Postmodern Canadian Fiction: A Select List
Explore a curated selection of postmodern Canadian fiction with this essential book list. Discover groundbreaking novels and authors that redefine narrative style and themes in contemporary literature.
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Surfacing
by Margaret Atwood
From the bestselling author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments—this story of an artist who goes in search of her missing father on a …
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Deaf to the City
by Marie-Claire Blais
This compelling story explores the motley crew of characters--including mother-turned-stripper Gloria, alcoholic Tim, frequent jailbird Charlie, and the suicidal wife of a rich doctor--who call …
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Selkie
by Anne Cameron
One morning it starts raining in Cassidy's house, and nobody can get it to stop. Like everyone else, Cassisy figures it's just a problem with …
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Tempting Faith DiNapoli
by Lisa Gabriele
Smart, witty, and emotionally generous, this charming coming-of-age novel explores a Catholic girl's crises of confidence and faith with graceful prose--an accomplished, big-hearted debut.
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The Moslem Wife and Other Stories
by Mavis Gallant
These stories embody the beauty, irony, and compassion of a master writer's fictional universe. Gallant deploys her sharp comic eye to superb effect: in the …
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We So Seldom Look on Love
by Barbara Gowdy
Now in paperback, this masterfully crafted story collection by the author of the internationally best-selling novel Mister Sandman is a haunting book that is certain …
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The Stand-in
by David Helwig
`David Helwig's The Stand-In is a witty, inventive, sometimes disturbing excursion into the genre of the dramatic monologue, that literary form perfected in poetry by …
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The Elizabeth Stories
by Isabel Huggan
A series of linked stories about a girl growing up in a small town. In "Jack of hearts", Elizabeth is cast in a male role …
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Gaff Topsails
by Patrick Kavanagh
In the literary tradition of "The Shipping News" and "The Bird Artist", this debut work evokes a world suffused with images and presences of spirits …
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A Jest of God
by Margaret Laurence
Rachel ongs to free herself from the pettiness and deceit of he everyday life.
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Fugitive Pieces
by Anne Michaels
A tale of Holocaust survival whose protagonist is Jakob Beer, a Jewish boy in Poland. He is saved from death by a Greek scientist who …
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Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag
by Rohinton Mistry
Explores the crowded, throbbing life of India in a collection of stories set in Firozsha Baag, a Bombay apartment building characterized by an unexpected sense …
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Dance of the Happy Shades
by Alice Munro
A young girl gets an unexpected glimpse into her father's past. A married woman tries to release her homebound sister after the death of their …
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In the Skin of a Lion
by Michael Ondaatje
Bristling with intelligence and shimmering with romance, this novel tests the boundary between history and myth. Patrick Lewis arrives in Toronto in the 1920s and …
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Martin Sloane
by Michael Redhill
The story of a relationship across two decades, of Jolene's search for Martin Sloane when one day he disappears from their home without warning or …
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Swann
by Carol Shields
The lives of four amazingly different individuals become intertwined with that of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet of delicate verse whose genuine talent is …
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Away
by Jane Urquhart
A stunning, evocative novel set in Ireland and Canada, Away traces a family's complex and layered past. The narrative unfolds with shimmering clarity, and takes …
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Crackpot
by Adele Wiseman
Hoda, the protagonist of Crackpot, is one of the most captivating characters in Canadian fiction. Graduating from a tumultuous childhood to a life of prostitution, …