Welcome to the November 2025 ORB Issue
For those growing a Movember moustache, may the month be fruitful — and may the books we feature nurture more than follicular ambition. In this issue, we review an anthology that examines Palestinian activism and its repression in Canada, a speculative family saga set against the tightening grip of authoritarianism, poetry that carves a path from rupture to resilience, fiction steeped in gothic unease, and a bold "re-vamping" of incubi and succubi through a feminist, anthrop
Razing Palestine edited by Leila Marshy
Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw Before picking up a copy of Razing Palestine , it is worth considering what this anthology is—and what it is not. It is not a collection of literary short stories, nor a volume of meticulously footnoted analysis; readers seeking either of those will find them amply elsewhere. Instead, the book gathers first-hand testimonies from Canadians who have confronted what many consider the defining moral dilemma of our era: the destruction of Gaza and the s
Five Points on an Invisible Line by Su J. Sokol
Five Points on an Invisible Line , is the sequel to Cycling to Asylum (recently re-issued as The Invisible Line ). In it, author Su Sokol returns to the Wolfes, an American family of four, who had bicycled from Brooklyn, New York, across the border into Canada. The setting is the probably not-too-distant future, where the US, for many reasons, has become more authoritarian. The changes have been deep, and even its name has changed. It is now “United America.” In the first bo
Ajar by Margo LaPierre
Reviewed by Deborah-Anne Tunney I have always felt poems in the confessional tradition to be the most generous. Their honesty demands the poet takes the reader into their confidence and allows them to see something of the personal, culled from the poet’s own experiences. In this process, the reader’s perception is broadened, their empathy expanded. In her remarkable book, Ajar: Trauma Explored and Transformed, Margo LaPierre has accomplished this feat with insight and acumen
The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney
Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin Phaedra Luck may be no Greek princess like her mythical namesake, but she’s one fierce female protagonist. When we first meet “Fade” she’s sleeping rough in a cemetery. Like her missing great aunt Madeline, Fade survives on society’s fringes, woven into nature like other wild things—wolves, women, rabbits, and black bears. From the dark, disturbing prologue (listen to the author read it here ) to the bittersweet end, Penney unravels an epic family tra
Hemo Sapiens by Emily A. Weedon
Reviewed by Robert Runté Occasionally, one should judge a book by its cover. The cover of Hemo Sapiens is a sophisticated, modern take on art nouveau that tells us this is from a sophisticated literary press (Dundurn) with refined tastes one can trust. I fully confess that when I first came across Hemo Sapiens, I wasn’t that interested, but the cover reveal intrigued me. The novel behind that cover did not disappoint. Vampires. It’s a vampire novel! But oh, it is so much be
ORB October 2025 Issue
Welcome to the Canadian Thanksgiving issue of the Ottawa Review of Books . As autumn’s colours blaze around us and the unseasonably warm days linger, there is much to be grateful for. The ceasefire in Gaza appears to be holding, allowing Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to reunite with their families. Children can play outside now without the deadly sound of drones or sirens announcing incoming missiles. The guns have fallen silent and the leaders of the world ar
Self Care by Russell Smith
Reviewed by Tim Niedermann Gloria, a woman in her mid-twenties, is a freelance writer whose weekly column, “Daily Self Care,” appears in the Hype Report, an on-line magazine. It doesn’t pay well, but at least she has a job, a thought that occurs to her often. She shares an apartment with Autumn, a woman her age who is depressed, even suicidal at times. And she is close friends with Isabel, but lately she feels Isabel is hiding something from her. Gloria’s relationships with m
