ALL WE LEAVE BEHIND by Carol Off (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, Random House Canada, published September 19, 2017; Film/TV rights available). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:
Finalist, The 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust of Canada Prize
Chatelaine: Best Fall Books 2017
Huffington Post: New Fall Books Of 2017 We Can't Wait To Dig Into
CBC Books: 20 Works of Nonfiction to Dig Into This Fall
Select author interviews:
"
The Boat People is a powerful, gripping moral drama told with deep compassion and humanity. Sharon Bala takes us behind the headlines about refugees and asylum seekers straight into the beating hearts of unforgettable human beings. A timely tale and a beautiful, remarkable debut."
-Lynne Kutsukake, author of
THE TRANSLATION OF LOVE
"This wise and compassionate novel is an intimate portrait of one of the great humanitarian crises of our time. Its power lies in its breadth, for it examines not just those who come to our country seeking refuge, but also those who determine their fate. As such it implicates us all in the ongoing crisis."
-Shyam Selvadurai author of The Hungry Ghosts and Funny Boy
"
The Boat People is a beautifully crafted story with a big heart. This novel has an urgency and relevance that cuts to the bone and will resonate with readers of all stripes. Bala offers no easy answers and no political posturing, but her magnificent storytelling will leave readers wondering about their own convictions, asking themselves, 'What would I do? What would I have done?' I love this book and, somehow, I empathized and understood every character's motivation and heart, despite their seemingly opposing stances. The spirits of Bala's complicated, well-developed characters will linger with you like ghosts; you will look for them in the newspaper, on the evening news, everywhere, and when you encounter them, you will pause and wonder, not only about them but about yourself."
-Michel Stone, author of Border Child
"
The Boat People is a burning flare of a novel, at once incendiary and illuminating. With a rare combination of precision, empathy and insight, Sharon Bala has crafted an unflinching examination of what happens when the fundamental human need for safety collides with the cold calculus of bureaucracy. In the best tradition of fearless literature, it shatters our comfortable illusions about who we really are, reveals just how asymmetrical the privilege of belonging can be. This is a brilliant debut - a story that needs to be told, told beautifully."
-Omar El Akkad, author of American War
"I loved this book. The way Harriet Alida Lye captures and registers moments of encounter with gentleness and specificity, like bees bumping against flowers - there's magic afoot here."
-Lauren Elkin, author of Flaneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London (A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice)
"Mysterious, suspenseful, and unnerving,
The Honey Farm offers a thrilling narrative that examines the distorted realities and conflicting perceptions that often exist in the quietest places."
-Iain Reid, bestselling author of
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
, an NPR Best Book of the Year, 2016
"
The Honey Farm
delves into the intimate mysteries of art, madness, religion, and love through a story built with beautiful language and lush sensory detail. Gothic and subtly menacing, it's a book as rich as the sweet substance at its core."
-Grace O'Connell
"...a deliciously creepy read."
-Andrea gunraj
"The secret world of bees and the sensuous natural order in all its peril and glory come alive in this mesmerizing, suspenseful novel. Harriet Alida Lye is a writer of prodigious talent and
The Honey Farm a thrilling, chills-inducing debut. Brava!"
-Carol Bruneau, award-winning author of Glass Voices and These Good Hands
"Beguiled by the promise of a writers' retreat, Sylvia leaves her staunchly Catholic family home for the uncertain territory of a honey farm in Northern Ontario.
The Honey Farm offers readers an accomplished meditation on love, creativity and the wonder of the natural world, and a gripping exploration of a community that is perhaps not as it seems."
-Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author of The Painted Girls
LOST IN SEPTEMBER by Kathleen Winter (World rights sold to Knopf Canada, published September 12, 2017, contact The Cooke Agency. Film/TV rights available, contact Shaun Bradley, Transatlantic). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:
CBC's Fall Book Preview: 20 Works of Canadian Fiction We're Excited to Read
Chatelaine: Best Fall Books 2017
Huffington Post: New Fall Books Of 2017 We Can't Wait To Dig Into
Winnipeg Free Press: Sizzling Stories, Fall 2017
The Globe and Mail: Most Anticipated Books, 2017
Loan Stars: Canadian Librarians Best Picks
Select author interviews:
-
Pressreader.com/ottawa-citizen
"Winter's writing is undeniably elegant: undulating with recurring motifs of water and rivers, blindness and vision, a painterly attention to detail involving primary coloured figures that lend more elemental power to the prose.
