don’t even realize they are doing them. It just needs the right person to put them on paper Teachers and students do them without giving them much thought. Plumbers and businessperson, alike, do them and don’t look for recognition, be they large or small overtures. It’s not only people that do these random acts to other men and women. Kindness is also extended to our pets and animals. I have compiled a group of stories about such deeds that I have either witnessed or have been told to me since I started writing this book. The final chapter is about the COVID-19 virus and how we were able to adapt and show the true kindness that is engrained in us when we have to struggle with an almost insurmountable task. I’m sure there will be enjoyment for each reader as they peruse all of the gems I have composed.
Publisher: self-published
Available: at Cole’s or directly from the author

Supermarket Baby by Susan Flanagan

Synopsis: Henry Puddester is a freshly retired civil servant whose life goes off the rails after an innocent trip to the supermarket, where he inadvertently switches his shopping cart with that of a young mother. When Henry ends up with an infant alongside his four dozen eggs, his life goes into free fall, and he wishes himself back at work, safe from misplaced babies, aggressive lawyers, and the eccentric nutbar driving a 1983 Ford Ltd covered with 4,000 trinkets.
Join this cast of loons, including Frank who’s building a time machine in his shed and Dash, the Spadoodle-screaming Fortnite addict, as Henry tries to survive two weeks in an unforgiving Newfoundland spring.

Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: Through Flanker Press and wherever local books are sold.

REVIVAL: A Bella James Mystery by Alexis Koetting

Synopsis: Cold cases, buried secrets, and a race against time to bring the truth to light—one that reveals just how far people will go to get what they want and protect what they have.
When the body of a young woman discovered in a dumpster has surprising connections to a number of dead and missing women, Detective Sergeant Andre Jeffers enlists celebrated actress, Bella James to work undercover to expose a black-market network before it can add to its list of victims. As they close in on the truth, Bella and Jeffers’ worlds are rocked by shocking discoveries and devastating revelations.
Revival is the third book of the Bella James series.
Publisher: IngramSpark
Available: at all major online retailers in Paperback and E-Book formats, can also be ordered by your local bookstore

The Epic of Gabriel and Jibreel by Marin Darmonkow

Synopsis: The Epic of Gabriel and Jibreel is a cautionary tale of the ultimate friendship. It is a heartbreaking story of two boys, a refugee, and a child from a wealthy suburb. Gabriel lives with his father in a large house surrounded by other large houses. One day, while exploring the beach, Gabriel meets Jibreel. Jibreel lives with his father in the upside-down boat that brought them across the sea. With similar stories of devastating loss, yet joyful dreams, and a love for flying, the boys form an incredible and indestructible friendship. This is an excruciating story – a children’s picture book with a powerful message that is worth hearing.
Publisher: Fontreal
Available:  Hardcover – $29.99:  Coles, Chapters,  https://fontreal.com
Ebook – $2.99: Amazon, Kobo, Google Plus, Barnes and Noble, https://fontreal.com

Still the Thunder – Book 4 – Stormy Encounters Series by Tanya Benoit

Synopsis: Ten years ago, Fiona O’Shea vowed to overcome and forget the cruelty that was inflicted on her by a stranger. Only Morgan, the love of her life, knew the details of that fateful night. Even though he wasn’t to blame, his presence was a constant reminder of the nightmare she endured and the secret they kept. Regardless of the feelings in her heart, her shattered soul sent him away, praying he would never return, and praying she would never remember.
Morgan Murtagh swore he would never love again and has stayed true to that promise for the last ten years. Yearning for a new life, he is ready to leave Ireland forever. But first, honour dictates that he return to the town he resentfully left. Morgan discovers that the past has darkened Fiona’s doorstep once again, threatening her livelihood, her home, and her very existence.
Would he dare open old wounds to help her?
Can Fiona relive the past in order to save her future?
Will their hearts survive?
Publisher: Independent
Available: Through Amazon.ca

