Here’s what you need to know about the books
Here are the five titles aiming to be the winner of this year’s Canada Reads. While you don’t need to read all the books before watching the show, it helps to know what they’re about. Here’s a summary of each.
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt is an experimental novel about an unnamed queer, Indigenous academic who abandons his thesis and goes back to his hometown in northern Alberta.
Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard is a novel about Adam, a failing sports journalist who has one shot at a Sports Illustrated profile of a notorious hockey goon — his estranged and reclusive father.
The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor is a historical fiction novel about Kit McNair, who struggles to fit the expectations set out for them as an Ontario farm girl. When they meet Rebekah, everything falls into place, but a love triangle and the Second World War force them to go their separate ways.
Foe by Iain Reid is a speculative thriller about Junior and his wife Henrietta, whose peaceful existence living in an isolated farmhouse is upended when a mysterious man shows up, claiming Junior has been randomly selected for a scientific program and will be leaving home for the indefinite future.
It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard is a romance novel about June Heyward, an actor who, in a twist of fate, finds herself back at the New York City brownstone she never thought she’d return to, with the one person she swore she’d never see again.
