news | Thursday March 12, 2026

Two Talon Titles for Readers Who Want to Read About Bygone Times

Wonderful to see two Talonbooks titles among Read Local BC’s suggested titles to check out if you love a book set in the past. The first is A Great Consolation by Michel Tremblay and translated by Linda Gaboriau, the final book in the Desrosiers Diaspora series. Comprised of the final two books of the epic family saga – Survive! Survive! and Crossing the Gulf of Misfortune –, this spellbinding book takes us to the crowded apartments and gay bars of Montréal in 1935 and carries us through to the early days of WW II in 1941.

The second title is the forthcoming alternate history of the eighteenth century Sailors Can’t Swim by Donminique Scali, translated by Jessica Moore. Set on the fictional island of Ys in the Atlantic ocean, orphan Danaé Poussin has the rare ability to swim, an extraordinary talent in a society where safety exists for the wealthy behind the city’s high walls and the poorer shore-dwellers below are exposed to the sea and must rebuild their ruined homes after each great tide. Danaé flows between shore, city, and open sea, she navigates the rocky possibilities for women – from salter to thief to aristocrat to sailor’s wife – learning to steer through the sexist and classist indignities of the calm before revolution.

Read about all of Read Local BC’s recommended books for those keen to be immersed in bygone times here.