The Gaff Topsail Encounters: Facing the Wind by Floyd Spracklin

Synopsis: Fourteen years in the making, this writing project takes a detailed look at former railway workers, present-day cabin owners, and some of the world-wide travellers passing through The Gaff. Their stories of what life is and was like and their challenging engagement with nature may very well prompt adventure lovers from around the world to start thinking about their own personal motivations for challenging the many available trails.
The Gaff Topsail Encounters is chock-a-block full of all kinds of stories and information about The Gaff. Its  231 pages, 81 photographs, a cover photo of one of Floyd’s paintings of the Gaff area, and a Foreword by Mike Shuifelt, contributing photographer and writer to Mont Lingard’s Next Stop Series combine to make this book a Gaff go-to for anyone contemplating any Trailway travels. And a definite keepsake for anyone directly or remotely connected to The Gaff.
Here you will find out how The Topsails got their name.  For anyone interested in following along the NL Trailway and visiting The Gaff, this book illuminates the area in story and history together with floral and fauna tidbits not altogether well-known.
Also featured here are stories of travellers from Holland, France, Bavaria, Switzerland, the United States and all across Canada. These are complemented by stories from many of the modern-day cabin owners. Read about the phenomenal first-hand accounts of early railway years at The Gaff. Learn what life was like for a young Frontier College Labourer-Teacher in his isolated workplace, how a young man from Greece found his way there and ended up making Newfoundland his home, how a New Brunswick ATV entrepreneur fell in love with The Gaff, what titillated two Swiss bikers to stop by on a miserable day, why a North Carolina adventurer and his stubborn mule, Polly, were a big hit. Find out why two young men from Western Canada were so excited to have a place to stay the night as they neared the completion of their cross-Canada walk, why Kevin Blackmore and his buddies are walking the Newfoundland trails and what Buddy Wasisname says about The Gaff. And get to meet world-renowned and award-winning documentarian, Dianne Whelan, early in her walk across Canada on The Great Trail. Read about hurricanes, fires, going astray on a Gaff winter snowmobile trip, and much, much more.
Discover exciting details about the recent appearance of coyotes, wolves, wolf-coyote hybrids and about other Topsail animal inhabitants, and some rarely seen orchids and other flowers.
Learn the true value of stewardship and take time to think about doing your part in promoting and protecting one of Newfoundland’s sensitive locations.
Floyd is excited about the avenues that this, his second book, will open for the NL tourism potential.
Publisher: DRC Publishing
Available: Online at www.drcpublishing.ca, www.shopdownhome.com, www.amazon.ca, as a Kobo e-book at www.kobo.com, at Coles, Chapters, Downhome Stores, and the Auk Island Winery in Twillingate, Island Treasures, Mr. Wilson’s Convenience Store, Newfoundland Emporium, Barnes Sporting Goods, and City Pharmacy in Corner Brook, at Gros Morne Coffee Roasters in Deer Lake, George’s Ski World in Steady Brook, at The Jackladder on the Viking Trail, The Howley Shopping Centre, at Howley RV and Trapper’s Lounge in Howley, By the Sea Inn and Cafe in King’s Point, and at The Corner Stop in Port Blandford.

Paddy Scott’s War by Paul Conway

Synopsis: Drawn by patriotism and a desire for adventure Paddy Scott joined the Newfoundland Regiment. He embraced the role of a soldier forging close friendships with other courageous young men. However on July 1st, 1916, Paddy and eight hundred other Regiment soldiers came face to face with the brutal reality of war.
The young man who sailed into St. John’s harbour at the end of August 1916 was a changed person from the one who, just a year earlier, stood at the ship’s railing together with his fellow soldiers, laughing and waving to family and friends. Can Paddy accept the changes to his life and strive to build a new future for himself?
Paddy Scott’s War is Paul’s debut novel and was inspired by his visit to Beaumont Hamel.
Publisher: Embark Books
Available at: Downhome and on Amazon

