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Original poster

Fiction set in canada

36 replies

lamprey42 · 17/05/2016 20:18

Any suggestions for fiction with Canadian setting? I can only think of Margaret Atwood's books and Anne of Green Gables. We are about to move there so I thought it might be nice to read some.

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Pepperpot99 · 01/06/2016 13:34

Another vote for Crow Lake- wonderful.
Ditto The Tenderness of Wolves - sublime
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams - fantabby!

The Snow Child by Eown Ivey is a masterpiece, IMO. Ok it's set in Alaska so not quite Canada, but please I implore everyone in the world to read it. I loved it so much Smile

Emily St John Mandel is also an excellent Canadian novelist, FYI.

jammyraspberry · 31/05/2016 19:22

The stone Angel

Camelle · 31/05/2016 19:02

I second Alice Munro - one of my favourite authors - and also Mavis Gallant, another short story writer.

VanderlyleGeek · 30/05/2016 18:36

I've thought of a few more: Andrew Pyper, Joseph Boyden, Michael Ondaatje, Miriam Toews, Alexander Alexie.

seoulsurvivor · 30/05/2016 01:18

Anything by Alice Munro. I reread her stories constantly.

MrsS1980 · 30/05/2016 01:12

Agree with Kathy Reichs - she is the author whose books Bones is based on.

VanderlyleGeek · 30/05/2016 01:03

A Prayer For Owen Meany, also by John Irving, is set in Toronto (in the present-day sections).

Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night are set in Montréal.

Katrina Onstad's How Happy to Be is set in Toronto and an island in BC; her novel Everyone Had Everything is set in Toronto.

Krista Bridges' short stories and novel The Eliot Girls are set in Toronto.

(Free maple candy for the first person who correctly guesses where I live! Except not really, because it's foul. Wink)

SecretSpi · 28/05/2016 23:43

Etta and Otto and Russell and James

It's an older woman's tramp across Ontario - magic realism-type book.

spookyelectric · 27/05/2016 17:02

A Place called Winter - set in England and Canada in Victorian times by Patrick Gale

Canyouforgiveher · 27/05/2016 01:15

oh my goodness yes, Louise Penny. I love them. Inspector Gamache is a mensch.

TeaPleaseLouise · 26/05/2016 23:22

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HopeClearwater · 26/05/2016 23:15

Crow Lake is a lovely book

A Place called Winter, by Patrick Gale. Not one of his best imo but he's very readable.

Footle · 26/05/2016 22:42

Voyageurs, by Margaret Elphinstone. About the fur-trappers, among other things. Long, but exciting and memorable.
Also Entry Island by Peter Shaw. Atmospheric but went on a bit.

ChampagneCommunist · 26/05/2016 19:07

Kathy Reichs books are set in Quebec

Potcallingkettle · 26/05/2016 19:05

Sick Heart River by John Buchan
Old fashioned but very powerful

LaundryFairy · 26/05/2016 18:47

Another recommendation for Robertson Davies. His book Fifth Business is a good place to start.

MairzyDoats · 26/05/2016 18:45

Stef Penney Tenderness of Wolves is a fantastic book, as is Crow Lake.

HumphreyCobblers · 26/05/2016 18:42

Ooh, I was just coming on to say Robertson Davies.

He is my favourite author.

Canyouforgiveher · 26/05/2016 18:38

Robertson Davies - fabulous.

lancashirebornandbred · 26/05/2016 18:37

Crow lake by Mary Lawson. A lovely gentle book. And the author is a distant relative of LM Montgomery.

GrassW1dow · 26/05/2016 14:30

I think most of Richard Ford's novels are set in Canada, not just Canada?

I second Linwood Barclay. Good thrillers. not high literature, but well crafted.

Tezza1 · 26/05/2016 05:02

Giles Blunt. Set in and near Toronto. I'm not Canadian, but he seems to cath a feel for the places he writes about.

FlysInDreams · 25/05/2016 09:59

Burning Ground by Pearl Luke

DeskOfMyOwn · 25/05/2016 09:29

Hanahsaunt: "I adore Alistair Macleod's writing - so very beautiful. For something more prosaic (but brilliant reads) try the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec by Louise Penny."

I assumed I had misunderstood 'prosaic' all these years, so I looked it up: "Having or using the style or diction of prose as opposed to poetry; lacking imaginativeness or originality... commonplace, unromantic"

I agree she's a brilliant read, but surely anything BUT prosaic?

squoosh · 24/05/2016 14:38

Fall on your Knees by Anne Marie MacDonald

The most depressing book I've EVER read Grin

Beautifully written, but sheesh, dark.

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