8 B.C. books to get you through the summer

Ah, summer is here, at long last. 

Whether you're headed to the beach, into the woods or staying cool at home, summer is the perfect time to immerse yourself in a good book. 

And while Canadians are coming together to support local businesses, why not take that approach with your book selection? 

There is no shortage of great local literature from brilliant B.C. writers.

There are classics, like M. Wylie Blanchet's The Curve of Time, and award-winners, like Michelle Good's Five Little Indians. And great new reads are always hitting the shelves of bookstores and libraries.

CBC has put together a list of some recently-published titles, mostly by B.C. authors and in many cases about B.C. locations, to inspire your summer reading list.

She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

Vancouver-based author Meredith Hambrock's She's a Lamb! chronicles the story of a musical theatre worker who aims to be a star — partially based on Hambrock's own experience as a theatre usher in Vancouver.

The writer said she was "beseeched by this fear" that she would never accomplish what she was hoping for as a writer. 

"It was sort of a horrifying thought for me," she said. 

Hambrock writes from the perspective of Jessamyn St. Germain, who's hired as the childminder for the children in a production of The Sound of Music, but believes she's destined to play Maria. She descends into the mind of someone who's blinded by ambition, desperate to be seen and willing to do anything to make it happen. 

Bones of a Giant by Brian Thomas Isaac

It's the summer of 1968 and 16-year-old Lewis Toma is spending the summer with his cousins while his mom picks fruit in the United States.

That's where we begin in Syilx writer Brian Thomas Isaac's new book, Bones of a Giant, the follow-up to his award-winning debut novel, All the Quiet Places.

The first novel focused on Lewis's brother, Eddie. While Bones of a Giant has a much more serious, dark tone, it was a little more fun to write, Isaac said. In fact, he said it mirrors his own life. 

Isaac is grateful for becoming a published author in his 70s. 

"Writing ... has just changed my whole life. I'd rather be doing that than anything."

Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley

Read this one soon — a film adaptation is already in the works, and isn't it always better to read the book first?

Holly Brickley's debut novel begins in the year 2000, when boy bands and pop princesses reign supreme, while music lovers thumb through CD binders looking for their favourite album.

"It was really fun to go back to that time," Brickley said. 

When two music lovers cross paths, a romance begins. A romance between two people, of course, but also with music. 

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

For those looking to get lost in a thriller this summer, Liann Zhang's Julie Chan is Dead has it all: a long lost twin, an island retreat and a murder. 

Julie Chan is a supermarket cashier. Her twin sister is a popular influencer. But, she's dead. Julie assumes her sister's identity, only to find out how difficult that life could be.

She goes on a week-long retreat with a group of influencers, where Julie learns what might have happened to her sister, and that she might be next. 

Zhang said she focused on themes of race and class, what happens to two people who are so similar but are raised in different circumstances, and online identity.

"I just hope people look at influencers in a different way and acknowledge that these people that act like our friends are really, completed fabricated identities, usually," she said. "I would also hope that [readers] feel entertained enough to flip another page instead of picking up their phone."

The Riveter by Jack Wang

Jack Wang's latest work delves into the complexities of love and war, while simultaneously exploring his own keen interest in the contributions of Chinese Canadians during the Second World War.

In The Riveter, Josiah Chang leaves his work as a tree faller in B.C.'s Cariboo region for the big city, with plans to serve his country in the war. But when that doesn't work out, he finds a job as a riveter, building ships to support wartime efforts. That's when he meets Poppy, with whom he falls deeply in love. 

A complicated love, that is.

"I was interested in a woman who was perhaps not so interested in waiting around for a man to come home from war, and a woman who valued her own needs and desires and how might that complicate a relationship," Wang said. 

Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous by Christine Stringer

Fans of Sophie Kinsella will surely get a laugh from Christine Stringer's debut novel; loosely based on her own experience as an assistant at MGM, Stringer's Charity Trickett feels like she's about to get her big break when she suddenly becomes the subject of an FBI investigation. 

While Stringer loves Hollywood and was happy to write a novel set there, she was adamant about making sure her hometown of Vancouver was represented. 

"The Vancouver film industry is so vibrant. It's so alive. Our filmmakers are beautiful filmmakers. We have awesome actors here. We have the best techs ever. Like we just have such a beautiful, thriving industry of film in Vancouver," she said. 

And if you love Charity Trickett is Not So Glamorous, good news: there are two more Charity Trickett books on the way. 

The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe

In the fifth novel of the Wakeland series, private investigator Dave Wakeland is drawn into a volatile case involving a single mother accused of murder, the notorious Exiles biker gang and a mystery witness. 

Author Sam Wiebe wasn't sure he'd write another Wakeland novel, but fans all but demanded it. Now, he said he's happy to be writing about a city he knows well — the good and the bad. 

"I love the idea that I can show Vancouver the way that I see it, not the way a tourist would write about it — the way somebody who grew up here sees it," Wiebe said. 

"I think over the last few years, obviously development has just shot up, and a lot of things have been lost. It's very hard to live here and it always has been. But the fentanyl crisis and with COVID, and some of the anti-Asian racism that came out of that, there's a lot of darkness that I didn't quite anticipate. So I wanted to sort of capture that too."

Finding Flora by Elinor Florence

Invermere's Elinor Florence has drawn a little inspiration from B.C.'s eastern neighbour for her latest offering, Finding Flora, about a Scottish newcomer in 1905 who jumps from a moving train to escape her abusive husband, and sets down roots on what eventually becomes the Alberta prairie.

She finds friendship with the her five neighbours, all women of different backgrounds. Together, they deal with life's challenges.

Florence said her characters are fictional, but the things that happen are accurate for the time. 

"I think people will learn a lot about Alberta history through this novel," she said.