Keep On Walking by Sheldon Crocker

Synopsis: In this book, I take you on the journey of coming unshackled from life’s conditioning, early childhood trauma and becoming what everyone told me to be. My book’s purpose is to show you what’s possible when we choose to heal when we step out of the box we’re put in by society. The hard part is to find a way to heal, to trust, to love, to be ourselves in a world continually tells us to be someone or something else. Keep on Walking is a journey of rectification. Hearing and answering the battle cry concerning working to end the stigma and prejudice surrounds mental illness AS WELL AS disabilities. My story isn’t one-dimensional. It moves, as my journey unfolded, from past to present and back to past; to older and more rooted to more recent wounds. It’s a story of an unbinding of sorts.
Publisher: Kindle
Available at: Amazon

Human Development by Patrick Whelan

Synopsis: In Human Development, Patrick Whelan creates a framework to help you understand what it means to develop yourself and attain freedom, love and happiness, including painfully honest stories of his own transformation. This framework contains elements of the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, Abraham Maslow, Amartya Sen, Anthony Giddens, as well as Confucius, and outlines an approach for you to gain understanding of yourself and your actions, so you can simplify your life and take control of it, setting yourself free.
Publisher: self-published
Available: Amazon

“The Old Man is Me” by Bruce Stagg

Synopsis: The Old Man is Me is a book of literary short stories set primarily in rural Newfoundland during the 1950s and 1960s.
Themes are universal in nature, but each emphasize particular aspects of rural living that have helped carve Newfoundlanders as a people.
All characters are based on real Newfoundland people who are selected for his/her strength or weakness, or for his/her colorfulness. Stories are narrated in both first and third persons with a strong autobiographical element.
Each story is crafted to present a rich culture heavily steeped in English and Irish influences but is not intended to romanticize or patronize.  Nor are they condescending. Stories present a truth and literal worth that will have broad appeal. Older readers will relate to many of the details and situations, while younger readers will learn something about an earlier time. Regardless of age, all will experience the past, see the truth, appreciate the narrations, and most of all, enjoy the read.
Publisher:  Boulder Books
Available: Boulder Books or where local interest books are sold.

“Ananias” by James Case

Synopsis: When Ananias Case boards a ship in Fowey, England in 1826 bound for Carbonear, Newfoundland, he’s not looking for adventure; he’s a man on the run. The strictures of class division are left in the wake, while a fractured society in the throes of rapid evolution awaits beyond the sea.
A historical novel based on real events, Ananias is the story of a man seeking a new life while struggling with the ghosts of his past. This sweeping adventure of discovery, connection and heartache is also a moving tribute to a rugged island place and its people.
Publisher: Nevermore Press
Available: Nevermore Press, more TBA

“Counterfeit Viscountess” by Barbara Burke

Synopsis: Practical Caroline Saxon must travel to London for the season, when all she really wants is to stay in Ireland and breed horses. But a carriage accident leaves her unchaperoned at a posting inn.
Dashing Christopher Hawking just wants a bed for the night.  He didn’t expect to find it occupied by a beautiful woman, or to be caught by another guest sneaking out of her room.
To protect Caroline’s reputation, they must pretend to be married, and convince the London ton they’ve made a love match. With society watching their every move, keeping up appearances has never been harder, especially when attraction flares between them in spite of themselves. With family, friends and interested onlookers all contributing to the confusion, when will this charming Regency couple realize a fake marriage just isn’t good enough?
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Available: Chapters, Amazon.ca

“Our Heroes of COVID-19” by Phil Riggs

Synopsis: Written by retired educator Phil Riggs and illustrated by artist Corey Majeau, Our Heroes of COVID-19 is an educational book to help children explore their experiences with the current pandemic.
The story follows Joel and his grandfather as they walk around their community and discuss the everyday heroes who have helped people during this difficult time.
This book also includes activities pages for children to express their personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. A portion of proceeds from sales of this book shall be donated to Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries.
Publisher: Boulder Books
Available: Boulder Books, wherever local books are sold

