The bestselling Canadian books of 2025, so far

Here’s a ranked list of the top 20 books Canadians have been buying so far in 2025. 

This bestseller list is compiled by Bookmanager using weekly sales stats from more than 260 Canadian independent stores between January 1 and June 30 of this year.

20. Who We Are by Murray Sinclair with Sara Sinclair and Niigaan Sinclair

Murray Sinclair made his mark on Canadian society as a judge, activist, senator, chief commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and co-chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. He wrote all about it in his memoir Who We Are. The book answers the four guiding questions of Sinclair’s life — Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? Who am I? — through stories about his remarkable career and trailblazing advocacy for Indigenous peoples’ rights and freedoms. 

Murray Sinclair died in November 2024, at age 73. Anishinaabe and a member of the Peguis First Nation, Sinclair was the first Indigenous judge appointed in Manitoba and the second appointed in Canada. He won awards including the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Manitoba Bar Association’s Equality Award and its Distinguished Service Award (2016) and received Honorary Doctorates from 14 Canadian universities. 

Sara Sinclair is an oral historian of Cree-Ojibwa and mixed settler descent. She teaches at Columbia University and is currently co-editing two anthologies of Indigenous letters. 

Niigaan Sinclair is a writer, editor, activist and the head of the Department of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is the co-editor of Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories. He won the Peace Educator of the Year award in 2019. He is also the author of the book Wînipêk.

19. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

In The Berry Pickers, it’s July of 1962, and a Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. A few weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, and he is forever altered by her mysterious disappearance. Years later, in Maine, a young girl named Norma is troubled by recurring dreams that seem too real to be her imagination. As she grows older, she senses there is something her family isn’t telling her, and this eventually sets her off on a search for the truth. 

Amanda Peters is a writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry based in Annapolis Valley, N.S. Her work has appeared in The Antigonish Review, the Alaska Quarterly Review and The Dalhousie Review. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose and was named a Writers’ Trust 2021 Rising Star. The Berry Pickers won the Carnegie Medal for Excellence and was on the shortlist for the 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

18. All the Little Monsters by David A. Robertson

In the memoir All The Little Monsters, bestselling author David A. Roberston opens up about his experiences with anxiety as a way to accept and heal. He reveals what tools help him cope with his struggles in the hopes that others going through similar things won’t feel as alone.

Robertson, a two-time Governor General’s Literary Award winner and member of the Norway House Cree Nation, has written over 30 books for both children and adults, including the Misewa Saga series, picture books On the Trapline and When We Were Alone, graphic novel Breakdown, and his debut memoir Black Water. He lives in Winnipeg.

17. Theory of Water by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

In Theory of Water, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson traces the historical and cultural interactions of Indigenous peoples with water in all its forms. She presents water as a catalyst for radical transformation and shows its potential to heal and reshape the world in response to environmental and social injustice. 

Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, activist, musician, artist, author and member of Alderville First Nation. Her books include Islands of Decolonial Love, This Accident of Being Lost, Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back and As We Have Always Done. This Accident of Being Lost was shortlisted for the Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize in 2017 and the 2018 Trillium Book Award. Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. Her book Rehearsals for Living, a collaboration with Robyn Maynard, was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction.

16. Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey

Watch Out for Her is about a young mother named Sarah who thinks her problems are solved when she hires a young babysitter, Holly, for her six-year-old son. Her son adores Holly and Holly adores Sarah, who is like the mother she never had. But when Sarah sees something that she can’t unsee, she uproots her family to start over. Her past follows her to this new life, raising paranoid questions of who is watching her now and what they want. 

Watch Out for Her was championed by Olympic gold medallist Maggie Mac Neil on Canada Reads 2025. 

Samantha M. Bailey is a journalist and editor in Toronto. Her first thriller, Woman on the Edge, was released in 2019 and was an international bestseller. Her other novels include A Friend in the Dark and her latest, Hello, Juliet. Her journalistic work can be found in publications including NOW Magazine, The Village Post, The Thrill Begins and The Crime Hub.

15. At a Loss for Words by Carol Off

At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage, traces what former CBC Host Carol Off calls the manipulation and weaponization of language through the lens of six words: freedom, democracy, truth, woke, choice and taxes.

Off spent almost sixteen years co-hosting the award-winning CBC radio program As It Happens. Before that, she covered news and current affairs in Canada and around the world. 

14. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

Moon of the Crusted Snow is a dystopian drama involving a protagonist named Evan Whitesky and a northern Anishinaabe community facing dwindling resources and rising panic after their electrical power grid shuts down during a cold winter. While the community tries to maintain order, forces from outside and within threaten to destroy the reserve.

