Book cover of In the Upper Country

Book description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD COSMOPOLITAN'S 10 BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS OF 2023

'Fresh and propulsive . . . a testament to the power of story and a veneration of those whose tales are often forgotten'…

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Why read it?

1 author picked In the Upper Country as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

How could I not love a book where stories are found within stories? There’s a mystery here, too, one which I didn’t guess until the end of the book.

The old woman is a mystery herself. At first, she seems incomprehensible, her actions arbitrary. Then, I started to warm up to her, wishing her freedom against the odds. Here’s the forgotten history of a bond between Black and Indigenous people under colonial rule. The writing is powerful. The stories are powerful.  

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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