CanLit Challenge Books (in order selected)
  1. Barometer Rising (1941) - Hugh MacLennan
    “A compelling romance set against the horrors of wartime and the catastrophic Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917.”
  2. Such is My Beloved (1934) - Morley Callaghan
    “One of the great novels of the 1930s, Such is My Beloved recounts the tragic story of two down-and-out prostitutes and the young priest who aspires to redeem their lives.”
  3. Children of My Heart (1977) - Gabrielle Roy
    “A powerful story of an impressionable and passionate young teacher and the pupils, from impoverished immigrant families, whose lives she touches.”
  4. Wilderness Tips (1991) - Margaret Atwood
    “[An] extraordinary collection of short stories–some poignant, some scathingly humourous, all brilliant and oddly disturbing.”
  5. The Rebel Angels (Book I of the Cornish Trilogy) (1981) - Robertson Davies
    “[A] brilliant spectacle of theft, perjury, murder, scholarship, and love at a modern university.”
  6. The Blue Mountains of China (1970) - Rudy Wiebe “The unforgettable story of a group of Russian Mennonites in search of a land that would give them religious freedom.”
  7. Island (2001) - Alistair MacLeod
    “Eloquent, humane, life-affirming, the stories in this astonishing collection seize us from the outset and remain with us long after the final page.”
  8. What’s Bred in the Bone (Book II of the Cornish Trilogy) (1985)- Robertson Davies
    “From the well-hidden family secret of his childhood to his mysterious encounters with a small-town embalmer, a master art restorer, a Bavarian countess, and various masters of espionage, the events in Francis’s life were not always what they seemed.”
  9. No Great Mischief (2001) - Alistair MacLeod
    “Alexander MacDonald guides us through his family’s mythic past as he recollects the heroic stories of his people: loggers, miners, drinkers, adventurers; men forever in exile, forever linked to their clan.”
  10. The History of Emily Montague (1769) - Frances Brooke
    “A charming love story which captures the lives of Quebec City’s early English-speaking inhabitants, the Québécois, and the Native people, in the decade between Wolfe’s victory on the Plains of Abraham in 1759 and the American War of Independence in the 1770s.”
  11. Next Episode (1965) - Hubert Aquin
    “A disturbing and yet deeply moving novel of dissent and distress. As he awaits trial, a young separatist writes an espionage story in the psychiatric ward of the Montreal prison where he has been detained.”
  12. The Whirlpool (1986) - Jane Urquhart
    “The story of Niagara Falls, Ontario, in the fateful summer of 1889.”
  13. Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich (1914) - Stephen Leacock
    “Of the many books by Canada’s most celebrated humorist, none has received more acclaim than his brilliant, caustic treatment of the glittering rich who gather at the Mausoleum Club on Plutoria Avenue.”
  14. The Mountain and the Valley (1952) - Ernest Buckler
    “[A]n affectionate portrait of David Canaan, a sensitive boy who becomes increasingly aware of the difference that sets him apart from his family and his neighbours. David’s desire to write is the secret that gives this haunting story its detailed focus and its poignant theme.”
  15. The Lyre of Orpheus (1988) - Robertson Davies
    “‘The lyre of Orpheus opens the door of the underworld,’ wrote E. T. A. Hoffmann, and Hoffmann’s spirit, languishing in limbo, watches over, and comments on, the efforts of the Cornish Foundation as its Trustees decide to produce an opera.”
  16. The Tomorrow-Tamer (1963) - Margaret Laurence
    “Set in raucous and often terrifying Ghana, where shiny Jaguars and modern jazz jostle for eminence against fetish figures, tribal rites, and the unchanging beat of jungle drums, the stories tell of individuals, European and African, trying to come to terms with the frightening world brought about by the country’s new freedom.”
  17. Fifth Business (1970) - Robertson Davies
    “Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave of Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross, and destined to be caught in a no-man’s-land where memory, history, and myth collide.”
  18. The Fire-Dwellers (1969) - Margaret Laurence
    “[A]n extraordinary novel about a woman who has four children, a hard-working but uncommunicative husband, a spinster sister, and an abiding conviction that life has more to offer her than the tedious routine of her days.”