Lost in September coalesces into a touching portrait of a broken man, as well as a considerable addition to the literature of war, of trauma and recovery. It's energized by a deep compassion for our drive to heal and remember, even in the shadow of unimaginable bloodshed. As with many peculiar books, it's worth your time - evocative, humane and (maybe) totally original."
-The Globe and Mail
"Kathleen Winter returns to the upper echelons of CanLit with her audacious new novel,
Lost in September."
-Toronto Star
THE ONLY CAFE by Linden MacIntyre (World Rights Available Ex: Canada and U.S., Random House Canada; Film/TV rights available). Contact
shaun@transatlanticagency.com
:
National bestseller: CBC Books and The Globe and Mail
Select author interviews:
"
The Only Café will transfix you with its disquieting and cautionary narrative...[J]udicious and expertly timed...
The Only Café
's elegant prose attains a lyrical quality...[A] testament to MacIntyre's dexterity as a storyteller."
-The Globe and Mail
"[S]pare, propulsive and rich in observational detail and dialogue...MacIntyre's journalism training and experience...allow him to explore Lebanon's labyrinthine, multi-factional civil war with authority and compassion."
-James Grainger, author of Harmless, Toronto Star
"
The Only Café is imbued with a feeling of lived authenticity."
-Quill and Quire
"
Peninsula Sinking opens with a literary punch to the gut...and establishes Huebert as one of Canada's most impressive young writers."
-Quill and Quire
RUN, HIDE, REPEAT by Pauline Dakin (World Rights Available Ex: Canada and U.S., Penguin Books Canada; Film/TV rights available). Contact shaun@transatlanticagency.com:
National Bestseller: The Globe and Mail (debuted at #1 on Canadian list, #2 on international list, # 2 on biography)
CBC Books (debuted at #3)
Select author interviews:
"This is a well-paced and engrossing memoir where Dakin's skills as long-time CBC health reporter uncover one final, startling revelation."
-The Globe and Mail
"This twisted page-turner brings the truth to the forefront, while Dakin tries to master the art of forgiveness."
-Canadian Living
"
Run, Hide, Repeat. The title grabs me by the throat. I knew my hard-working, calm friend was writing a memoir as part of her King's MFA in creative non-fiction, but I was not prepared for the hidden story of her life. Who could have imagined Pauline had spent decades on the run from the mob?"
-Chronicle Herald
"
Run, Hide, Repeat
is part crime thriller, part scientific analysis of delusional disorder ... a remarkable new memoir."
-Edmonton Journal
"It's always wonderful to stumble upon what could be a sleeper, and leave it to Goose Lane to have one on offer. Karen Smythe's
This Side of Sad is due in September and it's a stunner." This is one for your must-read list this Fall!
-Words Worth Books
"Smythe's prose is powerful...The author's choice of narrative perspective ensures that this book is likely to provoke lively debate."
-Quill and Quire
"In this wry and visceral debut novel, Karen Smythe has found new and intriguing ways to tell a powerful story of longing, love, and what it means to be brave. Her characters show us how we are all repeatedly reconstituted by love and how, for better or worse, we must accept what we thought we couldn't and find a way to live with the different versions of ourselves as we navigate our own lives."
-Diane Schoemperlen, author of This Is Not My Life
"This Side of Sad
is as intimate as a best friend's confession, as well wrought as a fine clay vessel, and as consoling as only a fine blues tune can be."
-Antanas Sileika, author of The Barefoot Bingo Caller
"Sensitive and authentic, This Sad of Sad brims with introspection, wry humour, and Karen Smythe's signature literary grace. The story will remain rooted in your heart and mind."
-Danila Botha, author of For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I've Known
"A courageous debut novel and one of the most searing explorations of love and grief you will ever read. This is writing that probes as deeply as fiction can the conflicting emotions that ensue upon devastating loss. This Side of Sad is a dramatically vivid work of fiction."
