Caroline Noël

To those who crave the cosmopolitanism of cities, life in the remote Alberta foothills with their harsh, endless winters may seem a punishing seclusion. But distance from urban preoccupations can attune human sensitivities to natural and emotional landscapes. In Anik See’s Cabin Fever, an expansive wilderness lends itself to prolonged contemplation. See’s sparse language infuses a simple story — told across four years and through devastating personal and world events — with haunting moments of discovery and…

As legend has it, a vengeful witch once placed a spell on all McQuinn women. Their fate? Generations of terrific misfortune. Each of the Love men, on the other hand, suffers a fatal heart attack before his forty-eighth birthday. It’s no surprise then that the young people in the latest accursed generation of the McQuinn-Love clan have little hope for the…

In Mudflowers, Aley Waterman honestly and painfully depicts the challenge of finding intimacy in an individualistic culture. At once a tale of friendship and heartbreak, an exploration of grief, and an endearing portrait of the Toronto art scene in the early 2010s, the novel offers an all too relatable story encapsulated by its first line: “I wanted so badly to love in a good way.” That declaration is made by the…