Canadian Literature

American journalist and short-story writer Margaret Craven released her debut novel, I Heard the Owl Call My Name, in the U.S. in 1973, where it became a New York Times best-seller. Originally published in Canada in 1967, the novel, like her later works, centers around the native population of British Columbia.  Mark Brian is a 27-year-old Anglican vicar sent by his bishop to the coastal village of Kingcome to live among the Kwakiutl Indians and... Read I Heard The Owl Call My Name Summary

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In his 2016 psychological thriller I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid writes about the struggles of depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. Jake, a former physics postdoctoral student and avid writer, works as a janitor in a rural high school. As he contemplates suicide, Jake fictionalizes his memories into a story with characters who represent different aspects of his identity as a way to help him make his decision. In addition to this narrative, Reid... Read I'm Thinking of Ending Things Summary

Indian Horse (2012) is a novel written by Canadian author Richard Wagamese. The story follows Saul Indian Horse, an Ojibway boy from northern Ontario who escapes his demons and rough childhood through hockey, only to succumb to alcohol after losing his joy for the game.Content Warning: The source material and this guide include instances and discussions of rape, assault, racism, and substance use disorder.Plot SummaryAs a young boy, Saul lives in the bush and has... Read Indian Horse Summary

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Gabor Maté’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addictions is an unconventional nonfiction book on how to treat addiction, how addicts can better assimilate into society, and how society can dispel many of the myths that surround addiction. Maté works as an addiction specialist at the Portland Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.  Much of the book, published in 2010, focuses on Maté’s evidence that childhood stressors increase the likelihood that one will become... Read In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Summary

In the Skin of a Lion is the sprawling, often dreamlike story of Patrick Lewis, a Canadian man who moves from his rural hometown to Toronto in the 1920s. The novel was written by Canadian-Sri Lankan author Michael Ondaatje and published in 1987. Its loosely chronological narrative offers a patchwork of vivid, mysterious, tenuously connected stories that piece together Patrick’s journey over two decades, from the late 1910s to the late 1930s.The story and its... Read In the Skin of a Lion Summary

Invitation to the Game is a young adult science fiction novel by Canadian writer Monica Hughes. It received the Hal Clement Award in 1992. Originally published in 1990, it was rereleased under the title The Game in 2010. This study guide refers to the Simon & Schuster 2010 print edition.Plot SummaryThe novel tells the story of Lisse, a teenager in 2154. She lives in a dystopian world where robots have taken a majority of the... Read Invitation To The Game Summary

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Told from the first-person point of view and in a non-linear style, Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine is about the journey and personal development of a young Indian woman as she attempts to assimilate into American culture. Influenced by Mukherjee’s experiences, the title character, Jasmine, plays a series of different roles throughout her young life.At the heart of the novel is the struggle to find one’s identity, and yet be flexible and courageous enough to reinvent a... Read Jasmine Summary

The novel Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead was originally published in 2018 by Arsenal Pulp Press. Whitehead, a queer Indigenous writer from Peguis Frist Nation, uses the auto-fictional character of Jonny to explore the intersections of LGBTQ+ and Indigenous identity. The novel was a 2021 Canada Reads Winner and the winner of a Lambda Literary Award. It was also a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.This... Read Jonny Appleseed Summary

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