September 2018 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. Transcription
    by Kate Atkinson
    Bond Street Books
    Sep 18, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Espionage
    Hardback
    Transcription
    by Kate Atkinson
    Bond Street Books
    Sep 18, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Espionage
    Hardback
    A Penguin Book Club Pick

    From the bestselling author of Life After Life, a new novel that explores the repercussions of one young woman's espionage work during World War II.


    In 1940, eighteen-year-old Juliet Armstrong is reluctantly recruited into the world of espionage. Sent to an obscure department of MI5 tasked with monitoring the comings and goings of British Fascist sympathizers, she discovers the work to be by turns tedious and terrifying. But after the war has ended, she presumes the events of those years have been relegated to the past forever.

    Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.

    Transcription is a work of rare depth and texture, a bravura modern novel of extraordinary power, wit, and empathy. It is a triumphant work of fiction from one of the best writers of our time.
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  2. Woman World
    by Aminder Dhaliwal Canada
    Drawn & Quarterly
    Sep 11, 2018
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Woman World
    by Aminder Dhaliwal Canada
    Drawn & Quarterly
    Sep 11, 2018
    COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Literary
    Paperback / softback

    Best of 2018 lists from Nylon, the New York Public Library, Boing Boing, and The Cut!

    With her startling humor, it’s no surprise that Aminder Dhaliwal’s web comic Woman World has a devoted audience of more than 150,000 readers, updated biweekly with each installment earning an average of 25,000 likes. Now, readers everywhere will delight in the print edition as Dhaliwal seamlessly incorporates feminist philosophical concerns into a series of perfectly-paced strips that skewer perceived notions of femininity and contemporary cultural icons. D+Q’s edition of Woman World will include new and previously unpublished material.

    When a birth defect wipes out the planet’s entire population of men, Woman World rises out of society’s ashes. Dhaliwal’s infectiously funny instagram comic follows the rebuilding process, tracking a group of women who have rallied together under the flag of “Beyonce’s Thighs.” Only Grandma remembers the distant past, a civilization of segway-riding mall cops, Blockbuster movie rental shops, and “That’s What She Said” jokes. For the most part, Woman World’s residents are focused on their struggles with unrequited love and anxiety, not to mention that whole “survival of humanity” thing.

    Woman World is an uproarious and insightful graphic novel from a very talented and funny new voice.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. The Confession
    by Jo Spain
    Crooked Lane Books
    Sep 11, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Hardback
    The Confession
    by Jo Spain
    Crooked Lane Books
    Sep 11, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / General
    Hardback
    You find out who did it on the very first page. On the last page, you'll find out why in this expertly plotted, “enthralling” (J. P. Delaney) psychological suspense novel from an internationally bestselling author.

    Late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie. And when the man launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry, a horror-struck Julie, frozen by fear, watches her husband die.

    Just one hour later, the attacker, J. P. Carney hands himself into the police and confesses to beating Harry to death. Except he also claims that the assault was not premeditated and that he didn’t know the identity of his victim. With a man as notorious as Harry McNamara, who was just found innocent in a highly sensationalized fraud trial, the detectives cannot help but wonder: Was this really a random act of violence? Was Julie really powerless to stop JP? When Harry’s many sins are unveiled to include corruption, greed, and betrayal, nothing is for sure.

    This gripping psychological thriller will have you questioning, who—of Harry, Julie and JP—is really the guilty one? And is Carney's surrender driven by a guilty conscience or is his confession a calculated move in a deadly game? Brilliant and ice-pick sharp, The Confession is perfect for fans of B. A. Paris and Fiona Barton.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Something for Everyone
    by Lisa Moore Canada
    Astoria
    Sep 04, 2018
    FICTION / Short Stories
    Paperback / softback
    Something for Everyone
    by Lisa Moore Canada
    Astoria
    Sep 04, 2018
    FICTION / Short Stories
    Paperback / softback

    Winner, Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award
    Winner, Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction
    Longlisted, Scotiabank Giller Prize

    “Lisa Moore’s work is passionate, gritty, lucid, and beautiful. She has a great gift.” — Anne Enright, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Gathering

    Internationally celebrated as one of literature’s most gifted stylists, Lisa Moore returns with her third story collection that shows us the timeless, the tragic, and the miraculous hidden in the underbelly of our everyday lives.

