Michael Redhill Knihy

What does it really mean to love another person?The question hovers like a persistent wisp of fog over the story of Martin Sloane, an Irish-born artist who creates intricate, object-filled boxes, and Jolene Iolas, the young American woman who finds herself drawn first to Martin Sloane's art and then to the man himself. The story of their relationship across nearly two decades, and of Jolene's search for Martin Sloane when one day he disappears from their home without warning or explanation, is told in a novel that brilliantly and movingly explores the vagaries of love and friendship, the burdens of personal history, and the enigmatic power of art.

Winner of the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jean Mason has a doppelganger. She's never seen her, but others* swear they have. *others noun. A peculiar collection of drug addicts, scam artists, philanthropists, philosophers and vagrants - the regulars of Bellevue Square. Jean lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two kids. The proud owner of a thriving bookstore, she doesn't rattle easily - not like she used to. But after two of her customers insist they've seen her double, Jean decides to investigate. Curiosity grows to obsession and soon Jean's concerns shift from the identity of the woman, to her very own. Funny, dark and surprising, Bellevue Square takes readers down the existentialist rabbit hole and asks the question: what happens when the sense you've made of things stops making sense?

Physician Richard Berringer, his wife, Ann, and their thirteen-year old son, Torquil, have abandoned their recently-completed dream home in Nova Scotia and moved to Sierra Leone, despite warnings that the West African country is in a civil war. Two months on, things are not going well. Tensions are rising between Richard and his boss; Torquil — who hates Sierra Leone almost as much as he hates his father — has launched a hunger strike; and Ann is bedridden with illnesses that Richard believes are all in her head. While the Berringers battle with themselves, each other, and the worlds they inhabit, the narrative repeatedly returns to their past, shedding light on what brought them together, what keeps them together, why they have come to Africa, and why they might not be able to go home again.