oxford reads

Book 1: Jameela Green Ruins Everything by Zarqa Nawaz
This is a hilarious satire about a disillusioned American Muslim woman who becomes embroiled in a plot to infiltrate an international terrorist organization and, in the process, reconnects with her loved ones and her faith. A hilarious black comedy about the price of success, and a biting look at what has gone wrong with American foreign policy in the Middle East, Jameela Green Ruins Everything is a compulsively readable, yet unexpectedly touching story of one woman’s search for meaning and connection

About the Author: 
Zarqa Nawaz is a Canadian film and television producer, public speaker, journalist, and former broadcaster. She is the author of the memoir Laughing All the Way to the Mosque, which was shortlisted for the Leacock Medal for Humour, the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and two Saskatchewan Book Awards. She also created the hit CBC comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, the world’s first sitcom about a Muslim community living in the West, and is the creator and star of the forthcoming series Zarqa. Zarqa lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Place your hold at OCL Place your hold at WPL

Book 2: Forgotten Home Child by Genevieve Graham
The Home for Unwanted Girls meets Orphan Train in this unforgettable novel about ayoung girl caught in a scheme to rid England’s streets of destitute children, and the lengths she will go to find her way home—based on the true story of the British Home Children. Inspired by true events, The Forgotten Home Child is a moving and heartbreaking novel about place, belonging, and family—the one we make for ourselves and its enduring power to draw us home.

About the Author: Genevieve Graham is the USA TODAY and #1 bestselling author of Promises to Keep, Come from Away, At the Mountain’s Edge and Bluebird. She is passionate about breathing life back into Canadian history through tales of love and adventure. She lives near Edmonton, Alberta.

Place your hold at OCL Place your hold at WPL

Book 3: Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
In this haunting and groundbreaking historical novel, Danielle Daniel imagines the lives of women in the Algonquin territories of the 1600s, a story inspired by her family’s ancestral link to a young girl who was murdered by French settlers. Daughters of the Deer reaches back through the centuries to touch the very origin of the long history of violence against Indigenous women and the deliberate, equally violent disruption of First Nations cultures.

About the Author: Danielle Daniel is a writer, an award-winning children's book author and an illustrator. Like many Francophones with origins in Quebec, she shares an ancestral link to the people who inspired Daughters of the Deer. Her picture books include Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox (winner of the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and a Best 100 title at the New York Public Library) and You Hold Me Up, shortlisted for the 2018 Marilyn Baillie Award, among other honours. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and lives in the traditional territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek (Sudbury, Ontario).

Place your hold at OCL Place your hold at WPL

Book 4: Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush—part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, northern lights, and boreal forest. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.

About the Author:Kate Beaton was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. After graduating from Mount Allison University with a double degree in History and Anthropology, she moved to Alberta in search of work that would allow her to pay down her student loans. During the years she spent out West, Beaton began creating webcomics under the name Hark! A Vagrant , quickly drawing a substantial following around the world. She has also published several picture books. Kate Beaton currently lives in Cape Breton with her family.

Place your hold at OCL Place your hold at WPL

Book 5 - Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin 
In this debut novel, a morbidly anxious young woman stumbles into a job as a receptionist at a Catholic church and soon finds herself obsessed with her predecessor’s mysterious death. A delightful blend of warmth, deadpan humour, and pitch-perfect observations about the human condition, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is a crackling exploration of what it takes to stay afloat in a world where your expiration — and the expiration of those you love — is the only certainty. This novel was long listed for The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award, and a finalist for the Ottawa Book Awards.

About the Author:
Emily was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. She studied English Literature and Religious Studies at King's University College, and Library and Information Science at Western University. She received two writing grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, and has a background in libraries, teaching, and working as an information architect. She currently resides in Ottawa / the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.

Place your hold at OCL Place your hold at WPL