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The Best Books to Read in February 2023
Love is in the air, so we’re sending valentines to 10 new novels, including the latest from Salman Rushdie, Cherie Dimaline and Catherine Hernandez / BY Nathalie Atkinson / February 2nd, 2023
Witches, crime and CanLit about perseverance and romance — February is the shortest month, but avid readers will be wishing for a few extra days to cozy up and enjoy our notable fiction picks.
Obsessive Book Buyers: Zoomer editors have carefully curated our book coverage to ensure you find the perfect read. We may earn a commission on books you buy by clicking on the cover image.
1Victory CityThe highly anticipated first book to be published since the author was brutally attacked last summer at a literary festival (Rushdie was blinded in one eye and lost the use of a hand) is a magical realist adventure set in India. A centuries-spanning saga framed as the purported translation of an historical epic, the novel has several of his frequent themes: the enduring strength of women (in this case, a goddess who creates a great city), the power of storytelling and the dangers of religious fanaticism. (Feb. 7)
Bonus: Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman will have a virtual conversation celebrating Rushdie’s work for PEN Canada (Feb 9, free: reserve your spot here).
The highly anticipated first book to be published since the author was brutally attacked last summer at a literary festival (Rushdie was blinded in one eye and lost the use of a hand) is a magical realist adventure set in India. A centuries-spanning saga framed as the purported translation of an historical epic, the novel has several of his frequent themes: the enduring strength of women (in this case, a goddess who creates a great city), the power of storytelling and the dangers of religious fanaticism. (Feb. 7)
Bonus: Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman will have a virtual conversation celebrating Rushdie’s work for PEN Canada (Feb 9, free: reserve your spot here).
2Big SwissAfter a transcriptionist for a sex therapist recognizes the voice of a patient in a dog park (a repressed woman she has fixated on and dubbed “big Swiss”), she introduces herself with a fake name and they become entangled in an affair. Set in the American author’s Hudson, N.Y. enclave, the hilarity that ensues is more than high jinks: it’s an original and richly comic novel that probes the nature of loyalty and trauma. (Read up for pop culture cred: it’s soon to be an HBO series starring Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer.) (Feb. 7)
After a transcriptionist for a sex therapist recognizes the voice of a patient in a dog park (a repressed woman she has fixated on and dubbed “big Swiss”), she introduces herself with a fake name and they become entangled in an affair. Set in the American author’s Hudson, N.Y. enclave, the hilarity that ensues is more than high jinks: it’s an original and richly comic novel that probes the nature of loyalty and trauma. (Read up for pop culture cred: it’s soon to be an HBO series starring Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer.) (Feb. 7)
3Up With the SunThis juicy crime novel is a fictionalized rendering of a promising career gone to seed that spans 1950s Hollywood backlots and 1970s Broadway. Dick Kallman was, like his roommate, the late Turner Classics Movie (TCM) host Robert Osborne, a protégé of Lucille Ball – a member of her famed Desilu Workshop training program for young actors. Osborne went on to become a Hollywood historian and to host TCM, while Kallman starred in the short-lived 1960s series Hank and died in New York in 1980 – the victim, alongside his boyfriend, of a shocking brutal murder. Mallon, a Washington, D.C. novelist known for writing about bystanders to larger historical events, brings post-Second World War showbiz, queer life and seedy Manhattan to life in what James Ellroy calls a “page-turning blast.” (Feb. 7)
This juicy crime novel is a fictionalized rendering of a promising career gone to seed that spans 1950s Hollywood backlots and 1970s Broadway. Dick Kallman was, like his roommate, the late Turner Classics Movie (TCM) host Robert Osborne, a protégé of Lucille Ball – a member of her famed Desilu Workshop training program for young actors. Osborne went on to become a Hollywood historian and to host TCM, while Kallman starred in the short-lived 1960s series Hank and died in New York in 1980 – the victim, alongside his boyfriend, of a shocking brutal murder. Mallon, a Washington, D.C. novelist known for writing about bystanders to larger historical events, brings post-Second World War showbiz, queer life and seedy Manhattan to life in what James Ellroy calls a “page-turning blast.” (Feb. 7)
4For Twice in My LifeIt wouldn’t be Valentine’s season without at least one solidly romantic read. Layla was recently dumped by her boyfriend, who has an accident and suffers from short-term amnesia, which presents the opportunity of a do-over, since he doesn’t remember breaking up with her. On paper, this lighthearted rom-com (from the Canadian author of The Rehearsals) looks like a second-chance romance, but is really a love triangle of interwoven characters that reckons with the acceptance of past mistakes. (Feb. 7)
It wouldn’t be Valentine’s season without at least one solidly romantic read. Layla was recently dumped by her boyfriend, who has an accident and suffers from short-term amnesia, which presents the opportunity of a do-over, since he doesn’t remember breaking up with her. On paper, this lighthearted rom-com (from the Canadian author of The Rehearsals) looks like a second-chance romance, but is really a love triangle of interwoven characters that reckons with the acceptance of past mistakes. (Feb. 7)
5EndpapersNarrator Dawn is a genderqueer book conservator working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2003 as New York is still reeling in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. We follow the character’s inner dialogue exploring Jewish and queer identity as they discover a decades-old love letter and embark on a journey to find its author, while trying to figure out their place in the world. Bibliophiles will love the milieu, which allows the author (a bookbinder and editor based in Ithaca, N.Y.) to pepper readers with lore about book art. (Feb. 7)
