December 2019: the selection of Librairie Bertrand

To end the year on a good note, here is the selection of Librairie Bertrand for this month of December!

The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead

The master at dramatizing overlooked threads of American history, Whitehead, turns his lens to Jim Crow-era Florida in this book where juvenile reform schools abused a generation of young black men. This story depicts the tense friendship between two teenagers determined to survive despite their circumstances and Whitehead illuminates fundamental truths about cruelty, prejudice, and the indomitable human spirit.

Days by Moonlight - André Alexis

Nearly a year after his parents' death, botanist Alfred Homer agrees to go on a research road trip with Professor Morgan Bruno, an old family friend. As the sun sets, the two depart in search of an obscure, possibly dead poet named John Skennen and encounter a host of oddities in the Gothic underworld of southern Ontario. Days by Moonlight is the fourth book in André Alexis's acclaimed quincunx, which includes the Scotia bank Giller Prize and Canada Reads winner Fifteen Dogs.

I Miss You When I Blink - Mary Laura Philpott

In her memoir-in-essays, acclaimed writer Mary Laura Philpott addresses the conflicting pressures of modern adulthood and that inevitable “stuck” feeling so many of us become familiar with. Part confessional, part pep talk, I Miss You When I Blink is a reassuring read about learning how to accept that doing things wrong can be the way to do life right.

Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday - Natalie C. Anderson

When Abdi’s family is kidnapped, he’s forced to infiltrate a Somali terrorist group and act as a spy for the American CIA. Both horrific and touching, this novel is about humanity, family, redemption, and hope.

The Girl and the Wolf - Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Julie Flett

In this picture book, a little girl gets lost in the woods while picking berries. A large grey wolf is able to tell where she is from by smelling her and helps her get home. In the meantime, the little girl realizes she had the skills to find her way back all along. Both Katherena Vermette and Julie Flett are Governor General's Literary Award-winning artists — Vermette for the poetry collection North End Love Songs and Flett for the children's book When We Were Alone.