FREEHAND BOOKS FALL 2 0 2 0 Message from the publisher
Way back in 2008, Freehand’s very first season featured four truly fantastic books written by women. I’m delighted to return to our roots now, twelve years later, with a frontlist entirely composed of fierce and fabulous women writers.
Bernice Friesen brings us Universal Disorder, a perpetual motion machine of a novel, where each page buzzes with energy. Dede Crane dives back into 19th-century France to tell the unsung story of visionary Berthe Morisot, the sole female member of the group of artists who came to be known as the Impressionists. And Leona Theis crafts a deliciously satisfying character in If Sylvie Had Nine Lives — or perhaps nine deliciously satisfying characters, as the choices Sylvie makes in each of her lives dramatically change her trajectory.
Thank you so much for supporting small, feisty publishers like Freehand — and the amazing authors who we are privileged to work with.
kelsey attard Managing Editor, Freehand Books september 2020
A novel about Charlie, neurodivergent, preoccupied with numbers, and desperately trying to solve for love.
Growing up on an isolated farm, Charlie is clearly different. He can never make sense of what anyone else is thinking or feeling, and finds solace in the infinitely fascinating world of numbers. Many years later Charlie sees a phone number pop up on his call display for the first time in ten years, belonging to a woman he assumed dead. On the verge of another breakdown, he searches the streets of Montreal for a lost love — forced to face a past that he had desperately tried to forget. With magnetic prose that positively vibrates with energy, Bernice Friesen brilliantly takes us into the mind of a captivating, unforgettable character. Universal Disorder is an extraordinary novel about the human psyche and the imperfect, disordered ways that we love each other.
isbn 978-1-988298-55-9 Bernice Friesen’s first novel,The Book of Beasts, was shortlisted $22.95 cdn for the Writers Trust Fiction Prize. Her poetry, fiction, and paintings 5.5 × 8.5 paperback have appeared in many Canadian and European journals. Originally 320 pages from Saskatchewan, she currently lives on the Gulf Islands. canadian rights FIC019000 Fiction / Literary
3 september 2020
A memorable and clandestine love story between two visionary artists in 19th-century Paris
“These madmen — and one madder woman — paint as if suffering seizures! One cannot make heads or tails of the work without taking ten paces back.” In One Madder Woman, Dede Crane vividly recreates the life of Berthe Morisot, the sole female member of the renowned group of artists known as the Impressionists. Inspired by true events, One Madder Woman charts her complicated relationship with her sister and rival, Edma, and her tumultuous love affair with Édouard Manet, the charismatic enfant terrible of the Paris Salon, against a backdrop of upheaval and war in mid-19th-century Paris. One Madder Woman illuminates the stories behind familiar masterpieces, and sketches a life teeming with obstacles defied and conquered by the genius of Morisot. At a time when art was a space completely dominated by men, Morisot upends all expectations of what a “proper woman” should be and manages to carve out her own place in the art world. Crane’s rich prose and lyrical expression bring this revolutionary artistic period to life, in vivid and glorious colour.
ibsn 978-1-988298-68-9 Dede Crane is the author of multiple books, including the acclaimed $23.95 cdn novel Sympathy, which was a finalist for the Victoria Butler Book Prize. 6 × 9 paperback with french flaps A former professional ballet dancer and choreographer, she currently 400 pages lives in Victoria. canadian rights FIC014000 Fiction/Historical/General FIC027170 Fiction/Romance/Historical/Victorian FIC044000 Fiction/Women
4 september 2020
NOT FINAL COVER An innovative, beautifully written story about the small decisions that shape our lives.
Meet Sylvie — funny, sly, sensual and flawed. She can’t always count on herself to make good choices. She may or may not recognize a life-or-death moment, may or may not cancel her own wedding with a day to spare, might just try to walk past store security with a little something in her pocket. Like all of us, Sylvie must make decisions that have reverberations for years to come. Unlike the rest of us, Sylvie gets to live more than one life. In airy prose imbued with humour, this novel-in- stories asks the big questions: is there a right path and a wrong path, or does each possibility hold its share of pleasure and pain? Does a person have an immutable self, or is her essence dependent on circumstance? In this energetic and innovative book, Leona Theis creates a world without the usual limits and a protagonist who is conflicted, charismatic, brave, and full of curiosity. If Sylvie had Nine Lives is for everyone who has ever asked, What if . . . ?