-Ian Colford, author of Perfect World
Praise for MINING FOR JUSTICE by Kathleen Ernst (World Rights Available Ex. North America, Midnight Ink) Publication: Oct 8th 2017. Contact fiona@transatlanticagency.com:
"The eighth in the series contrasts the difficult life of Wisconsin's Cornish miners with the heroine's burgeoning romance, highlighting both her researching skills and her unusual feel for the past"
-Kirkus Reviews
"Richly imagined and compelling,
Mining for Justice once again highlights Kathleen Ernst's prowess as a storyteller...Ernst is a master of reconstructing the past."
-Susanna Calkins, author of the Macavity-winning Lucy Campion Mysteries
Advance praise for Marissa Stapley's THINGS TO DO WHEN IT'S RAINING (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Simon & Schuster; U.S., Graydon House, February 2018; Germany, Rowohlt, Spring 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"Regrets, secrets, and hidden longings swirl beneath the surface of this beautifully atmospheric story of love found, lost, and rediscovered. I couldn't stop reading."
-Shelley Noble, NYT bestselling author of Whisper Beach and The Beach at Painter's Cove
"Sad and funny, delicate and ferocious, this is an intoxicating potpourri of marvelous stories that bears repeated readings to uncover every subtle nuance."
-Publishers Weekly
Praise for Sarah Faber's ALL IS BEAUTY NOW (World Rights Available Ex: U.S., Little Brown, August 2017; Canada English, McClelland & Stewart, August 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"Notable for its lovely prose and melancholy empathy....
All Is Beauty Now
[is] a finely observed consideration of how mental illness impacts an entire family."
-Kirkus
"This debut infuses the fierce familial love with the bitter ache of dreams lost and secrets kept. Faber's swirling, dreamlike prose paints a wildly beautiful Brazil. Readers will lose themselves in this delicately wrought, heartbreaking tale."
-Publishers Weekly
"Richly realized and filled with tantalizing secrets, this novel offers a dramatic look at one family's struggle to survive."
-Booklist
"[A] powerful family novel exploring the twin dangers of romanticism and nostalgia."
Praise for Rebecca Rosenblum's SO MUCH LOVE (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, McClelland & Stewart, Spring 2017; Poland, Prószyński; World French, Leméac Editeur Inc., September 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"The novel is a delicate exploration of the lasting repercussions of the cruelty humans inflict on one another."
-Publishers Weekly
Praise for Zoe Whittall's THE BEST KIND OF PEOPLE (World rights sold to House of Anansi, World Ex: Canada, U.S. and UK. presently available). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"A humane, cleareyed attempt to explore the ripple effects of sexual crime."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Diversity of opinion on what might have happened and who is to blame will make for a thoughtful consideration and conversation, pegging this as a perfect book-club choice."
-Booklist
"Gripped quickly by the attachment you feel for the characters, you are compelled to read on...Whittall has masterfully written characters that stay with you long after you've finished."
-Gwendolyn Bortolotto, Galiano Island Books
"Whittal brings realism and humanity to the story."
-Publishers Weekly
"
Mitzi Bytes may be a fun, adult-sized rendition of
Harriet the Spy
, but more than anything, the novel makes a statement that women are not only one thing."
-Winnipeg Review
"...a book with a blogger as the protagonist released in 2017? How delightfully anachronistic. And yet, the story feels surprisingly current and relevant today."
-Danielle Donder, Postcards from the Mothership
"a compelling look into the personal consequences of the digital age."
-Canadian Living
"The stories get better, more assured and more insightful, over the years. The final four are exceptional, highlighting the author's strengths and giving three-dimensional pictures of authentic characters and their worlds."
-Winnipeg Free Press
"The pleasures of such a collection - spanning three decades - are that it provides a bounty of good reading while charting the growth of one of our most interesting and iconoclastic writers."
-The Toronto Star
"A rich and jumbled mix of war and peace by an author to watch."
-Kirkus Reviews
"A recommended selection for its appealing and thought-provoking plot."
