news | Friday February 14, 2025

It's Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Talonites! To help you celebrate this day of love and grammatically questionable candy hearts, we’ve got some book recommendations that crank the affection up to eleven.

1. The World Afloat by M.A.C. Farrant is a perfect Valentine’s Day read! The winner of the 2014 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize, The World Afloat offers delicious bite-sized stories that ask the important questions, like what happens when a whimsical spirit becomes captive to a middle-aged body? At the end of a Love Your Package workshop, what does the wrap-up dinner look like? Can a soggy tomato salad really end someone’s marriage? Sexuality and depravity, childhood and bad parenting, and love and divorce are all deftly handled in this hot flash of a book that goes straight to the heart of things. Order a copy of The World Afloat here.

2. Wet, the latest collection by the current Writer-in-Residence at the University of the Fraser Valley Leanne Dunic, combines poetry, fairytale, and photography. Utterly engrossing, Wet follows a transient Chinese American model working in Singapore as she thirsts for the unattainable: fair labour rights, the extinguishing of nearby forest fires, breathable air, healthy habitats for animals, human connection. In photographs and language shot through with empathy and desire, Wet unravels complexities of social stratification, sexual privation, and environmental catastrophe. Pick up your copy here.

3. The Heart Laid Bare by Michel Tremblay and translated by Sheila Fischman is a thoroughly touching novel that is a capital “L”, capital “S” Love Story. Jean-Marc has fallen in love. The object of his affection is Mathieu, a young actor working as a salesman at Eaton’s while waiting for his big break. As a dowry to their new relationship, Mathieu brings Sébastien, his son. Jean-Marc, a fusty academic, is not sure about being able to make room in his life for this four-year-old boy. Their story is told with all the warmth and empathy that is so characteristic of Tremblay’s writing. Order a copy of The Heart Laid Bare here.

As a fun bonus, if you like your romantic novels with a little slice of history, an excerpt from The Heart Laid Bare was shared to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Parliament of Canada’s passing of Bill C150, which included the decriminalization of homosexuality. More on that here.

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at Talonbooks!