BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Anzel, a widow in her sixties, lives quietly on her small farm with her grandfather, a Carrier elder from Northern BC. Grandpère and Anzel pass the time playing fierce cribbage games, cutting firewood and tending the vegetable garden. As the days pass Grandpère tells his life story, sharing heart-breaking memories: the death of his family in a devastating epidemic, his son's murder at the hands of a horse thief, and his battle and eventual triumph over alcohol. When their extended family visits on holidays and weekends, Grandpère, with the tenderness of an elder, tells the children of the Carrier traditions and values. Their days together are happy and simple, and when Anzel meets Jim, a caretaker at the local pensioner's home, life seems complete again. But one day a taxi arrives from town. Its passenger is Angel, a frightened thirteen-year-old stranger who claims to be Anzel's granddaughter. Her father, she says, was Anzel's youngest son Ben, who was killed in a car crash 14 years prior. Angel's mother, alone and pregnant with Ben's child, ran away to the city to raise the child far from the disapproving eyes of her family. But after years of poverty and loneliness, she succumbed to the streets of Vancouver. Angel, neglected and abused at the hands of her mother's new boyfriend, follows the trail to her father's family. When Anzel takes in this unknown granddaughter, she and her family must act quickly to protect her. Romain's first novel, Grandpère is a tender story of determination, loss, and family love.
Janet Romain is Metis Canadian. She was born in Vancouver, BC but has lived most of her life in Northern BC. She worked in a variety of jobs from short-order cook to lumber grader, but eventually bought land where she and her husband built a cattle ranch. She has three grown children and currently lives with her husband near Ft. Fraser, BC.
"Grandpère is a marvel to read and woven with such beauty and tenderness. Romain’s writing is a tribute to the power of family, love’s blessings and time’s healing ways. I never wanted it to end ... An instant classic."
—Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed and The Moon of Letting Go