isbn 978-1-988298-71-9 Leona Theis’s collection Sightlines won the Saskatchewan $22.95 cdn Book Award for Fiction and the Saskatoon Book Award. Her stories 5.5 × 8.5 paperback have appeared in literary journals across Canada, been broadcast 240 pages on CBC Radio, and adapted for film. Leona Theis grew up in rural world rights Saskatchewan; has lived in Victoria, Denmark, France, and Australia; FIC029000 Fiction / Short Stories (single author) and currently lives in Saskatoon. FIC019000 Fiction / Literary
5 f e a t u r e d
isbn 978-1-988298-47-4 $29.95 cdn isbn 978-1-988298-59-7 $22.95 cdn
* Globe and Mail: Best reading of the independent press 2019 “Riveting . . . Watershed is the best kind of * 49th Shelf: Top fiction of 2019 futuristic fiction, the kind that becomes “[A] delightful feministic gothic horror graphic novel . . . grass-roots reality as we read.” deliciously creepy and unique.” — Wayne Grady — Vancouver Sun “Doreen Vanderstoop takes us into a future “Leavitt has taken a peculiar and particular kernel of that feels more likely every day . . . a timely, legend and expanded it into a world that is immersive beautifully rendered and prescient work.” and visceral.” — Ann Eriksson — Quill and Quire
6 isbn 978-1-988298-62-7 $22.95 cdn isbn 978-1-988298-56-6 $22.95 cdn
“A global narrative about gender and race, about “Smart and funny, filled with deep affection, regret, words and actions and reactions, with tough female love and sorrow . . . I was ambushed by these stories, characters who will not back down and instead stand taken places I never expected to go. In the end, together against injustice. Simpson is a beautiful I lost count of the times I shook my head at the sheer writer and this is a bold, brave book.” pleasure of reading this marvellous book.” — Alexander MacLeod — Eve Joseph
7 b a c k l i s t
isbn 978-1-988298-28-8 $19.95 cdn/us isbn 978-1-988298-44-3 $21.95 cdn
* Audience choice winner of Canada Reads, 2019 * Finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary * OverDrive’s Big Library Read selection—April, 2019 Award for Fiction * Finalist for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction * Finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award * Finalist for the 2019 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing * Winner of the 2019 Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non-Fiction “Beautifully crafted and bursting with love” * Winner of the Alberta Book of the Year Award, Trade Non-Fiction — Tara Henley, Toronto Star “This extraordinary story is about the resilience of family in “Cary Fagan’s latest novel, The Student, seems the face of profound terror; Yeung writes with a deceptively like one of his best. It has the agreeable quality simple, meticulously observing eye and novelistic attention of being both simple and deep, with prose as to plot and character.” clear as a smooth pond whose waters go to — 2018 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Jury impressive depths.” (André Picard, Angela Sterritt, and Chris Turner) — Bill Gladstone, Canadian Jewish News
8 isbn 978-988298-25-2 $21.95 cdn/us isbn 978-1-988298-104-5 $16.95 cdn
* Selected for Amnesty International Book Club * From the winner of the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize * Finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize “This is such a beautiful novel . . . [Thapa] writes about Nepal with great intensity and insight and she writes “The moment I opened Personals, I was smitten . . . about the utter necessity of these interdependent lives.” When [Williams] pulls the strings of contradictions: — Madeleine Thien light and heavy, hilarious and serious, I can’t help but dance like a happy puppet in his masterful hands.” “Illuminating and satisfying.” — Wang Ping, Griffin Prize jury — Alberta Views
9 the complete list
fiction cdn usd
978-1-55481-265-3 Afterlife of Birds, The Elizabeth Philips 2015 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-47-4 Agnes, Murderess Sarah Leavitt 2019 29.95
978-1-988298-34-4 All of Us In Our Own Lives Manjushree Thapa 2018 21.95
978-1-55481-054-3 And Me Among Them Kristen den Hartog 2011 21.95
978-1-55481-138-0 Are You Ready to Be Lucky? Rosemary Nixon 2013 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-207-3 Between Clay and Dust Musharraf Ali Farooqi 2014 19.95
978-1-55481-016-1 Blue Sunflower Startle Yasmin Ladha 2010 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-186-1 Boundary Problems Greg Bechtel 2014 19.95 19.95
978-1-55111-879-6 Buying Cigarettes for the Dog Stuart Ross 2009 19.95 19.95
