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FICTION August THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE ZOE WHITTALL In the tradition of Lauren Groff and Jonathan Franzen comes a stunning domestic drama about the unravelling of an all-American family. To the shock of his family and community, George Woodbury, an affable teacher and beloved husband and father, is arrested for sexual assault at a prestigious prep school in Connecticut. While he awaits his trial in jail, his family is left to pick up the pieces. His wife, Joan, a trauma nurse, is unable to tri- age her emotional reactions, and vaults between rage and denial. Daughter Sadie, the consummate overachiever, finds herself paralyzed on her boy- friend’s couch with a bong, while a local author attempts to exploit her story. Their son, Andrew, a lawyer in New York, assists in his father’s defense while wrestling with the unhappy memories of his own years in high school. Unfolding over a one-year period, the novel focuses on the Woodbury family as they struggle to support George while privately grappling with the possibility of his guilt. With exquisite emotional precision, Whittall explores issues of loyalty, truth, and the meaning of happiness through the lens of an all-American family on the brink of collapse. FICTION / Literary 978-1-77089-942-1 5.25 x 8 • 448 pages Trade paperback • $22.95 978-1-77089-943-8 ePub • $18.95 BISAC: FIC019000 2 ZOE WHITTALL is the author ALSO AVAILABLE of The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life (2001), The Emily Valentine HOLDING STILL FOR AS LONG AS Poems (2006), and Precordial POSSIBLE Thump (2008), and the edi- Zoe Whittall tor of Geeks, Misfits, & Outlaws (2003). Her debut novel Bottle 978-1-77089-807-3 Paperback • $14.95 Rocket Hearts (2007) made the Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of the Year and CBC Canada Reads’ Top 978-0-88784-301-3 Ten Essential Novels of the Decade. Her second ePub • $14.95 novel Holding Still for as Long as Possible (2009) won a Lambda Literary Award and was an American WINNER OF THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS: TRANS - Library Association Stonewall Honor Book. Her GENDER FICTION writing has appeared in the Walrus, the Believer, the AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION STONEWALL HON - Globe and Mail, the National Post, Fashion, and more. OUR BOOK She has also worked as a writer and story editor on “With Holding Still, Whittall has established herself as the TV shows Degrassi and Schitt’s Creek. Born in a writer of immense vitality and courage; she stands as the Eastern Townships of Quebec, she has an MFA the voice of a lost, but thanks to her not forgotten, gen- from the University of Guelph and lives in Toronto. eration: the boys and girls who will inherit the earth.” — National Post “Whittall is a dexterous puppeteer, and the book is unputdownable.” — Globe and Mail MARKETING NOTES “An unforgettable depiction of growing up in the new • National author tour millennium.” — Booklist • National publicity coverage “In , the awareness of • National advertising Holding Still for as Long as Possible mortality intersects with the romantic restlessness of • ARCs available youth. It makes for a story whose vital signs are fully • Co-op available present and robust.” — Toronto Star • Open Book Writer in Residence (October) • zoewhittall.com • Twitter: @zoewhittall 3 September INTO THE SUN DENI ELLIS BÉCHARD War is a collision of fictions. Kabul — 10 years after 9/11: When a car bomb explodes in a crowded part of the city, a Japanese-American journalist is shocked to discover that the vehicle’s passengers were acquaintances — three fellow ex-pats who had formed an unlikely love triangle. Alexandra was a Canadian human rights lawyer for imprisoned Afghan women. Justin was a born-again Christian from Louisiana who taught at a local school. Clay was an ex-soldier who worked as a private contractor. The car’s driver, Idris, one of Justin’s most promising pupils, is missing. Convinced the events that led to the fatal explo- sion weren’t random, and curious to know more about what led each of them to Afghanistan, the journalist follows a trail from Kabul to Louisiana, Maine, Québec, and Dubai, determined to uncover why they were targeted and who is responsible. In this monumental novel, Deni Ellis Béchard explores the personal impact of America’s imperial misadventures and draws an unsentimental portrait of the journalists, mercenaries, messianic idealists, and aid workers who flock to war zones. In vivid and evocative prose, Béchard brings to life the city of Kabul itself, along with the people who live there: FICTION / Literary the hungry, determined, and resourceful locals who 978-1-4870-0139-1 are just as willing as their occupiers to reinvent 5.25 x 8 • 456 pages themselves to survive. Trade paperback • $22.95 978-1-4870-0140-7 ePub • $18.95 BISAC: FIC019000 4 DENI ELLIS BÉCHARD is PRAISE FOR THE LAST BONOBO: A the author of the novel Vandal JOURNEY INTO THE CONGO Love, winner of the 2007 Com- monwealth Writers’ Prize; “A brilliant book, exactly the kind of intellectually Cures for Hunger, a memoir powerful, clear, and compassionate account that about growing up with a father could — literally — help save the world.” — Mon- who robbed banks; and The treal Review of Books Last Bonobo: A Journey into the Congo. His work has appeared in the LA Times, Salon, and Foreign Policy, “Béchard has done a masterful job.” — Quill & and he has reported from Afghanistan, India, the Quire Congo, and Iraq. PRAISE FOR CURES FOR HUNGER “You haven’t read a story like this one . Béchard is the rare writer who knows the secret to telling the true story. Just because the end is clear doesn’t mean the bets are off.” — Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings “A poignant but rigorously unsentimental account of hard-won maturity.” — Kirkus Reviews PRAISE FOR VANDAL LOVE MARKETING NOTES WINNER OF THE COMMONWEALTH WRITERS’ PRIZE: • National author tour BEST FIRST BOOK • National publicity coverage “Béchard surpasses Kerouac in his consciousness • ARCs available of the French as part of a larger people, how their • Co-op available struggle is socially and politically situated rather • denibechard.com than strictly personal.” — Globe and Mail • Twitter: @denibechard “Though Béchard has a journalism background, this fiction debut, unfolding in punchy prose, recalls Márquez with a French-Canadian twist.” — Publishers Weekly 5 September THE BREAK KATHERENA VERMETTE A stunning and heartbreaking debut novel by Governor General’s Literary Award– winning Métis poet Katherena Vermette about a multigenerational Métis–Anishnaabe family dealing with the fallout of a shocking crime in Winnipeg’s North End. When Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots some- one in trouble on the Break — a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house — she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime. In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim — police, family, and friends — tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg’s North End is exposed. A powerful intergenerational family saga, The Break showcases Vermette’s abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Cana- dian literature. FICTION / Literary 978-1-4870-0111-7 5.25 x 8 • 344 pages Trade paperback • $22.95 978-1-4870-0112-4 ePub • $18.95 BISAC: FIC019000 6 KATHERENA VERMETTE is a Métis writer of PRAISE FOR NORTH END LOVE SONGS poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. Her first book, North End Love Songs, won the Governor WINNER OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL’S LITERARY General’s Literary Award for Poetry and was the AWARD FOR POETRY, “ON THE SAME PAGE” 2015 selection for Manitoba’s provincial book club, SELECTION (MANITOBA’S PROVINCIAL BOOK CLUB) On the Same Page. Vermette has recently been shortlisted for the inaugural Beatrice Mosionier “In North End Love Songs, Katherena Vermette Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award. Her work uses spare language and brief, telling sketches to has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies illuminate the aviary of a prairie neighbourhood. across the globe. She holds a Master of Fine Arts Vermette’s love songs are unconventional and in Creative Writing from the University of British imminent, an examination and a celebration of Columbia, and lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. family and community in all weathers, the beautiful as well as the less clement conditions. This collection is a very moving tribute, to the girls and the women, the boys and the men, and the loving trouble that has forever transpired between us.” — Joanne Arnott “From a mixed-blood Métis woman with Menno- nite roots, Kate weaves a story that winds its way through the north end (Nor-tend) of Winnipeg. It’s a story of death, birth, survival, beauty, and ugli- ness; through it all there are glimmers of hope, strength, and a will to survive whatever this city MARKETING NOTES throws at you.” — Duncan Mercredi • National author tour • National publicity coverage • National advertising • ARCs available • Co-op available • Winnipeg Thin Air Festival appearance • katherenavermette.com • Twitter: @katherenav 7 September NEW IN PAPERBACK UNDERMAJORDOMO MINOR PATRICK DEWITT A love story, an adventure story, a fable without a mor- al, and an ink-black comedy of manners, international bestsell- ing author Patrick deWitt’s latest novel is about a young man named Lucien (Lucy) Minor, who accepts employment at the foreboding Castle Von Aux.