With fall on the horizon, you may be nearing the bottom of your stack of 2022 beach reads and starting to reach for books with a bit more weight (figuratively speaking, but at almost 800 pages, Fredrik Backman’s latest is literally hefty as well). For those looking to make a switch to non-fiction, an exploration of race through a mix of memoir and social critique is a must-read; historical-fiction lovers will relish a moody take on a tale about starting over; and every literary-fiction lover should pick up the aforementioned Backman tome, which is the long-awaited conclusion to the author’s Beartown series. In short, there’s plenty to help you ease into fall.

The Long Road Home: On Blackness and Belonging, by Debra Thompson

Writer and professor Debra Thompson penned this deeply personal look at Black identity in North America, examining race by retracing her ancestors’ journeys and revisiting the various cities she lived in over the course of a decade. As an award-winning scholar, she’s well equipped to explain the history of the Black movement in North America, from the Underground Railroad to bustling cities like Chicago and Montreal. As well, it’s her own lived experience as a Black woman in both Canada and the United States that sheds light on topics that are so important to engage with: the intergenerational trauma of slavery and racism, the truth about multiculturalism in North America and what it means to be Black in overwhelmingly-white-controlled spaces. 

Read more about The Long Road Home: On Blackness and Belonging (in stores September 6th)

The White Hare, by Jane Johnson

In 1954, Mila, her mother, Magda, and her daughter, Janey, need to make a quick exit from the city and head to the countryside in Cornwall, England, to start their lives over. They land at a house that is in desperate need of restoration and has plenty of history to uncover, so they get to work transforming the space and attempt to make a home for themselves. But the valley where they live is full of interesting characters—bold women, curious men and plenty of people who hint at the place’s strange history without actually sharing what happened. Fans of historical fiction crossed with a touch of witchy mysticism will love the latest from acclaimed novelist Jane Johnson.

Read more about The White Hare (in stores October 4th)

 

The Winners, by Fredrik Backman

Fans of Fredrik Backman’s Beartown series will be elated to hear that the story reaches its conclusion in the latest from the author, The Winners. It takes place two years after the first book’s events, when two well-known protagonists, Benji and Maya, are returning home to Beartown for a funeral. Unfortunately, they’re coming back to a place that’s simmering with anger and resentment toward the neighbouring town, and thanks to that terrible tag team of politics and poverty, tensions have never been higher. Backman has always managed to craft deeply felt and moving studies of character, and this latest instalment does not disappoint. Expect some wry humour, glimpses of hope and, of course, plenty of heartache.

Read more about The Winners (in stores September 27th)