978-1-55481-109-0 Crimes of Hector Tomás, The Ian Colford 2012 21.95
978-1-988298-18-4 Dazzle Patterns Alison Watt 2017 21.95 21.95
978-1-55111-730-0 Description of the Blazing World, A Michael Murphy 2011 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-182-3 Dilettantes, The Michael Hingston 2013 21.95
978-1-55111-978-6 Doctrine of Affections, The Paul Headrick 2010 23.95 23.95
978-1-988298-56-6 End of Me, The John Gould 2020 22.95 22.95
978-1-988298-25-2 Figgs, The Ali Bryan 2018 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-139-7 Green and Purple Skin of the World, The paulo da costa 2013 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-021-5 Hold Me Now Stephen Gauer 2011 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-37-5 Hummingbird Devin Krukoff 2018 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-71-9 If Sylvie Had Nine Lives Leona Theis 2020 22.95 22.95
978-1-55481-318-6 Middenrammers John Bart 2016 21.95 21.95
978-1-55111-927-4 Mother Superior Saleema Nawaz 2008 23.95 23.95
978-1-55481-253-0 Mystics of Mile End, The Sigal Samuel 2015 21.95
978-1-55111-995-3 Not Anyone’s Anything Ian Williams 2011 21.95
978-1-55481-060-4 Not Being on a Boat Esmé Claire Keith 2011 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-68-9 One Madder Woman Dede Crane 2020 23.95
978-1-55111-932-8 Open Arms Marina Endicott 2009 23.95
978-1-55481-059-8 People Who Disappear Alex Leslie 2012 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-286-8 Perfect World Ian Colford 2016 19.95 19.95
978-1-55111-925-0 postcard and other stories Anik See 2009 23.95 23.95
978-1-55481-062-8 Reverse Cowgirl, The David Whitton 2011 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-137-3 Roost Ali Bryan 2013 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-09-2 Searching for Petronius Totem Peter Unwin 2017 21.95 21.95
10 fiction continued cdn usd
978-1-55481-079-6 Seen Reading Julie Wilson 2012 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-62-7 Speechless Anne Simpson 2020 22.95 22.95
978-1-988298-44-3 Student, The Cary Fagan 2019 21.95
978-1-55481-264-6 Swallows Uncaged, The: A Narrative in Eight Panels Elizabeth McLean 2015 21.95
978-1-988298-01-6 Teardown Clea Young 2016 19.95
978-1-988298-54-2 This Has Nothing to Do With You Lauren Carter 2019 22.95
978-1-988298-49-8 Towers of Babylon, The Michelle Kaeser 2019 22.95
978-1-988298-31-3 Twin Studies Keith Maillard 2018 24.95
978-1-988298-21-4 Two Roads Home Daniel Griffin 2017 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-55-9 Universal Disorder Bernice Friesen 2020 22.95
978-1-988298-59-7 Watershed Doreen Vanderstoop 2020 22.95 22.95
978-1-988298-00-9 Weather Inside, The Emily Saso 2016 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-228-8 Welcome to the Circus Rhonda Douglas 2015 19.95 19.95
978-1-55481-061-1 While the Sun Is Above Us Melanie Schnell 2012 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-303-2 White Elephant Catherine Cooper 2016 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-06-1 Winter Child Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau, trans. 2017 21.95 by Susan Ouriou and Christelle Morelli nonfiction
978-1-55111-928-1 Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness Clem Martini & Olivier Martini 2010 23.95 23.95
978-1-55481-206-6 Detachment: An Adoption Memoir Maurice Mierau 2014 21.95 21.95
978-1-55481-105-2 Every Wolf’s Howl Barry Grills 2012 21.95 21.95
978-1-988298-28-3 Homes: A Refugee Story Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung 2018 19.95 19.95
978-1-55481-195-3 One Hour in Paris: A True Story of Rape and Recovery Karyn L. Freedman 2014 21.95
978-1-55111-930-4 Pathologies: A Life in Essays Susan Olding 2008 23.95 23.95
978-1-988298-41-2 Seizure the Day: Living a Happy Life with Illness Brian Orend 2019 22.95 22.95
978-1-55111-117-9 Tangles: A story about Alzheimer’s, my mother, and me Sarah Leavitt 2010 23.95
978-1-988298-15-3 The Unravelling Clem Martini & Olivier Martini 2017 23.95 23.95 poetry
978-1-55111-960-1 Harmonics Jesse Patrick Ferguson 2009 16.95 16.95
978-1-55111-851-2 Here Is Where We Disembark Clea Roberts 2010 16.95 16.95
978-1-55111-926-7 It’s Hard Being Queen: The Dusty Springfield Poems Jeanette Lynes 2008 16.95 16.95
978-1-55481-104-5 Personals Ian Williams 2012 16.95 16.95
978-1-55111-961-8 subUrban Legends Joan Crate 2009 16.95 16.95
978-1-988298-12-2 What the Soul Doesn’t Want Lorna Crozier 2017 16.95 16.95
11 freehand ampersand inc. ordering info
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