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."
In Return from Africa, Francine d'Amour explores the parallel worlds of interior and exterior travel. Charlotte and Julien, a middle-class Quebecois couple, plan an extended trip to Egypt. After an argument, Charlotte tears up her ticket and refuses to go. Julien calls her bluff and leaves anyway, while Charlotte - too ashamed to remain among her friends - awaits his return in a rented bungalow on the outskirts of Montreal. In a long, rambling monologue to her departed lover, she imagines Julien's progress through the Middle East, recalls previous trips they have made together and examines not only their complex relationship but also the foundation of her own need for perpetual motion.
Return from Africa is a penetrating look at our contemporary compulsion for isolation and alienation. It is also a brilliant depiction of one woman's agonized descent into the inferno of self-imposed exile.
"Mature and playful."
"Francine d’Amour displays great mastery in her writing in this book."
"...brilliantly translated by Wayne Grady."
"The characters she creates here, despite the absurdity of their circumstances, are emotionally complex and entirely believable. They also have the type of intellectual lives rarely encountered in English Canadian fiction. These people can quote poetry or reference Egyptian mythology or talk Afghani politics without ever seeming elitist or effete. They are fully engaged with the world socially, politically, and intellectually in a way that seems normal and natural. How refreshing."