“Phreak” by JE Solo

Synopsis: In an alternate, near-future world where corrupt government and corporate interests rule the smallest details of Island life, an unusually sensitive child is born. Navigating a landscape of ecological devastation and botched genetic modification experiments, the child’s survival depends upon their heightened senses and the skills they learn at the knee of their life-hacking father. Will it be enough? As they cross the threshold of adulthood the collapse of Island society draws close and they must act in order to protect what they love.
Told in a series of vignettes, with a haunting filmic quality and powerful imagery, Phreak is a richly detailed and compelling first novel. Solo deftly layers satire and social commentary to create a powerful story of resilience and survival.
Publisher: House of Zolo
Available: http://www.houseofzolo.com/, http://www.jesolo.ca

“Mina’s Child” by Paul Butler

Synopsis: Mina’s Child  imagines a second generation springing from the “heroes”‘ in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In 1921, Mina and Jonathan Harker’s daughter, Abree, a student at King’s College, London, starts to question the extraordinary adventures her parents claim to have experienced in England and the Carpathians. Middle-aged Jonathan Harker is haunted by nightmares that Abree assumes to be about her brother, Quincey, killed in the Great War. As the Harkers follow the thread of their unease back to its source, they are haunted by memories of Lucy Westenra, fiancée to Arthur Holmwood, and the manner of Lucy’s death. Having lost her brother, Quincey, in the Great War, Abree refuses to believe in a clear dividing line between good and evil. Abree suspects her parents’ tales of glory hide a profound sense of guilt, particularly about the unexplained death of their friend, Lucy Westenra.
Publisher: Inanna Publications
Available: Inanna Publications, The Indigo-Chapters chain, Amazon, independent bookstores

“Pea Soup for the Newfoundland Soul” by Grandpa Pike

Synopsis: Grandpa Pike’s ‘Pea Soup for the Newfoundland Soul’ is NOT a cookbook. These are short stories—suitable for reading while waiting for your flight—or when you finally have the bathroom to yourself—or in a 2 mile line-up for the Nova Scotia ferry during a 3 day windstorm.  Hitchhike with Grandpa in the 1960’s when he got a ride from a lady Preacher, a trucker, and a guy in a red corvette on his way to Mexico. He’ll relive his encounter with ‘The Man from Glad,’ his failed attempt at a leveraged buyout of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and the youngsters looking out at the stormy night, waiting for that very last boat to come in through the narrows—their dad’s. Laugh or cry but you won’t be bored as he rollicks his way through topics as diverse as Pets, Religion, The Good Old Days, Hockey, Graduation, Lawyers, Doctors, and the Three Scariest Words to an old-fashioned man—scarier even than ‘hold my purse.’
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: online through Indigo.ca, Flankerpress.com, and Amazon. Available in-store @ Costco, Chapters, Coles, Irving stores, Orange stores, and other booksellers.

“Teacher, Hunter, Fisher, Musician – a 101 Years in the life of Clarence Riggs” by Phil Riggs

Synopsis: Looking for a book that promises history, adventure, joy, sorrow and heartbreak? Teacher, Hunter, Fisher, Musician – a 101 Years in the life of Clarence Riggs has it all. Follow his life’s story: growing up without a father since he was 3 years old when he was lost on the ship Mina Swim and never heard of again. Read about his childhood days. Follow his teaching career as he taught in most parts of NL. He experienced being a houseparent for the Genfell Mission dormitories in Cartwright and North West River. His retirement travels included as far north as Nunavut, as far west as Hawaii and south to most southern states in the US. But most of all relive his passions for the great outdoors where he was happiest in his pursuits of fish and game. His two great loves: Neatha and nature were complimentary to him.  Finally, read how he was a born entertainer, just waiting for an audience to suggest he might play for it.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: Elaine’s Books on Duckworth Street, Bookworm in Gander, and in various stores in the Glovertown area. Books are also available by contacting the author at philriggs.camino (at) gmail.com.

