Bookends with Mattea Roach

Communication gets complicated across different languages, time zones and generations. FaceTime and translation apps can only help so much. That's the personal challenge R. F. Kuang drew on in her latest novel Taipei Story . It's about Lily, a Chinese American college student who spends the summer in a language program in Taipei, hoping to connect with her culture and family. But as things unravel...

The new novel from Marlon James is based on a rumour … but it’s no rumour that Marlon’s book is one of the year's hottest titles. The Disappearers is an epic Jamaican novel that centres on a group of gay men who were brutally attacked in Kingston in the late 1980s. The story follows the men in the aftermath of the attack, as they seek connection, new identities, understanding and revenge. Marlon c...

Canadian writer Anne Carson is the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. For today’s podcast, we’re diving into the archives and revisiting one of Anne’s conversations with Eleanor Wachtel on Writers & Company. Anne Carson is celebrated for poems and essays that defy the boundaries of genre. She frequently blends ancient Greek myth with modern stories of love, grief and desire. Anne...

Anita Rau Badami’s new novel, Asha in Her Garden , is her first in over a decade … and it all started with the striking image of a dying tree. On her seventieth birthday, Asha Mohan’s beloved backyard maple tree is cut down. As she watches it disappear, Asha begins to look differently at the life she’s spent years building. From her move to Canada from India, to the trials of raising her children...

Imagine the pressure of being the only woman working on an offshore oil rig. That was the reality for Y.M. Abdel-Magied … and she turned her years in the field into a thrilling novel about oil, power and survival on the water. At Sea follows Zainab, a toolpusher who is tasked with leading an all-male drilling crew on an oil rig off the coast of Australia. As Zainab navigates the complicated power...

How far would you be willing to go to salvage a friendship? Maybe you just need a small break ... or how about a couples therapist? Téa Mutonji’s new novel, My Person , follows longtime friends Tania and Margot. The two have been friends since childhood, but after living together for a year, Tania realizes she's not sure if she even likes Margot anymore. But leaving is not just as simple as saying...

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 mother her name back. The novel weaves Eliza’s experiences and Michelle’s family history into a deeply personal story following three generations of Cree women. It’s also informed b...

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 follows Ray Carney, a former criminal who's gone mostly straight in his middle age … until he becomes entangled with a legendary criminal mastermind and is yanked back into a world...

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 office work for the dark side. After being severely injured by a superhero, Anna is out for revenge … but it turns out that the difference between heroes and villains isn’t as clear cut...

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 Indian American student who’s ready to start fresh at Stanford after her strict Florida upbringing. She has big plans to shed her old skin and finally meet people just like her, bu...

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 memories in the wake of her death. So how can a meaningful friendship between a 12 year-old and a 44 year-old defy what we think about the gap between generations? And how does someo...

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? In Ali Smith’s new novel, Glyph , estranged sisters Petra and Patch are brought back together when a story from their childhood comes to life in an incredible way. But what makes a g...

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 they’ve been stealing brief moments with each other for months. When they wake up one day in a dreamy city where they don’t have to hide, everything seems perfect … until things take a...

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 constantly moving. He’s trying to adjust to life in a new small town, but things get complicated when a giant, otherworldly cube appears and people start mysteriously disappearing. Jon dr...

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 professor using a bee, she realizes that she may have found her calling. As Yrsa murders more men in the name of justice, she feels a greater sense of purpose in her violent mission....

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 and wrote a sweeping historical debut. The Fire Agent fictionalizes the story of Ernst Baerwald, David’s real grandfather. In 1900, Ernst was recruited to become a spy. His work too...

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 lives a calm, mostly happy life with her teen daughter and a coven of women friends. If you think a book about Stoicism might bore you, don’t speak too soon. This one also has art h...

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 screenplay. Maggie’s new novel, Land , continues to pull from the shadows of history ... while also drawing on her own family myths. It's a sweeping epic that begins with a father-so...

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 Delhi, most of the family lives in a crumbling residential compound. They’re the descendants of a political legend, and the family longs to return to their era of greatness. These f...

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 Machine . The Canadian sci-fi legend’s latest is all about technology and identity at the end of the world … and as someone who has thought a lot about mortality, Robert has a unique pe...

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 far. From a hockey drama in the maritimes, to Canadian soldiers in the Second World War, to a long journey North, these stories about Canada might surprise you … or they might remin...

When Marjane Satrapi died earlier this month, we lost an acclaimed graphic novelist and filmmaker … and a voice that explored Iranian society in a wholly unique way. You might know Marjane from her celebrated graphic memoirs Persepolis and Persepolis II. They’re about her experience growing up in an unconventional household during Iran’s Islamic revolution, and the screen adaptation was nominated...

Fatherhood isn’t easy. It might be hard to put the experience into words … but Jordan Abel’s new poetry collection does just that. Dad Era is addressed to Jordan’s daughter Phoenix. Through free verse, pictures and a mix of ideas both personal and universal, the collection explores the nuances of fatherhood, Indigenous parenting and what it’s like to raise a child in a world that gets more uncerta...

What would you do if you were stuck reliving the same day on loop? Splurge with your ever-replenishing bank account? Travel, so you can experience more than one season? Would it feel freeing, or lonely? In Solvej Balle's series On the Calculation of Volume, Tara Selter is stuck reliving the same November 18th. Nearly 40 years after the idea first came to Solvej, her time loop tale is speaking to r...

When Nussaibah Younis decided to write a book about ISIS brides, everyone expected it to be an academic tome. Instead, she wrote a raunchy satire about a woman who takes a job in a warzone to get over a recent heartbreak. Nussaibah's debut novel, Fundamentally , sees protagonist Nadia in over her head working for the UN in Baghdad. But her sense of purpose renews when she connects deeply with Sara...