The Bad Boy and the Tomboy

 The Bad Boy and the Tomboy Author: Nicole Nwosu ISBN: 9781989365335 Some love stories begin in all the wrong ways. The Story: Always comfortable being one of the guys, Macy Anderson is laser focused on only three things: studies, soccer, and a scholarship. Romance is the last thing on Macy’s

Book Review: Free Fall

 With nearly two million books in print in over seventeen countries, internationally bestselling author Rick Mofina’s specialized thrillers are “scary in all the right places” (James Patterson). Mofina’s novels have received high praise from Penthouse, The Globe and Mail, National Post and other respected international news outlets. His stand-alone debut,

Man in the Shadows Sheds Light on History

 Former journalist and filmmaker Gordon Henderson’s first novel Man in the Shadows is a tremendously engaging historic novel about the assassination of D’Arcy McGee on April 7th, 1868. Photo of Gordon courtesy of Jason van Bruggen. To Canadian history buffs, the backstory is legendary: in 1867, three British colonies became

Book Review: The Gospel Truth

 In the opening chapter of Caroline Pignat’s latest Governor General’s Award Winner, The Gospel Truth, 16 year-old Phoebe steals a half-dead yellow bird from the jaws of her plantation’s predatory cat, Rufus. Phoebe locks the bird up, and although she feels bad for containing a creature that was meant to

Family Ties

 A review of Sugar in the Blood: A Family’s Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart Family trees are all the rage. Part of their appeal is surely the element of surprise. The deeper one digs, the more likely a discovery that the tree’s roots twist and shoot in

Summer Reading

 Be sure to add Ottawa Stories: Trials and Triumphs in Bytown History, by Clifford Scott to your summer reading list. A collection of historical vignettes will take you on a journey through Ottawa as it once was to where it stands now. Read about the devastation of fires and diseases

OLM Book Review: Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

 Author Esi Edugyan’s eloquent prose pays a worthy homage to the blues, as it is often considered the simplest yet most difficult music to play. The beginning of World War Two has The Hot Time Swingers on the run. This Blues band, along with their prodigy trumpet player, Hieronymus Falk

John Ralston Saul’s Dark Return to Fiction

 On October 28, Canadian author, essayist and public intellectual John Ralston Saul spoke to a full crowd at the Knox Presbyterian Church as part of the 2012 Ottawa Writers Festival fall line-up. Saul, who is known for his celebrated novels and essays, being twice elected as the President of PEN International, and

To the Sea, a Book Review

 Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans By Brian Fagan Bloomsbury Press, 2012, 313pp. Newfoundland and Labrador 1700: in the morning dawn, boat crews are setting off the southeastern coast for another day of cod fishing. The water is calm, the skies clear. The