“Mr. Grumbles” by William Pryse-Phillips

Synopsis: At the end of the day when the kids are tired but still active, a bedtime story is often the way to get them to settle down for the night. The most effective stories contain a little whimsy, some adventure, a touch of humour, some familiarity allowing the child to identify with the protagonists, and (importantly) the leaven of peacefulness.
Mr. Grumbles is a collection of 14 such stories, based in St. John’s and about the child, Sandy; the family Labrador dog; the park-keeper and the father. The stories are written as interactive conversations between him and his child.
Publisher: FriesenPress
Available: Chapters and Coles stores in St. John’s, the Newfoundland Weavery, Elaine’s books, Legend Tours, and Belbins. The book is also available as an e-book with Google books, FriesenPress bookstore, and Amazon where hard copies can also be obtained.

“The Waddens: A Family History” by Nix Wadden

Synopsis: A second print run of the booklet The Waddens: A Family History has just been delivered, following a sell out of the first edition. Complete with family trees and colour and black and white photos, it covers Wadden families from origins in Ireland and Newfoundland to descendants throughout North America. The self-published, the 84-page hardbound booklet was co-written by brothers Brian and Nix Wadden.
Publisher: Self-published
Available: by contacting nix.wadden@sympatico.ca

“‘Twas The Night” by Marin Darmonkow

Synopsis: Indeed, a picture is worth a thousand words. This illustrations-only children’s book “tells” a powerful story about a boy who is confined to a wheelchair. His compassion is inspiring; his longing for friendship and capacity to give are heart-warming. The author gently invites you to re-imagine the Christmas wonder.
Publisher: Fontreal
Available: https://fontreal.com

“Operation Vanished” by Helen C. Escott

Synopsis: In the 1950s, three young women in rural Newfoundland were sexually assaulted, beaten and murdered. Their killers were never caught. During the same time period an eight-year-old girl disappeared. Her body was never found. These shocking historical cases have haunted the province for decades.
RCMP Corporal Gail McNaughton is new to the elite Major Crime Unit. She is assigned a stack of historical cases of missing and murder women and children. Each file has its challenges: witnesses have died, memories fade, DNA didn’t exist.
She begins to unravel the murders with the help of Larry Morgan, the archivist for the province and the son of one of the murdered women. Together they come up with a list of suspects who have flown under the radar. People who were beyond reproach.
Operation Vanished is a mind-bending sophisticated psychological crime thriller that will keep you guessing who the real killer is. Helen C. Escott weaves Newfoundland and Labrador’s mythology and history into a novel that is anything but predictable. When you least expect it, a ghost from the past returns.
The bestselling author of Operation Wormwood takes you on another thrill ride. You didn’t see this coming!
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: Costco, Coles, Chapters, various stores across the island including all Irvings. It is available in soft cover and ebook online at indigo.com and amazon.com.

“Seashell’s Lament” by Geraldine Ryan-Lush

Synopsis: A novel of thwarted and tragic love between a stigmatised Ukrainian captain, and a lonely Canadian teacher, taking on a timely, realistic dimension in the context of the war in Ukraine.  In the aftermath of the cod moratorium in NL, amidst tensions between local fishers and foreign trawlers perceived as “raping our shores,” Ukrainian shrimp captain Aleksandr Bovka and Jacqueline O’Rielly meet by chance in a shabby Water St. pub. 3 weeks is all they had. Amid the obstacles of language barrier, xenophobia, and scheming of crooked sea bosses, their passionate relationship seems doomed to failure, and tragedy. A searing saga of the elemental twists of fate, that leave even the most cynical believing in the power of eternal love.
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Available: Amazon.com, Chapters/Indigo, online outlets

“Haunted Towns: Ghost Stories Of Newfoundland and Labrador” by Geraldine Ryan-Lush