    Internationally celebrated as one of literature’s most gifted stylists, Lisa Moore returns with her second story collection, a soaring chorus of voices, dreams, loves, and lives. Taking us from the Fjord of Eternity to the streets of St. John’s and the swamps of Orlando, these stories show us the timeless, the tragic, and the miraculous hidden in the underbelly of our everyday lives. A missing rock god may have jumped a cruise ship — in the Arctic. A grieving young woman may live next to a serial rapist. A man’s last day on Earth replays in the minds of others in a furiously sensual, heartrending fugue. Something for Everyone is Moore at the peak of her prowess — she seems bent on nothing less than rewiring the circuitry of the short story itself.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Leverage in Death
    by J. D. Robb
    St. Martin's Press
    Sep 04, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback
    Leverage in Death
    by J. D. Robb
    St. Martin's Press
    Sep 04, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural
    Hardback

    Lieutenant Eve Dallas puzzles over a bizarre suicide bombing in a Wall St. office building in Leverage in Death, the latest in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from J.D. Robb…

    For the airline executives finalizing a merger that would make news in the business world, the nine a.m. meeting would be a major milestone. But after marketing VP Paul Rogan walked into the plush conference room, strapped with explosives, the headlines told of death and destruction instead. The NYPSD’s Eve Dallas confirms that Rogan was cruelly coerced by two masked men holding his family hostage. His motive was saving his wife and daughter—but what was the motive of the masked men?

    Despite the chaos and bad publicity, blowing up one meeting isn’t going to put the brakes on the merger. All it’s accomplished is shattering a lot of innocent lives. Now, with the help of her billionaire husband Roarke, Eve must untangle the reason for an inexplicable act of terror, look at suspects inside and outside both corporations, and determine whether the root of this crime lies in simple sabotage, or something far more complex and twisted.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. The Men in White
    by Anosh Irani Canada
    House of Anansi Press
    Sep 25, 2018
    DRAMA / Canadian
    Paperback / softback
    The Men in White
    by Anosh Irani Canada
    House of Anansi Press
    Sep 25, 2018
    DRAMA / Canadian
    Paperback / softback

    A finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Drama, The Men in White explores urgent themes surrounding the complexities of the modern immigrant experience, Islamophobia, and the unifying power of sport — the masterful playwright and novelist Anosh Irani at his finest.

    Eighteen-year-old Hasan Siddiqui lives in a bustling Muslim quarter of Bombay. He escapes the drudgery of his work at a chicken slaughterhouse by fostering two fervent dreams — to become a star in cricket, a sport at which he happens to excel, and to win the affections of Haseena, a fiercely intelligent young woman two years his junior.

    Half a world away in Vancouver, Hasan’s older brother, Abdul, has been working under the table at an Indian restaurant, attempting to set down roots with the hope of one day reuniting with his brother. For Abdul the immigrant dream shows little sign of materializing, but he finds solace in his amateur cricket team. When he and the team’s captain decide to take action to end their losing streak, they talk of recruiting the talented Hasan for the rest of the season. But bringing Hasan from India to Canada will take much more than just a plane ticket, and rising tensions demonstrate that not all members of the team agree with the high cost.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. Split Tooth
    by Tanya Tagaq Canada
    Viking
    Sep 25, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Split Tooth
    by Tanya Tagaq Canada
    Viking
    Sep 25, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize

    Shortlisted for the 2019 Amazon First Novel Award

    Shortlisted for the 2019 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

    Winner of the 2019 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Prose in English

    Winner of the 2018 Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design – Prose Fiction

    Longlisted for the 2019 Sunburst Award

    From the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer who has dazzled and enthralled the world with music it had never heard before, a fierce, tender, heartbreaking story unlike anything you've ever read.


    Fact can be as strange as fiction. It can also be as dark, as violent, as rapturous. In the end, there may be no difference between them.

    A girl grows up in Nunavut in the 1970s. She knows joy, and friendship, and parents' love. She knows boredom, and listlessness, and bullying. She knows the tedium of the everyday world, and the raw, amoral power of the ice and sky, the seductive energy of the animal world. She knows the ravages of alcohol, and violence at the hands of those she should be able to trust. She sees the spirits that surround her, and the immense power that dwarfs all of us.

    When she becomes pregnant, she must navigate all this.

    Veering back and forth between the grittiest features of a small arctic town, the electrifying proximity of the world of animals, and ravishing world of myth, Tanya Tagaq explores a world where the distinctions between good and evil, animal and human, victim and transgressor, real and imagined lose their meaning, but the guiding power of love remains.

