ORB February 2026 Issue
After a well-deserved winter break, we are back with our Valentine issue, which ironically does not feature even a wisp of romance. Not to worry, the issue does line up some excellent insights into six books of recent Canadian fiction by Natalie Southworth, Ann Cavlovic, Beverley McLachlin, Finnian Burnett, Drew Hayden Taylor and Su Chang, all good reading to help you wind down after the wine, chocolates and flowers. We hope you enjoy this first issue of 2026.
There’s Always More to Say by Natalie Southworth
Reviewed by Timothy Niedermann In this, author Natalie Southworth’s first short-story collection, three stories frame the other six: the first, “There’s Always More to Say,” the fifth, “The Bottom Line,” and the ninth and last, “Inheritance.” Each is narrated by Cora, the younger of two daughters in a family of four. The stories take place at different times during the girls’ lives—pre-teen, teen, and adult—as the family tries to cope with the mother’s mental issues and their
Count On Me by Ann Cavlovic
Reviewed by Wayne Ng Ann Cavlovic’s debut novel Count On Me is about caregiving, but more pointedly, it is about family power—who gets access, who controls the narrative, and who bears the emotional cost when care becomes contested terrain. Set in Ottawa, the book follows Zoe as she cares first for her young daughter, then for her dying father, and finally for her mother, Vera, whose later years are shaped by haunting memories, isolation, manipulation, and what the book name
Proof by Beverley McLachlin
Reviewed by Gail M. Murray Author Beverly McLachlin, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, continues to fight for justice in her latest novel Proof . Jilly Truitt is a rising young attorney in McLachlin’s bold debut novel , Full Disclosure , a top criminal defence lawyer embroiled in a high stakes murder trial in Denial . In Proof, Jilly is now a widow and new mother emerging from maternity leave on the insistence of crown prosecutor Cy Kenge—her one-time men
Redshirts Sometimes Survive by Finnian Burnett
Reviewed by Robert Runté Finnian Burnett is one of those writers who explodes on the scene apparently overnight. A prominent figure in the Canada Writes online community, Burnett is suddenly a keynote speaker at writers’ conferences, a writer in residence, a workshop leader, and well, seemingly everywhere. Of course, like every overnight success, there is, in fact, a long backstory as a writer, in this case, as a practitioner of, and advocate for, flash fiction. Having attend
Cold by Drew Hayden Taylor
Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin Cold is a brilliant example of Indigenous literary fiction. A powerful storyteller, award-winning playwright, columnist, filmmaker, and lecturer, Drew Hayden Taylor infuses this mythical mystery with nuggets of knowledge, literary allusions, and humour (black and otherwise). He began his career as a standup comic. A handful of diverse characters, unknown to each other, combine to track and kill an unbelievable enemy that touches all their lives in C
The Immortal Woman, by Su Chang
Reviewed by Ann Cavlovic The Immortal Woman is an ambitious and richly rendered debut novel, in which a visceral depiction of intergenerational trauma is connected to the fascinating, complex, and at times brutal history of China and the Chinese diaspora experience. The story follows four generations of women, but the alternating narratives of the middle mother-daughter pair is the focus. The mother, Lemei, feisty and clear-eyed, is forced into being a student Red Guard Lead
ORB Christmas Issue 2025
Season's greetings to all our readers! We hope you will enjoy some quiet time amid the festivities and perhaps pick up a good book to read. And there is still time to purchase some good reads for your loved ones. In our Christmas issue, we recommend three books that would make great gifts: The Grand Tour of Park Ex by Andreas Kessaris; The Whisperings by Joel A. Sutherland; and How About This...? by Michael Mirolla. If those don't meet your TBR criteria, simply scroll back
The Grand Tour of Park Ex by Andreas Kessaris
Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw The Grand Tour of Park Ex is the sequel to Andreas Kessaris’ debut collection of short fiction, The Butcher of Park Ex . Both books are set in the colourful, working-class, revolving-door immigrant neighbourhood of Park Extension in Montreal, where Kessaris grew up. In our Ottawa Review of Books review of the first collection, we noted that it had “a nice twist revealing the narrator’s personality in bite-size doses.” The same observation applies
The Whisperings by Joel A. Sutherland
Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin Reader Beware: This fast-paced Young Adult novel contains several graphic, disturbing scenes of indescribable gore and violence. Actually, I shouldn’t say “indescribable” because it’s Sutherland’s sensory play-by-plays that push it over the edge into the HORROR realm, giving Stephen King a run for his money. Quill & Quire’s called him Canada’s answer to R.L. Stine. If the macabre is not to your taste you might want to give it a pass, but if you’re int
