A very New Brunswick book list: 2022 edition

It was another fruitful year for New Brunswick writers. They released nationally best-selling novels, documented important local figures and events and shared meaningful experiences and practical expertise. Here’s our year-end resumé of the local books, either by, or about, or published in the province, as discussed on CBC airwaves.

Adult fiction

• Foxhunt — by Luke Beirne, published by Baraka Books. A novel about a Cold War-era Canadian writer in London that explores cultural freedom with suspense and intrigue.

• Fayne — by Ann-Marie MacDonald, published by Penguin Random House. Page-turning mystery in the spirit of Wuthering Heights, partly written in New Brunswick.

• The Sister’s Tale — by Beth Powning, published by Penguin Random House. A story of orphans and widows, terror and hope, and the relationships that hold women together when life falls apart. N.B. Book Award winner.

• Rafael Has Pretty Eyes — by Elaine McCluskey, published by Goose Lane Editions. Short-story collection featuring characters who have reached a four-way stop in life.

•  Take the Long Way Home — by Jon Claytor, published by Conundrum Press. Graphic novel takes readers on the road from small-town New Brunswick to Prince Rupert, B.C. Deals with alcoholism, love, breakups and family.

• The 42nd Wave — by Zoe Fitch, published by Blurb Books Canada. Cli-fi (climate fiction) novel set in 2031 St. Stephen, which has become a utopian, trade-based agrarian economy after the pandemic and climate crises caused the collapse of society as we know it.

Children/Youth fiction

• Unclaimed Baggage — by Mary O’Keefe-Robak, published by McAdam Railway Station. The latest adventure novel featuring Abigail Massey, an earnest, adventurous and impetuous young woman who works at the bustling railway station in McAdam in the 1940s.

• The U.S.K. — by Sophie Eruokwu, published by RASOPH PUBLISHING. This 64-page novel by a Grade 12 student at Saint John High School is about a Black girl who struggles to fit in after her family moves to a new town. 

• Sing in the Spring! — by Sheree Fitch, art by Deb Plestid, published by Nimbus. A playful, poetic picture book celebrating the season.

• Mi’kmaq Alphabet Book — by Shyla Augustine, illustrated by Braelyn Cyr. Published by Monster House.  Baby board book with words and pictures from ant (gligoetjit) to wolf (paqtism).

•  Mysteries & Legends Book 1: Monsters — written by The Calithumpians, illustrated by Kaitlin Hoyt, published by Monster House. A close look at some of the world’s weirdest mysteries and legends.

•  Bone Jaw — by Isabelle Cullen, illustrated by Sophie Edell, Monster House. Delightfully silly bilingual story about Jack the Beaver and Jacques the Fox.

Hot topics

• Canada’s Place Names and How to Change Them — by Lauren Beck, published by Concordia University Press. An examination of who is represented on the Canadian map and who is misrepresented or left out, plus case studies of institutions and communities embracing change.

• Senior Management: Parenting my Parents — by Martha Vowles, published by Nevermore Press. A memoir about her parents’ decline into dementia and challenges navigating their final years. NB Book Award winner

People

• Social Oblivion: Raised Black in New Brunswick — by Thandiwe McCarthy, published by Jelani Books. Memoir of a young poet raised in a large Black family in the small town of Woodstock and now making his way in Fredericton. 

• Eye of the Ocean: Stories of Love, Hope and Empathy — by Janice Landry, published by Pottersfield Press. Poignant stories featuring Canadians who inspire us to help and lift up others, including a former basketball player from Harrison Trimble High School in Moncton. 

•  Ron Thom, Architect — The life of a creative modernist — by Adele Weder, published by Greystone Books. Profile of an architect who helped save historic buildings in downtown Fredericton from the wrecking ball in the 1970s.

•  Len and Cub: A Queer History — by Dusty Green and Meredith Batt, published by Goose Lane Editions. The story in photos of two Havelock men who had an undeniable bond in the early 1900s.

History

• The Great Saint John Fire of 1877: The rise, destruction and recovery of Canada’s leading port city — by Mark Allen Greene, published by Formac. Explores the disaster Saint Johners still talk about 145 years later. Includes tons of archival images.

•  305 Lost Buildings of Canada — by Alex Bozikovic, published by Goose Lane Editions. Cross-county tour of Canada’s most iconic lost buildings, including three in Moncton — the Saint-Louis-de-France church, the Intercolonial Railway general offices and the Moncton Sugar Company.

• Against The Tides: Reshaping Landscape and Community in Canada’s Maritime Marshlands — by Ronald Rudin, published by UBC Press. Never-before-told story of the trials and errors of the federal agency created in 1948 to protect farmland on the Chignecto Isthmus. 

• A Harbour for the King: The Loyalist Dream on the Island of Grand Manan —by Wendy Dathan, published by Chapel Street Editions. Non-fiction account of a hardy group of homesteaders and fishery pioneers who migrated from Maine to the Fundy isle. 

• Discovering the Movies in New Brunswick: A History of Cinema — by David Folster, edited by Marion Beyea, written by Chapel Street Editions. Stories about New Brunswick’s rich history of filmmaking, from the late 1800s to present.

Art

• Violet A. Gillett: Painting with Words — by Joanne Rivers, self-published. Showcasing the paintings, sculptures, and personal photos of an “East Coast renaissance artist” from Perth-Andover, who taught fine art in Saint John to young Fred Ross and many others.

•  Wabanaki Modern — by By Emma Hassencahl-Perley and John Leroux, published by Goose Lane Editions and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The story of an overlooked group of cultural visionaries, the “Micmac Indian Craftsmen,” of Elsipogtog, then known as Big Cove, who rose to national prominence in the early 1960s.

Music

The East Coast Music Book of Fame Top 50 — by Bob Mersereau, published by SSP Publications. A celebration of some of the top acts of the region, from Stompin’ Tom to Measha Brueggergosman.

 Humour

• Brit Happens: Or Living the Canadian Dream — by James Mullinger, published by Goose Lane Editions. Cheeky autobiography by the Saint John comedian and talk show host, from his early life and success in the U.K., to newer adventures in Atlantic Canada.

• Flip it Like This — by David Hayward, published by Broadleaf Books. Collection of cartoons by a former pastor from Quispamsis that skewers the failings of the contemporary church.

Lifestyle

• Hardy Apples: Growing Apples in Cold Climates —by Robert Osborne, published by Firefly Books. Part guide, and part homage by longtime CBC gardening columnist from Cornhill Nurseries, with photos by Beth Powning. 

• Gardening for Acidic Soils: Working with Nature to Create a Beautiful Landscape — by Todd Boland and Jamie Ellison, published by Boulder Books. Guide to plants that do well in Maritime soil.

•  Scenic Routes and Coastal Drives of New Brunswick: A curated guide to towns, festivals, heritage and nature — by Marianne and H.A. Eiselt, published by Formac. Things to see and experience all around the province that you may not know about. 

 Poetry

• AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets — edited by A. Gregory Frankson, published by Renaissance Press. Includes poems by Thandiwe McCarthy and more than a dozen others.

• You May Not Take the Sad and Angry Consolations — by Shane Neilson, published by icehouse poetry. New collection by Oromocto-raised professor of family medicine and award-winning writer, conceived as an archive of wisdom written by a disabled man for his children.

• Constrictor — by Nathaniel Moore, published by Mansfield Press. A risky and rowdy collection of poetry that deals with the author’s experience of abuse.