    Haunting, brooding, exhilarating, and tender all at once, Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir, myth and reality, poetry and prose, and conjures a world and a heroine readers will never forget.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Sisters of the Winter Wood
    by Rena Rossner
    Redhook
    Sep 25, 2018
    FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
    Hardback
    The Sisters of the Winter Wood
    by Rena Rossner
    Redhook
    Sep 25, 2018
    FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
    Hardback
    Captivating and boldly imaginative, with a tale of sisterhood at its heart, Rena Rossner's debut fantasy invites you to enter a world filled with magic, folklore, and the dangers of the woods.

    *Publishers Weekly: Best Book of 2018: SF/Fantasy/Horror
    *BookPage: Best Book of 2018: Science Fiction & Fantasy


    "With luscious and hypnotic prose, Rena Rossner tells a gripping, powerful story of family, sisterhood, and two young women trying to find their way in the world." — Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

    In a remote village surrounded by vast forests on the border of Moldova and Ukraine, sisters Liba and Laya have been raised on the honeyed scent of their Mami's babka and the low rumble of their Tati's prayers. But when a troupe of mysterious men arrives, Laya falls under their spell -- despite their mother's warning to be wary of strangers. And this is not the only danger lurking in the woods.

    As dark forces close in on their village, Liba and Laya discover a family secret passed down through generations. Faced with a magical heritage they never knew existed, the sisters realize the old fairy tales are true. . .and could save them all.

    Discover a magical tale of secrets, heritage, and fairy tales weaving through history that will enchant readers of The Bear and the Nightingale, Uprooted and The Golem and the Jinni.

    Praise for The Sisters of the Winter Wood:


    "Intricately crafted, gorgeously rendered. . .full of heart, history, and enchantment." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    "A richly detailed story of Jewish identity and sisterhood. . . Ambitious and surprising." —Kirkus

    For more from Rena Rossner, check out The Light of the Midnight Stars.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. All Things Consoled
    by Elizabeth Hay Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Sep 18, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    All Things Consoled
    by Elizabeth Hay Canada
    McClelland & Stewart
    Sep 18, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs
    Hardback
    From Elizabeth Hay, one of Canada's beloved novelists, comes a startling and beautiful memoir about the drama of her parents' end, and the longer drama of being their daughter. Winner of the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonficiton.

    Jean and Gordon Hay were a colourful, formidable pair. Jean, a late-blooming artist with a marvellous sense of humour, was superlatively frugal; nothing got wasted, not even maggoty soup. Gordon was a proud and ambitious schoolteacher with a terrifying temper, a deep streak of melancholy, and a devotion to flowers, cars, words, and his wife. As old age collides with the tragedy of living too long, these once ferociously independent parents become
    increasingly dependent on Lizzie, the so-called difficult child. By looking after them in their final decline, she hopes to prove that she can be a good daughter after all.
    In this courageous memoir, written with tough-minded candour, tenderness, and wit, Elizabeth Hay lays bare the exquisite agony of a family's dynamics--entrenched favouritism, sibling rivalries, grievances that last for decades, genuine admiration, and enduring love. In the end, she reaches a more complete understanding of the most
    unforgettable characters she will ever know, the vivid giants in her life who were her parents.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Left
    by Theanna Bischoff Canada
    NeWest Press
    Sep 01, 2018
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Paperback / softback
    Left
    by Theanna Bischoff Canada
    NeWest Press
    Sep 01, 2018
    FICTION / Family Life / General
    Paperback / softback

    Finalist for Trade Fiction at the 2019 Alberta Book Publishing Awards!

    Twenty-nine-year-old Natasha Bell went for an evening jog, just like any other night - except now no one knows where she is. Not her sister, Abby - eighteen, eight months pregnant, and without a game plan. Not her childhood sweetheart, now ex-boyfriend, Greg, an introverted academic who could never bring himself to commit. Not her best friend Josie, a newlywed, born-again Christian, with whom Natasha recently had a falling out. And not detective Reuben Blake, who thought this case would be open 'n shut - a quick way to prove himself and move up the ranks. Missing person's statistics suggest Natasha's ex is the primary suspect, but what about the possibility of a stranger abduction? Or the possibility that Natasha left voluntarily or took her own life? What about Natasha's mother, who took off eighteen years before her daughter's disappearance? As days stretch into months and months stretch into years, the evidence that emerges seems only to complicate the picture more. What secrets might Natasha have been keeping? - and, for that matter, her friends and family.

    View this title on BNC CataList

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