August 2019 : the selection of Librairie Bertrand (Special Quebec)

A Secret Music - Susan Doherty Hannaford

Set in 1936 Montreal, A Secret Music is the story of Lawrence Nolan, a sensitive fifteen-years-old piano prodigy who grows up in the shadow of his mother's mental illness. Gorgeous writing, the unique story is woven with music, sorrow and ringing silences that deafen. Doherty Hannaford has written an exquisite gem; a prism of Montreal, of a time, a place and a people that deserve serious attention.

Fog - Rana Bose

A literate thriller set in Montreal (in "the Main") with side trips to Calcutta and Kandahar, this is a superbly written book about a neighbourhood, friendships, justice and belonging. The book features unforgettable characters whose entanglements take us on a riveting ride!

Mystics of Mile End - Samuel Sigal

Set in the Mile End neighborhood of Montreal, where Hasidic Jews live intertwined with hipsters, two siblings are making sense of their own identities in the context of parental loss. A wonderful tender story... With an aura of the mythic, the magical, and mystery of the universe. Sigal Samuel irresistibly draws you into the characters, the struggles, the failings, the pain, betrayals, the friendships, the trust, and the wonder of how faith and science empowers us.

The Carpenter from Montreal - George Fetherling

Worlds collide when a naive young heiress takes a tumble for a bootlegger with a murderous temper and his business partner falls in love with Montreal, the way Americans are prone to do. Fetherling spins his taut tale of two lads from immigrant families who Americanize their Lebanese names to Jim Joseph and Pete Sells. Through a combination of wits and good fortune, the two men become successful bootleggers and purveyors of games of chance in a “town” somewhere south of Canada.