Miriam Toews Libri

Nomi Nickel ha sedici anni e vive a East Village, un paese sprofondato nelle praterie canadesi, imbevuto di una luce fredda e depressiva e di un silenzio che conduce a «morire asfissiati di infelicità inespressa». Un silenzio violato solo dai Tir che di notte rombano verso lontani macelli, evocando inesorabili l’unica attività produttiva del posto – «il massacro dei polli». Come se non bastasse, il paese di Nomi è popolato da una austera comunità religiosa mennonita – ai suoi occhi «la sottosetta più sfigata del mondo» –, che ha scelto di isolarsi dal resto dell’umanità trasformando la vita in un «facsimile della morte». Naturalmente per preservarsi dal Male. E proprio questo ordine ossessivo e claustrofobico, a cui anche i Nickel soggiacciono, sarà all’origine di una catastrofe familiare che lascerà Nomi attonita e straziata. Rimasta sola con il padre, devoto e schivo, nella casa dove i mobili scompaiono via via come le persone, Nomi affronterà la legge feroce dell’ortodossia col suo sguardo anarchico e amorale, attraverso vicende che ci narra con contagiosa vis comica, iniettando nel racconto un’energia immaginosa e sensuale che non abbandona il lettore neppure per un istante – e fa di lui il suo più irriducibile alleato.

One morning Mel Toews put on his coat and hat and walked out of town, prepared to die. But it is also a funny, winsome evocation of country life: growing up on farm, courting a wife, becoming a teacher, and rearing a happy, strong family in the midst of private torment.

The stifling, reclusive life of nineteen-year-old Irma Voth, recently married, and more recently deserted is turned on its head when a film crew moves in to make a movie about the strict religious community, in which she lives.

Miriam Toews captivates with her unique blend of humor and deep emotion in this powerful narrative about two sisters and the love that shapes their lives. Elfrieda, a celebrated pianist, appears to have it all—wealth, glamour, and a happy marriage—yet she harbors a profound desire to end her life. In contrast, her sister Yolandi, navigating the complexities of divorce and financial struggles, is determined to save Elf from her despair. Yoli, a charmingly chaotic figure, juggles the demands of her teenage children, her mother, and her own tumultuous relationships while trying to keep her sister alive. When Elf's latest suicide attempt coincides with her upcoming international tour, Yoli is thrust into a crisis that forces her to confront the most daunting decision of her life. This poignant tale explores the limits of love and the challenges that arise as childhood gives way to adult responsibilities. Through beautifully crafted prose, Toews illustrates the resilience of hope and the necessity of love, even in the face of overwhelming grief.

When Stella Mosconi left the small mountain city of Nelson, B.C. straight out of high school, she hoped she had seen the last of Jack Ballard. A teenage fling between the two ended with a scary incident that left a fear that still lingers some twenty years later when Stella returns to her hometown. Now settled with her family and hitting her stride as a reporter for the local paper, Stella has been flying under Ballard’s radar. But once her cover is blown, the former pro mountain biker, an icon in Nelson, won’t give her any peace. Then on the morning after celebrating his fortieth birthday with a big party, Ballard is found dead, his body discovered beneath the lookout of a popular hiking trail. Stella doesn’t believe the former elite athlete would simply have stumbled over the edge. Too many circumstances surrounding the incident seem off-kilter. A teenager Stella once helped put into youth custody had shown up uninvited at Ballard’s party. The witness who found his body is building a shrine to him. And Ballard’s pregnant fiancée – hostile to Stella from the start – is going after her with a vengeance now that he’s gone. Once again, the intrepid reporter teams up with Sergeant Ben McKean to dig into the case while the pair try to skirt a mutual attraction. Grasping at leads, Ben isn’t even certain a crime has been committed. But Stella is ready to put everything on the line to unravel the enigma that was Jack Ballard.

'Sets standards for grandmotherly swearing and outspokenness I can never hope to match. Go Grandma Elvira!' Margaret Atwood

Knute is a twenty-four-year old single mother who returns home to Algren with her daughter, Summer Feelin' to look after her father Tom, who has suffered a heart attack. Hosea Funk, a friend of Tom's and the mayor of Algren has a lot on his mind. The prime minister has promised to pay a visit to whichever town in Canada has the smallest population. Algren has held this position for some time but recent baby booms and returning families, like Knute, threaten to tip Algren over the magic 1500. As Knute is reunited with Max, SF's father and Hosea finds himself compromised by his own additions to the population count, we find ourselves drawn into the warm, intimate heart of this funny, feel-good novel.

Meet the Troutmans. Hattie is living in Paris, city of romance, but has just been dumped by her boyfriend. Min, her sister back in Canada, is going through a particularly dark period. And Min's two kids, Logan and Thebes, are not talking and talking way too much, respectively. When Hattie receives a phone call from eleven-year-old Thebes, begging her to return to Canada, she arrives home to find Min on her way to a psychiatric ward, and becomes responsible for her niece and nephew. Realising that she is way out of her league, Hattie hatches a plan to find the kids' long-lost father. With only the most tenuous lead to go on, she piles Logan and Thebes into the family van, and they head south...

Finalist for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour Now available from Vintage Canada, a hilarious first novel about life’s ups and downs from the author of the bestselling A Complicated Kindness. Lucy and Lish are two single moms who live in Winnipeg’s Have-a-Life housing project – also known as Half-a-Life – where the nosy neighbours won’t mind their own business, kids’ wagons and cheap strollers are the only way to get to the grocery store and the summer rain is endless. Lucy’s not quite sure who the father of her son is, but Lish still pines for the father of her twins, a fire-eating busker who came through town a few years back. So when Lish decides they should head to Colorado to find him, they borrow a van held together with coat-hangers and electrical tape, load it up with clothes, toys, food and kids, and hit the road. Lucy’s not sure they’ll ever find the fire-eater, but there’s no way she can know that this will be the summer of her amazing luck.

Between 2005 and 2009, in a remote Mennonite colony, over one hundred girls and women were raped by what many thought were ghosts or demons. Their accounts were dismissed as 'wild female imagination'. Women Talking is an imagined response to these real events. When the women learn the truth, they meet secretly to discuss how to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. But they have just two days to decide, before the rapists are bailed out and brought home.