-School Library Journal
"Berkhout creates a cinematic feel with her evocative language and scene setting. The scope of the story's themes of love, honour, bravery, and forgiveness are reflected in the vastness of the blue sky over the town, and it's impossible not to envision the action as it unfolds."
-Quill and Quire
"
The Mosaic
is an engaging artful novel. Full of loving descriptions of American Prairie, and moving stories of soldiers living with the after effects of war, this book really makes you think. Realistic portrayal of human emotions and the painstaking process of creating art, both take center stage in this heartbreaking read. Avid readers will finish this book in a matter of days. Maybe one of the best books I've ever read."
-McNally Robinson
Praise for Elisabeth de Mariaffi's HYSTERIA (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, HarperCollins, 2018; U.K., Titan Publishing Group). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"
Hysteria
begins with a young German girl emerging from the woods, fleeing the end of the second war, and ends a decade later on American soil in a perfect series of plot twists and turns...Elisabeth de Mariaffi has crafted an epic and haunting story that manages to be both rich in character and setting and breakneck in pace. You will find yourself thinking about it long after you've turned the last pages."
-Amy Stuart, author of Still Mine
"Elisabeth de Mariaffi's novel
Hysteria
is shout-out-from-the-rooftops good. It is unpredictable, laced with evil and mystery, and impossible to put down. A horrifying modern-day fairy tale, Hysteria is finely written, haunting in its construction, and compelling from the first page to the last."
-Lawrence Hill, #1 National Bestselling author of The Illegal
"
Hysteria
is a creepy, at times terrifying, thrill-ride, taut and smart, and totally unpredictable."
-Zoe Whittall, Giller Prize finalist author of The Best Kind of People
Praise for Martha Baillie's IF CLARA (World Rights Available Ex: English and French Canada, Coach House Books, Fall 2017). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"Baillie's mastery distinguishes each voice. Even the neat and sentimental conclusion offers solace as the characters' complexity resonates beyond the page...Baillie's novel will appeal to many and please the literary-minded too."
-Quill & Quire, starred review
"
If Clara
finds Baillie at the top of her game with this complex, deftly layered new novel, her sixth..."
-Toronto Star
Praise for Daniel Griffin's TWO ROADS HOME (World Rights Available Ex: North America, Freehand Books, September 2017; Germany, Nagel & Kimche, Hanser Verlag). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"Daniel Griffin's
Two Roads Home is a blistering examination of modern-day radicalism, a society's collective guilt, and the possibility of redemption. As propulsive as a thriller, with characters so real they draw blood, this is a powerful novel that never lets up."
-Steven Price, author of By Gaslight
"In this darkly beautiful tale, four idealists try to do 'something good, something important, something no one else seemed willing to stand up and do.' But it goes wrong and suddenly Pete Osborne is on the run, his mother Tab becomes a sleuth and we're off into a page-turner of a story. Daniel Griffin's compassionate eye follows his characters through the lush coastal forests, wilderness and waters of British Columbia, while he maps their emotional terrain keenly as a mind-reader.
Two Roads Home
is an elegantly crafted, nuanced work that reveals how we stretch our bonds, and sometimes betray them, to belong, matter or survive."
-Shauna Singh Baldwin, author of The Selector of Souls, The Tiger Claw and What the Body Remembers
Praise for WE ALL LOVE THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS by Joanne Proulx (World Rights Available Ex: Canada English, Viking, August 2017; U.S., Grand Central Publishing, 2018; Canadian Audio rights, Audible, 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"Proulx excels with precisely that sort of subtlety and gradual revelation. As one reads
We All Love the Beautiful Girls
, impressions of the characters will shift and change, a verisimilitude that is the result of careful attention and unflinching honesty."
-Toronto Star
"When I finished this novel, I wanted to tell everyone I knew to read it. It is one of the best, most important books I've read in a very long time."