Synopsis: A collection of true ghost stories from across Newfoundland and Labrador, blending the oral tradition and scholarly perspective, as well as a healthy dose of the macabre and mysterious. A must have for the folklore enthusiast with an appetite for the true fantastical in the old and modern Newfoundland.
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Available: Amazon.com, Chapters/Indigo, online outlets

“Goodbye Wart!” by Geraldine Ryan-Lush

Synopsis: A Dickensian rhyming tale employing ancient Newfoundland rituals to help a boy banish a huge and ugly wart!
Publisher: Mulberry Books
Available: Amazon.com, Chapters/Indigo, online outlets

“We All Will Be Received” by Leslie Vryenhoek

Synopsis: In 1977, young woman flees her bad-news boyfriend, taking a bag of cash and hitching a ride to the world’s edge. She intends to disappear forever, to redefine herself on her own terms as Dawn Taylor.
But years later, stars and satellites align — and the past catches up with Dawn.
In a roadside motel on Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula, the paths of four diverse characters converge. Cheryl is desperate to resuscitate a reputation blown apart on social media. Ethan just wants to escape a tired narrative of childhood trauma. And Spencer, an ex-con, is chasing a faint hope he’s glimpsed on a website.
When a ferocious storm traps them together, there’s nothing to keep them from disclosing who they really are — and what they’re really after.
Eloquent and propulsive, We All Will Be Received asks whether anyone can find redemption when the tightening web of an interconnected world has made the past inescapable.
READ AN EXCERPT.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater Books, Amazon, Chapters, or Coles in St. John’s, McNally Robinson in Winnipeg, your local library.

“This is Agatha Falling” by Heather Nolan

Synopsis: In her debut novella, THIS IS AGATHA FALLING, St. John’s singer-songwriter and photographer Heather Nolan’s characters stomp through smoky downtown bars dragging longing, trauma, illness, confusion, and addiction with them. Fragmented memory is her unreliable narrator, demonstrating how the past continually interrupts the present, asking, “How is one to determine which is memory, and which the dream?” Sharon Bala, Journey Prize-winning author of The Boat People, calls it “a confident and lyrical debut penned by an author of uncommon talent.”
Publisher: Pedlar Press
Available: Local Bookstores, Alllitup.ca, Chapters, Amazon

“DIG” by Terry Doyle

Synopsis: In twelve dialed-in and exceptionally honed short stories, Terry Doyle presents an enduring assortment of characters channelled through the chain reactions of misfortune and redemption.
A construction worker’s future is bound to a feckless and suspicious workmate. A young woman’s burgeoning social activism is constrained by hardship and the desperation of selling puppies online. A wedding guest recognizes a panhandler attending the reception. And a man crafts a concealed weapon with which to carry out his nightly circuit of paltry retribution.
Through keen-eyed observation, and with an impressive economy of statement, Doyle conveys these characters over a backdrop of private absurdities and confusions—countering the overbearance of a post-tragic age with grit, irony, and infinitesimal signs of hope.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater, Amazon, Chapters

“Flying Ace” by Sheilah Lukins

Synopsis: Errol the adventurous little mouse takes to the sky when he meets a young girl, Natasha, playing with a toy airplane. Later, when Errol is left alone, he decides to fly Natasha’s toy plane and begins a magical journey that takes him back in time to one night in 1940. He meets up with Dan, a radio operator on a full-sized Hudson bomber, and gets to accompany the crew on their late night, top-secret flight across the Atlantic. When an enemy plane appears over Ireland and threatens the safety of crew and craft, only Errol can save them from disaster.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater Books, Amazon

“Inquiries” by Michelle Porter

Synopsis: In poems that risk the comingling of anger and elegy, poetry and documentation, humour and the dark spectre of poverty, Michelle Porter’s Inquiries oscillates at its edges, and amplifies the presence of human strength as it keeps company with our enigmatic and ever-present nemeses. This is a startling debut where the line between reality and reality television blurs, where a simple trip to the grocery store unifies mother and daughter in struggle, and where an economics of iniquity proves the existence of love as equality. With wit, poise, raw emotion, and versatility, Inquiries announces the emergence of an impressive new talent.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater, Amazon, Chapters

