Western News welcomes summer with seven reads from the Western community to take you from the solstice to the sunny days of September.
Kelley Armstrong, BA’91
In this new young adult thriller by bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, 17-year-old Liliana discovers she’s an heiress to a billion-dollar corporation. Sent off to an elite boarding school, she’s soon navigating secret societies — and a deadly competition.
“Readers will be swept along with this engaging, over-the-top account of a school that’s filled with a diverse group of glittering teens. A suspenseful thriller that’s elevated by a fresh romance storyline.” –Kirkus Reviews
Emily Austin, BA’11, MLS’13
Described by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Haywood as the “queen of darkly quirky, endearingly flawed heroines,” masters of library science graduate Emily Austin delivers another in her latest release. Is This a Cry for Help follows the life of Darcy, a librarian confronting her past — and a posse of book-banners.
“A well-paced, humorous, and introspective narrative that shifts between past and present, Is This a Cry for Help? captures Darcy’s journey from dependency to individualism. It ends with a quiet sense of moral ambiguity, aided by verse from Rumi: ‘Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”-Literary Review of Canada
Last year, Austin’s Interesting Facts About Space was longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
Cody Groat, professor, department of history and the Indigenous studies program, Faculty of Social Science
For over a century, even as they were denied the right to recognize or practise their cultures, Indigenous Peoples have challenged the often narrow and one-sided interpretations found in museums and historic sites. In Always a Part of the Land Cody Groat explores how cultivating this nationalist narrative has shaped Canada’s federal relationship with Indigenous Peoples, calling for a critical reinterpretation of how we think about the past.
“Cody Groat brilliantly reveals the changing politics – and colonial outcomes – of a national practice of historical commemoration that has consistently marginalized and excluded First Nations. Rich with exceptional scholarship, Indigenous perspectives and powerful writing, Always a Part of the Land is a revelatory touchstone.” -Philip Deloria, Harvard University
Téa Mutonji, Writer-in-Residence, 2023-24
In her debut novel My Person, Téa Mutonji tells the story of two lifelong friends who suddenly find themselves in an emotional deadlock when one abruptly proposes to break up after years of subtle betrayals. In a recent interview with People magazine, Mutonji said, “I still don’t think there is a romance greater than the friendship between two girls who become women together,” adding, “Whenever I tell someone I’m working on a book about a friendship break-up they immediately share their own story of letting go, wanting to let go or thinking of letting go.”
“Mutonji delivers an unflinching portrait of female friendship in all its ferocity and tenderness, tracing the bond between two young women whose relationship is as sustaining as it is suffocating, as loving as it is destructive. Visceral and impossible to shake, My Person announces an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.” -Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Golden Summer
Mutonji’s poetry collection Shut Up You’re Pretty won the 2020 Edmund White Award and was shortlisted for the 2019 Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.
Adrian Owen, professor, departments of physiology & pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
From the ever-rising rate of ADHD diagnoses to the life-changing challenges of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to everyday brain fog, the “deficits” of executive function are everywhere.
In Think Before You Think, internationally renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen draws on decades of groundbreaking research to show how the underlying systems that orchestrate executive function interact, why they sometimes fail and what that tells us about the everyday business of being human. Owen presents the six core components of executive function and the tools to help sharpen it, while dispelling many common brain myths.
“From jewelry heists to the nature of free will, Adrian Owen’s exploration of our cognitive powers is both a gripping story and a masterful summary of his pioneering research into the inner workings of our minds and brains. An insightful and rewarding read.” –Anil Seth, best-selling author of Being You
Blair Trewartha, BEd’11, learning specialist, Western human resources
In his second full-length poetry collection, Half-Earth, Blair Trewartha considers what it means to survive in a world beset by climate crisis and the ever-distorting realities of digitized human life. Through dreamlike narratives and scenes of deep history that connect to both family and illness, he wrestles with how to raise young children through a pandemic and the advent of AI.
In a recent interview with the London Free Press, Trewartha said that although the book’s theme focuses on the future his children will inherit, he remains hopeful.
“There’s a lot of faith in the younger generation, even my own kids. You worry about social media, about how flooded they are with technology and with AI. But I also see kids, if you put them out in a yard, or you go out in a field, or you go camping – they’re thrilled, and they don’t care about screens.” -Blair Trewartha
Trewartha’s debut poetry collection Easy Fix was shortlisted for the Relit Award.
John Van Rys, BA’84, MA’85
Recently retired professor John Van Rys takes readers down the road to Huron County, Ont., and back in time to 1979, in his debut novel Milksop. The coming-of-age story follows Evan Mulder, from being a math-loving 17-year-old to a high school dropout to being dumped on a farm north of London, Ont. for some “work therapy.” Will country living and demanding work transform Evan from an indecisive, cowardly milksop—or show him there are worse things to be? And will the mystery of why he self-destructed at school be solved?
“Who’d have thought there could be a fresh take on the age-old tale of growing up, of finding oneself, of growing into oneself, of falling in love? John Van Rys is a bold, honest and eloquent new voice in Canadian letters. We should welcome and celebrate his arrival.” -Joe Kertes, author and founder of the Humber College creative writing and comedy programs
A Deadly Inheritance
My Person 
Think Before You Think
Half-Earth
Milksop
