Bookends with Mattea Roach

When Michelle Good’s mother was in her 20s, she changed her name from Martha Eliza to Elizabeth to sound less Indigenous. Michelle’s new novel, Eliza Sunshine , is rooted intimately in her mother’s life … and gives her...

The criminal underworld of 1980s New York City. The last heist of a mostly-retired crook. A city battling for its future. Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Trilogy reaches its conclusion with his latest novel, Cool Machine . It...

You might think that your boss is evil … but what if they were an actual supervillain? Natalie Zina Walschots brings that idea to life in her novels Hench and Villain . The series follows Anna, an auditor who does...

The phrase "unprecedented times” was repeated over and over again during the pandemic … and Malavika Kannan’s debut novel, Unprecedented Times , dives into university life during that period. The story follows Rishi, an...

How many of your friends are over 30 years older than you? When Marc Bendavid was 12, he met a teacher that changed his life. His debut novel, The Sapling , is about their generation-defying bond … and living in those...

Imagine you walk into your bedroom one day … and there’s a horse going on a rampage. Better yet, it’s a horse from a childhood story that has haunted you ever since you first heard it. Who’s the first person you call...

For cheating couples who are sneaking around, it’s paradise … but how long until the cracks start to show? Sophie Mackintosh’s new novel, Permanence , follows secret lovers Clara and Francis. Francis is married, and...

You might be used to moving around … but you've probably never ended up in a town full of zombies, aliens and sad clowns. Jon Claytor’s new graphic novel, Nowhere , is about a young boy named Joel whose family is...

Bad men, bee warned. Imani Thompson’s buzzy debut novel, Honey , follows a jaded PhD student named Yrsa. She’s bored with her work and frustrated with the culture at Cambridge … but when she accidentally kills a shady...

David Baerwald is a famous songwriter who’s worked with artists like Joni Mitchell and Sheryl Crow. But when he uncovered a family history filled with spies, music, and wartime secrets … David went from notes to novels...

If you just let go of everything that’s out of your control … can you truly be happy? Maria Semple tests that philosophy in her new novel, Go Gentle . The story follows Adora Hazzard, a Stoic philosopher in her 50s who...

Maggie O’Farrell brought Shakespeare’s son out of the footnotes of history with her 2020 novel Hamnet . Its hugely successful movie adaptation made a splash at the Oscars and Maggie herself earned a nomination for the...

Imagine your entire family … immediate and extended … living in one apartment complex together. Karan Mahajan’s latest novel, The Complex , follows four generations of a family across India and America in the 1970s. In...

If an asteroid was hurtling towards Earth, and you had no other choice … would you upload your mind to a computer to survive? Robert J. Sawyer explores that dilemma in his new novel, The Downloaded 2: Ghosts in the...

Coast to coast, province to province, soccer pitch to hockey rink … there’s no one Canadian experience, and no one Canadian story. This week, Bookends is highlighting four Canadian writers we’ve featured on the show so...