“Land Beyond the Sea” by Kevin Major

Synopsis: In the small hours of October 14, 1942, a German U-boat sank the passenger ferry SS Caribou in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Of the 237 people on board, 136 perished, including 49 civilians. In Land Beyond the Sea, bestselling author Kevin Major reimagines the events of that fateful night from the perspectives of both those aboard the doomed vessel and the German U-boat commander who gave the order. With his characteristically sharp, evocative prose style, Major delivers an epic work of historical fiction, detailing a life-and-death conflict in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Land Beyond the Sea is a powerful and empathetic testament to the acts of destruction and the acts of heroism carried out in the name of home.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater Books, Amazon, Chapters

“Island Vegan” by Marian Frances White

Synopsis: In Island Vegan, Newfoundland’s original trailblazing vegan chef, Marian Frances White, returns with over 100 beautiful and utterly mouthwatering plant-based recipes. Using readily available ingredients with a blend of local and international flavours, Marian provides everything you need, whether you’re a committed vegan or just starting out. Here you’ll find soups, salads, sauces, smoothies, pastries, pancakes, main dishes, delectable desserts, and much more. And there are full-colour photographs to help you create the perfect setting.
The culmination of over forty years of exquisite, tried-and-tested vegan cooking, every recipe in Island Vegan is health conscious, environmentally sound, and absolutely delicious!
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater Books, Amazon, Chapters

“A Roll of the Bones” by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole

Synopsis: In 1610, John Guy established a small colony in Cupids, Newfoundland, on the very edge of a world unknown to Europeans. Two years later, he brought a shipment of supplies to his all-male settlement: 70 goats, 10 heifers, 2 bulls, and 16 women. A Roll of the Bones tells the story of some of these nameless women by tracing the journeys of three young people—Ned Perry, Nancy Ellis, and Kathryn Gale—who leave Bristol, England, for a life in the struggling community. Ned dreams of altering his fate with the promise of a New World. Kathryn only wishes to follow her husband—little dreaming she might find romance outside her marriage. And Nancy, the servant girl, has no desire to leave Bristol, but her fealty will ultimately test her ability to survive.
A vivid reimagining of settler life in the early seventeenth century, A Roll of the Bones is the first in a trilogy of novels wrestling with the realities of colonization. Here, Trudy J. Morgan-Cole presents an array of unforgettable characters inhabiting the space where two worlds will collide, where the limits of love and loyalty will be tried in a harsh and unforgiving landscape.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater, Amazon, Chapters

“Even Weirder Than Before” by Susie Taylor

Synopsis: THE EARLY 1990s: there’s no internet, phones have cords, VHS is still a thing, and Daisy Radcliffe’s family is disintegrating.
As the stability of Daisy’s old life disappears, she is set adrift into the odd territory between adolescence and adulthood. Susie Taylor’s sharp, quick-witted prose carries Daisy through a maze of awkward parties, drugs, and rec rooms — new friends, social adversaries, and sexual awakenings.
A strikingly perceptive and honest debut, EVEN WEIRDER THAN BEFORE is a coming-of-age story exploring the weirdness of growing up Gen X, and the freedom found outside the norm.
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Available: Breakwater Books, Amazon, Chapters

“What the Oceans Remember: Searching for Belonging and Home” by Sonja Boon

Synopsis: Sonja Boon’s heritage is complicated. Although she has lived in Canada for more than thirty years, she was born in the UK to a Surinamese mother and a Dutch father. Boon’s family history spans five continents: Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, and North America. Despite her complex and multi-layered background, she has often omitted her full heritage. An invitation to join a family tree project inspired a journey to the heart of the histories that have shaped her identity.
Deeply informed by archival research, but written as a reflective and intimate memoir, What the Oceans Remember addresses current issues in migration, identity, belonging, and history through an interrogation of race, ethnicity, gender, archives and memory. More importantly, it addresses the relevance of our past to understanding our present. It shows the multiplicity of identities and origins that can shape the way we understand our histories and our own selves.
Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press (September 2019)
Available: Broken Books, Chapters-Indigo, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more.