  19. Wacousta (1839) - John Richardson
    “Set in the 1760s at the time of Pontiac’s Indian alliance against the British, Wacousta combines elements of revenge tragedy and gothic romance in reconstructing a violent episode in Canadian frontier history.”
  20. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912) - Stephen Leacock
    “Set in fictional Mariposa, an Ontario town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti, these sketches present a remarkable range of characters: some irritating, some exasperating, some foolhardy, but all endearing. Painted with the skilful brushstrokes of a great comic artist, the delightful inhabitants of Mariposa represent the people of small towns everywhere.”
  21. The Blind Assassin (2000) - Margaret Atwood
    “‘Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge.’ These words are spoken by Iris Chase Griffen, married at eighteen to a wealthy industrialist but now poor and eighty-two. Iris recalls her far from exemplary life, and the events leading up to her sister’s death, gradually revealing the carefully guarded Chase secrets.”
  22. The Clockmaker: The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville (1835-6) - Thomas Chandler Haliburton
    “Sam Slick of Slickville, Connecticut, is a Yankee clock-peddler who accompanies a visiting English gentleman on an unforgettable tour of early nineteenth-century Nova Scotia. His shrewd observations and witty commentaries make up the thirty-three sketches of The Clockmaker.”
  23. St. Urbain’s Horseman (1971) - Mordecai Richler
    “Thirty-seven-year-old Jake Hersh is a film director of modest success, a faithful husband, and a man in disgrace. His alter ego is his cousin Joey, a legend in their childhood neighbourhood in Montreal. Nazi-hunter, adventurer, and hero of the Spanish Civil War, Joey is the avenging horseman of Jake’s impotent dreams. When Jake becomes embroiled in a scandalous trial in London, England, he puts his own unadventurous life on trial as well, finding it desperately wanting as he steadfastly longs for the Horseman’s glorious return.”
  24. The Manticore (1972) - Robertson Davies
    “[T]he second book in the series after Fifth Business—follows David Staunton, a man pleased with his success but haunted by his relationship with his larger-than-life father. As he seeks help through therapy, he encounters a wonderful cast of characters who help connect him to his past and the death of his father.”
  25. The Backwoods of Canada (1836) - Catharine Parr Traill
    “Treasured by its nineteenth-century readers as an important source of practical information, The Backwoods of Canada is an extraordinary portrayal of pioneer life by one of early Canada’s most remarkable women.”
  26. World of Wonders (1975) - Robertson Davies
    “[F]ollows the story of Magnus Eisengrim—the most illustrious magician of his age—who is spirited away from his home by a member of a traveling sideshow, the Wanless World of Wonders. After honing his skills and becoming better known, Magnus unfurls his life’s courageous and adventurous tale in this third and final volume of a spectacular, soaring work.”
  27. Not Wanted on the Voyage (1985) - Timothy Findley
    “[T]he story of the great flood and the first time the world ended. It is a brilliant, unforgettable drama filled with an extraordinary cast of remarkable characters: the tyrannical Noah and his indomitable wife, Mrs. Noyes[; the angel, Lucifer; and the blind cat Mottyl]“
  28. Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (1838) - Anna Brownell Jameson
    “The best known of all nineteenth century Canadian travel books, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada is Jameson’s wonderfully entertaining account of her adventures, ranging from gleeful observations about the pretensions of high society in the colonies to a “wild expedition” she took by canoe into Indian country.”
  29. From the Fifteenth District (1979) - Mavis Gallant
    “Set in Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, the nine stories in this glittering collection reflect on the foibles and dilemmas of human relationships. […] Full of wry humour and penetrating insights, this is Mavis Gallant at her most unforgettable.”
  30. As For Me and My House (1941) - Sinclair Ross
    “The town is Horizon, the setting of Sinclair Ross’s brilliant classic study of life in the Depression era. [...] One of the most complex and arresting characters in contemporary fiction explores the bittersweet nature of human relationships, of the unspoken bonds that tie people together, and the undercurrents of feeling that often tear them apart.”
  31. Roughing It in the Bush (1858) - Susanna Moodie
    “This frank and fascinating chronicle details [Susanna Moodie]’s harsh - and humorous - experiences in homesteading with her family in the woods of Upper Canada.”
  32. Anne of Green Gables (1908) - Lucy Maud Montgomery
    “Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her.”