Waubgeshig Rice is an Anishinaabe author and journalist originally from Wasauksing First Nation. He is also the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novels Moon of the Turning Leaves and Legacy. He used to be the host of CBC Radio’s Up North.

13. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Released in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale was Margaret Atwood’s breakthrough book on an international scale. The modern classic tells the story of a handmaid known as Offred who is trapped in a society where her only purpose is to conceive and bear the child of a powerful man.

Atwood is one of Canada’s best known and most prolific writers. She has written more than 40 books in nearly all literary forms including short stories, nonfiction, children’s books and stage plays. The Handmaid’s Tale won Atwood her second Governor General’s Literary Award and scored her first nomination for the Booker Prize. It has since undergone several adaptations, for film, stage, ballet, opera and a graphic novel. It was also adapted for television and the sixth and final season was released in May 2025.

12. A Two Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louisa Plummer

In A Two-Spirit Journey, Ma-Nee Chacaby, an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian who grew up in a remote northern Ontario community, tells the story of how she overcame experiences with abuse and alcohol addiction to become a counsellor and lead Thunder Bay’s first gay pride parade. 

A Two-Spirit Journey won Canada Reads 2025. It was championed by podcaster and wellness advocate Shayla Stonechild.

Ma-Nee Chacaby is a two-spirit Ojibwa-Cree writer, artist, storyteller and activist. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., and was raised by her grandmother near Lake Nipigon, Ont. Chacaby won the Ontario Historical Society’s Alison Prentice Award and the Oral History Association’s Book Award for A Two-Spirit Journey. In 2021, Chacaby won the Community Hero Award from the mayor of Thunder Bay.

Mary Louisa Plummer is a social scientist whose work focuses on public health and children’s rights. 

11. Finding Flora by Elinor Florence

In Finding Flora, Scottish newcomer to Canada, Flora, escapes her abusive husband to the Alberta prairie, determined to rebuild her life. But when a hostile government threatens their land and her violent husband is on the hunt for her, Flora forms a bond with her neighbours — a Welsh widow with three children, two American women raising chickens, and a Métis woman training wild horses. United, the women come together to face their challenges. 

Elinor Florence is an author, journalist and member of the Métis Nation of B.C. Her debut novel was Bird’s Eye View, and her second novel, Wildwood, was one of Kobo’s Hundred Most Popular Canadian Books of All Time. Florence holds degrees in English and journalism. She grew up in Saskatchewan and currently lives in Invermere, B.C. 

10. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue

The Paris Express takes readers aboard a suspenseful train journey from the Normandy coast to Paris. Inspired by a real-life photo of a train hanging off the side of Montparnasse station, The Paris Express unravels over the course of one fateful day, featuring the fascinating stories of the passengers, from a young boy traveling solo to a pregnant woman on the run, the devoted railway workers and a young anarchist on a mission.

Emma Donoghue is an Irish Canadian writer whose books include the novels Landing, Room, Frog Music, The Wonder, The Pull of the Stars, Learned by Heart and the children’s book The Lotterys Plus One. Room was an international bestseller and was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Brie Larson. The Pull of the Stars was longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and Canada Reads 2025 and shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. 

9. Jennie’s Boy by Wayne Johnston

Jennie’s Boy is a memoir that recounts a six-month period in Wayne Johnston’s chaotic childhood, much of which was spent as a frail and sickly boy with a fiercely protective mother. While too sick to attend school, he spent his time with his funny and eccentric grandmother, Lucy, and picked up some important life lessons along the way. 

Jennie’s Boy won the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal. It was championed by Linwood Barclay on Canada Reads 2025. 

Johnston is a writer, born and raised in Goulds, N.L. His novels include The Divine Ryans, A World Elsewhere, The Custodian of Paradise, The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. His 1999 memoir, Baltimore’s Mansion, won the RBC Taylor Prize. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and was a 2003 Canada Reads finalist, when it was championed by Justin Trudeau before he was prime minister.

8. The Cost of a Hostage by Iona Whishaw

In The Cost of a Hostage, Lane’s quiet August morning is jolted when two shocking cases unfold — she receives news that her brother-in-law, Bob, is missing in Mexico, while her husband, Inspector Darling, is confronted by a frantic mother reporting her son’s kidnapping. While the couple searches for Bob, the kidnapper and child are found, making it seem like the case is solved — until another body is discovered. 

Iona Whishaw is a Vancouver-based author and former teacher and social worker. She has published works of short fiction, poetry, the children’s book Henry and the Cow Problem and the Lane Winslow Mystery series.