“A Salmon’s Sky View” by Carol McDougall

Synopsis: The ink and watercolour illustrations in this book reflect the life cycle of a salmon from the salmon’s point of view looking up from underwater.  Silhouette images provide a clue to the seasons and to the predators the salmon encounters throughout its life.  The story reminds us how the salmon demonstrates great determination and strength in its long journey from the stream where life begins, to the ocean, and back to its natal stream. This 10th anniversary edition, from CSWA Science in Society award-winning author/illustrator Carol McDougall invites readers to become artists too.  Carol ends the story with a step-by-step instructional guide to create your own ink and watercolour image.
Publisher:  Strong Nations Publishing
Available: at select bookstores and Strong Nations

“Unsettling Mixture – An Activist’s Writings” by Helen Forsey

Synopsis: “Unsettling Mixture – An Activist’s Writings” is a non-fiction collection, offering a thought-provoking and often touching combination of analysis and reflection. Its articles, letters, political rants, poems and vignettes span more than four decades, covering a wide range of subjects and approaches – from farming and fishing to fund-raising, from the climate to the constitution, from revolution to reconciliation, from patriarchy to peace. Author Helen Forsey’s Newfoundland roots and her love for our province are evident in a number of the selections.
The writings in this “unsettling mixture” have been chosen for their originality and continuing relevance in today’s challenging times. Blending the personal and the political, they will appeal to those who relish a good conversation, care about what’s happening in the world, and appreciate someone telling it like it is.
Publisher: Burnstown Publishing House
Available: Burnstown

“Stepping Stones” by Michelle Myrick

Synopsis: In her debut memoir “Stepping Stones”, Myrick takes readers on a relatable and inspirational journey of discovery. She is a singer/songwriter who uses her original songs as a framework to tell her story. Creative arts (music, writing, and painting) and the way they have helped her uncover the hidden gifts within her past, play a starring role. She describes the lessons learned from living through loss, self-doubt, and self-sabotage; and points out how our worst experiences can be the best tools for creating a life full of love, acceptance, and belonging. Through example, she proves that a fulfilled life doesn’t come in spite of the past, but because of it.
“Stepping Stones” helps the reader identify and change limiting and self-sabotaging beliefs; find deeper purpose and meaning within personal experiences; and develop greater confidence in abilities. Myrick has also released an album of original songs as an accompaniment to her memoir: www.ammoartworks.com
Publisher: AMMO Artworks (independently published August 2019)
Available:  www.ammoartworks.com

“The Sign on my Father’s House” by Tom Moore

Synopsis: This story is set in NL at the end of the Smallwood era. There was an exodus from outport NL to the new Memorial university in St. John’s. That experience of university, city life, the Thompson Student Center, Doyle House, Payton College dining hall, changed us. We shared a new life with other young NLers, and it gave us friendships that last to this day.
It’s about finding love, then heartbreak, then finding yourself. We were suddenly Canadians, but what did that mean? The book is about a search for identity by the young narrator and by a people. A sign on your house shows who you are and what you believe. Just like the medal on you neck, the tattoo on your arm, the words on your cap, the flag over your door. “Who are you?”
Signs are important symbols throughout the novel, e.g. Smallwood High, White’s Store, Dirty Dick’s bar, Peace Angels, Last Stop Diner. There are 15 physical signs in the novel and each is a statement by someone telling who they are, their personal identity. A sign also tells how we see ourselves. Our self-identity is even more important than our message to the world. The hand print painted on the caves of Lascaux 45,000 years ago is a statement of identity. A fierce “I am!” to a silent universe.
Publisher: Flanker Press
Available: though Flanker Press, in all bookstores and Amazon