Narrator Dawn is a genderqueer book conservator working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2003 as New York is still reeling in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. We follow the character’s inner dialogue exploring Jewish and queer identity as they discover a decades-old love letter and embark on a journey to find its author, while trying to figure out their place in the world. Bibliophiles will love the milieu, which allows the author (a bookbinder and editor based in Ithaca, N.Y.) to pepper readers with lore about book art. (Feb. 7)
6VenCoDimaline, a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community, previously won the Governor General’s Literary Award and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers for her internationally bestselling young adult novel The Marrow Thieves. Her new adult novel is a cross-generational delight: Lucky, the millennial orphaned daughter of a Métis party girl, is living with her spry grandmother Stella and trying to manage the challenges of their impending eviction from their Toronto apartment and the latter’s encroaching dementia. When Lucky discovers she has an ancestral connection to Salem witches, the pair join forces with the rest of a contemporary coven and go on a road trip in search of their final member, in an engaging adventure about connecting to the magical powers within all of us. (Feb. 7)
Dimaline, a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community, previously won the Governor General’s Literary Award and Kirkus Prize for Young Readers for her internationally bestselling young adult novel The Marrow Thieves. Her new adult novel is a cross-generational delight: Lucky, the millennial orphaned daughter of a Métis party girl, is living with her spry grandmother Stella and trying to manage the challenges of their impending eviction from their Toronto apartment and the latter’s encroaching dementia. When Lucky discovers she has an ancestral connection to Salem witches, the pair join forces with the rest of a contemporary coven and go on a road trip in search of their final member, in an engaging adventure about connecting to the magical powers within all of us. (Feb. 7)
7The Sun Walks DownWith its dazzling descriptions of landscape on the Flinders Range, it’s no wonder award-winning author (and bookseller) Ann Patchett sings the praises of this many-voiced, many-sided story about a six-year-old white boy lost in colonial Australia. The Canberra-based writer initially focuses on his disappearance in the Outback (which plays out over traditional Indigenous territory), but soon expands her scope to a wider human drama that encompasses the lives of those in the remote farming settlement who become involved in the search. (Feb. 14)
With its dazzling descriptions of landscape on the Flinders Range, it’s no wonder award-winning author (and bookseller) Ann Patchett sings the praises of this many-voiced, many-sided story about a six-year-old white boy lost in colonial Australia. The Canberra-based writer initially focuses on his disappearance in the Outback (which plays out over traditional Indigenous territory), but soon expands her scope to a wider human drama that encompasses the lives of those in the remote farming settlement who become involved in the search. (Feb. 14)
8Hollow BambooThere are two Williams in this debut: the current millennial and the namesake grandfather “he knows nothing about.” There’s also a ghost spirit named Mo in this inventive tale about the challenges faced (and occasionally overcome) by some of the first Chinese immigrants in St. John’s. Told through two generations and based on a true story, the Chinese-Canadian writer from Newfoundland and Labrador (and a journalist at CBC’s St. John’s bureau) conjures the past and present experience of anti-Asian racism in Canada. (Feb. 21)
There are two Williams in this debut: the current millennial and the namesake grandfather “he knows nothing about.” There’s also a ghost spirit named Mo in this inventive tale about the challenges faced (and occasionally overcome) by some of the first Chinese immigrants in St. John’s. Told through two generations and based on a true story, the Chinese-Canadian writer from Newfoundland and Labrador (and a journalist at CBC’s St. John’s bureau) conjures the past and present experience of anti-Asian racism in Canada. (Feb. 21)
9The Story of UsThe third novel by the acclaimed Canadian author of Scarborough (a previous CBC Canada Reads finalist that was made into a movie) is the affecting story of Mary Grace Concepcion, a Filipino personal service worker for an elderly Canadian woman living with dementia. Told from the point of view of Mary Grace’s infant daughter, it chronicles a woman who lives a life of sacrifice and battles injustice. It’s a wrenching novel of hard emotional truths, chosen families and finding belonging. (Feb. 28)
The third novel by the acclaimed Canadian author of Scarborough (a previous CBC Canada Reads finalist that was made into a movie) is the affecting story of Mary Grace Concepcion, a Filipino personal service worker for an elderly Canadian woman living with dementia. Told from the point of view of Mary Grace’s infant daughter, it chronicles a woman who lives a life of sacrifice and battles injustice. It’s a wrenching novel of hard emotional truths, chosen families and finding belonging. (Feb. 28)
10Far CryThe latest from the Toronto novelist (who also teaches at the Humber School for Writers) is as superbly evocative as her debut novel Effigy, which was set in a 19th-century Mormon community in Utah and shortlisted for the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize. It takes place in 1922, in and around a cannery on the northwest coast of British Columbia, where Kit, a newly orphaned teenager, learns about the secret life and loves that instigated her honorary uncle Anders’s journey from Norway to their small community. (Feb. 28)
The latest from the Toronto novelist (who also teaches at the Humber School for Writers) is as superbly evocative as her debut novel Effigy, which was set in a 19th-century Mormon community in Utah and shortlisted for the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize. It takes place in 1922, in and around a cannery on the northwest coast of British Columbia, where Kit, a newly orphaned teenager, learns about the secret life and loves that instigated her honorary uncle Anders’s journey from Norway to their small community. (Feb. 28)