7. Mallory and the Trouble with Twins by Arley Nopra

In Mallory and the Trouble with Twins, Mallory is confident in her babysitting skills — after all, she’s taken care of her seven younger siblings for years. But when she starts watching the Arnold twins, Marilyn and Carolyn, she quickly realizes they’re more trouble than she expected. The twins play tricks, act spoiled and make her job a nightmare. Still, as a responsible member of the Baby-Sitters Club, Mallory refuses to give up.

Arley Nopra is a Filipino comic creator who lives in Toronto. She has adapted and illustrated the Babysitters Club books Claudia and the Bad Joke and Mallory and the Trouble with Twins.

6. Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

In Etta and Otto and Russell and James, 82-year-old Etta decides to walk 3,232 kilometres to Halifax from her farm in Saskatchewan to fulfil her dream of seeing the ocean. With little more than a rusty rifle and a talking coyote named James for company, she begins her adventure, and in the process, her early life with her husband, Otto, and their friend Russell is revealed in flashbacks. While Russell wants to bring her home safe, she’s committed to making her way to the sea before returning to her husband, who waits patiently for her to come back.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James was championed by Heartland actor Michelle Morgan on Canada Reads 2025. 

Emma Hooper is a Canadian musician and writer. Her other novels include Our Homesick Songs, which was longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky. She also holds a PhD in music-literary studies and has published her research on many related topics. Raised in Alberta, she currently lives in England.

5. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

One Golden Summer is a follow-up to Carley Fortune’s debut book Every Summer After and tells the story of Alice, a photographer seeking a quiet, restorative summer at her childhood cottage with her grandmother. But her plans for peace are upended when Charlie — charming, flirtatious and impossible to ignore — unexpectedly reappears. Soon, Alice finds herself feeling like she’s 17 again, questioning whether this summer might hold something more than she ever expected.

Fortune is a Toronto-based writer and journalist who has worked as an editor for Refinery29, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Toronto Life. Her previous books are Every Summer After, This Summer Will Be Different and Meet Me at the Lake, which was a contender for Canada Reads 2024, championed by Mirian Njoh. Every Summer After is being adapted for a television series.

4. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight

In The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, Pen arrives at the University of Edinburgh, set on uncovering what her divorced parents in Canada have hid from her. Not only does she start to uncover the truth about them during a weekend visit to a famous writer, an old friend of her father’s, Pen also experiences the many milestones of adulthood for the first time, including falling in love for the first time. 

Emma Knight is an author, journalist and entrepreneur based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Literary Hub, Vogue, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus and The New York Times. She co-hosted and created the podcast Fanfare and co-founded the organic beverage company Greenhouse. She is the author of cookbooks How to Eat with One Hand and The Greenhouse Cookbook.

3. Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew

Dandelion is a novel about family secrets, migration, isolation, motherhood and mental illness. When Lily was a child, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family and was never heard from again. After becoming a new mother herself, Lily is obsessed with discovering what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls growing up in a British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families and how Swee Hua longed to return to Brunei. Eventually, a clue leads Lily to southeast Asia to find the truth about her mother. 

Dandelion was championed by pastry chef Saïd M’Dahoma on Canada Reads 2025.

Jamie Chai Yun Liew is a lawyer, law professor and podcaster based in Ottawa. Dandelion is her first novel, which won her the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop. She also wrote the nonfiction book Ghost Citizens. Liew was named one of CBC Books writers to watch in 2022. 

2. Values by Mark Carney

Values is a book by the former Bank of Canada governor and current prime minister, Mark Carney. Published in 2021, Values looks at the “fault lines” that divide contemporary society — racial, geographical, cultural and economic — and argues that they all stem from the same thing: a crisis of values. In the book, Carney offers a vision of a “more humane society” and a map toward getting there.

Carney is the prime minister of Canada. He was formerly the Governor of the Bank of England and the Governor of the Bank of Canada. He lives in Ottawa.

1. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This marks Egyptian Canadian journalist and writer Omar El Akkad’s nonfiction debut. On Oct. 25, 2023, after Israeli bombardment of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks, he posted on social media a statement: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This expands on his powerful social media message and chronicles his thoughts on the fragile nature of truth, justice, privilege and morality.

El Akkad is a Canadian journalist and author who currently lives in Portland, Ore. His novel American War was defended on Canada Reads 2018 by actor Tahmoh Penikett and his novel What Strange Paradise won the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was defended on Canada Reads 2022 by Tareq Hadhad.