-The Globe and Mail
Praise for Katherine Ashenburg's SOFIE & CECILIA (World Rights Available Ex: Canada, Knopf, New Face of Fiction, Spring 2018). Contact samantha@transatlanticagency.com:
"
Sofie & Cecilia
paints a marvelously detailed, slyly witty portrait of two women of talent married to successful painters in early 20th century Sweden-when girls might dabble in drawing lessons, but must put aside any artistic ambitions after marriage. Their growing independence is fueled by their friendship, sustained over the length of their lives, often through letters full of delicious innuendo. Fans of Elena Ferrante (not to mention Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf, whose books are a bonding point) will revel in this wise and intensely moving story of two women navigating a world that expected women to weave, knit and embroider in the shadow of the real artists, their husbands. Nevertheless, they persisted."
-Marni Jackson, author of Don't I Know You?
"Closely and beautifully observed,
Sofie and Cecilia
is a revealing look at the early twentieth century world of Scandinavian arts, crafts, and culture. Ashenburg has as intimate a knowledge of the needlework on an embroidered sleeve, the pattern of a lace trimmed hem, and the warm tones of painted flesh, as she has of interpersonal relationships. As her readers, we experience both the affirmation of women's friendships, and the challenge of devoting oneself to a life of artistic creation in a society where the notion of gender equality has not yet fully come to consciousness."
-Jane Urquhart, author of Away
"Against the luscious backdrop of the early twentieth-century Swedish art world, Sofie & Cecilia offers a fascinating, intimate look at the many variations of female love: maternal love, marital love, love of industry and craft, love of beauty. Most of all it is a celebration of the love that can exist between women friends. An intelligent, tender, highly pleasurable novel." -Barbara Gowdy
Praise for Book One, KISS ME SHERIFF, from RITA Award-winning Wendy Warren's THE MEN OF THUNDER RIDGE series; in anticipation of the third and final release (World Rights sold to Harlequin Special Edition). Contact sandra@transatlanticagency.com:
"A deliciously tender tale." -Books and Spoons
"A fantastic...second-chance romance in Warren's series starter. Her authentic characters, potentially destructive years-old secrets, a delish New York deli in Oregon plus her genuine handling of the lingering emotions are great, but the cataclysmic father/teenaged son reunion and the excellent ending rock!" -4 stars @ RT Book Reviews
"The story was magical. The romance, heartbreakingly beautiful. I had tears streaming down my face more than once! And it's not just a romance. It's about learning to love in all forms. It's about taking chances. Chances on a kid nobody wants. Chances on a woman that can't trust. And chances on a man to not break what's left of your heart. 10 Stars for this lovingly-crafted story!" -Ever After Book Reviews
And for Book Two, HIS SURPRISE SON
"...emotionally charged...Poignant, wistful, and ardent story of love and life, about finding your one true soul mate, your home." -Books and Spoons
Praise for ONLY LOVE TODAY by Rachel Macy Stafford (World Rights sold to Harper Collins/Zondervan, published Spring 2017). Contact sandra@transatlanticagency.com:
"Stafford brings a voice that is both inspirational and authentic to a topic that can often take a lifetime to get the hang of." -Publishers Weekly
"While I read [ONLY LOVE TODAY], I felt it change me. Rachel's words seeped into my soul and planted a seed of love that has been growing and spreading to those around me. Only Love Today
- three small words with immense transformational power! Highly recommend."
-Kaia Roman, author of The Joy Plan
"This isn't a book you read once and put down. It's a guide...you open again and again for reference, for guidance and for enlightenment. I have recommended this to many clients who struggle to stay in the present moment. You will find this book is a reminder to live our lives NOW. To embrace what is in front of us instead of future based thinking. So often we our brains like to wander to the 'what if'...Only Love Today reminds us to just be here...today...in this life, with these people. You won't regret this purchase, your life will change." -Kerry Foreman, Mindfulness Based Psychotherapist, Writer and Speaker
"Only Love Today
...reminds me that love, like everything else of value in my life - sobriety, parenting, faith, creativity - is a practice. A verb. And every day, every moment of every day, is an opportunity to love better. In recovery there's another saying, "you can start your day over at any time." That's what it feels like reading this book - even if you messed up, it's not too late. Even if you made a mistake, it's not too late. The author reminds us, reminds ME, that I can just keep showing up with a wide open heart, be present for the people in front of me, and forgive myself."
-Laura Parrott-Perry, In Others' Words