Book picks similar to
Gods of Greektown by John Karrys


literature
canada
canadian-authors
contemporary

This Is Life


Shakara Cannon - 2012
    Sequel to This Can't Be Life

The Malice of Angels (Esme Quentin Mystery #3)


Wendy Percival - 2017
    Esme, wary of Max's motives, declines to get involved.Meanwhile, Esme’s friend Ruth, prompted by WW2 anniversaries, wants to solve the mystery of Vivienne, her mother Bea's sister, a wartime nurse who never came home. Despite Bea’s disapproval, Ruth is convinced the truth will finally help Bea come to terms with her loss and asks Esme to investigate.Esme unpicks the threads of Vivienne's past and stumbles upon a disturbing connection, linking the old soldier’s murder to her own distressing past and her late husband's fate. As events unravel, Esme realises that to uncover the secrets behind Vivienne’s story, she must also confront the terrifying truth behind her own.

Sundown at Sunrise: A Story of Love and Murder, Based on One of the Most Notorious Ax Murders in American History


Marty Seifert - 2016
    After a quick engagement and marriage, the couple produce four childrenand are joined by boarder Mary Snelling, who teaches at the country school across the road. This addictive story winds through many twists before ending in a deadly rampage that results in one of the most notorious ax murders in American history.

Annabel


Kathleen Winter - 2010
    In 1968, into the devastating, spare atmosphere of Labrador, Canada, a child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor fully girl, but both at once. Only three people are privy to the secret—the baby’s parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and their trusted neighbor and midwife, Thomasina. Though Treadway makes the difficult decision to raise the child as a boy named Wayne, the women continue to quietly nurture the boy’s female side. And as Wayne grows into adulthood within the hypermasculine hunting society of his father, his shadow-self, a girl he thinks of as “Annabel,” is never entirely extinguished. When Wayne finally escapes the confines of his hometown and settles in St. John’s, the anonymity of the city grants him the freedom to confront his dual identity. His ultimate choice will once again call into question the integrity and allegiance of those he loves most. Kathleen Winter has crafted a literary gem about the urge to unveil mysterious truth in a culture that shuns contradiction, and the body’s insistence on coming home. A daringly unusual debut full of unforgettable beauty, Annabel introduces a remarkable new voice to American readers.

Dead Souls MC Series: Books 1-5


Savannah Rylan - 2019
     Knox Prison is no joke. The food sucks, My roommate snores, And the only thing I have to look forward to is Monroe. My lawyer can look at my briefs anytime. She’s smart, beautiful, and the only way I’m getting out of this hellhole. I didn’t kill Blaze, but when you’re a Dead Soul MC member, no one cares about the truth. And maybe that’s for the best, Because no one can know about Canyon. Monroe is not just getting me out of jail, She’s also getting into my heart. Grave These lawyers can go screw themselves. If they think I’m going to let Everly go into witness protection, they've got another thing coming. They’re right that she is in danger, But I can keep her safe. So she will move in with me. At first, it seems simple, But as the lies unravel, I realize that Everly might be the only good thing in all of this. She’s pure, innocent and everything I’m not. But for her, I would change. Be the man she needs me to be. Forever. Brewer I thought kids were annoying. But after I meet, Ana, the MILF next doors daughter, I change my mind. She has the same sense of humor that I do. She’s a cool person, just on a smaller scale. And hanging out with her means more time with her mom. Makenna is easy on the eyes, But would be better on my bike. Getting close to me is a risk. But I would lay down my life for them. Take a bullet. Girls like battle scars, right? Rock She lied to me. The minute I see Gavin for the first time, I know he is mine. Piper told him his daddy was in jail. I should be angry with her. But with that stethoscope draped around her neck, I know she’s not as bad as I want her to be. She was just trying to protect him. From my life, my club, and the bastards that are trying to kill us. She has every reason to be worried, But no one will touch my son. Or my girl. She may have left before, But this time, I know she’ll stay. Because we both want the same thing. A family. Diesel No one tells me what to do. Except for maybe Dean, The President of the Black Hornets. I need their help in order to defeat the Black Saddles once and for all. But I know that their help is going to come at a cost. I don’t expect the price to be a pretty little thing, named Brynn. His daughter. That I thought was dead. Being in one MC is bad enough. But being a son in law to another MC’s president is going to be hell on earth. That is if she will agree to it. And so far, I can’t even get her to be in the same room with me. She’s feisty, and her good looks are no secret. I love a confident woman, But this one might be too hot to handle. I’m fire and she’s gasoline. Let’s light this sh*t up.

YOURS LEGALLY: a collection of short stories


Sonia Sahijwani - 2019
    

Natasha and Other Stories


David Bezmozgis - 2004
    Few readers had heard of David Bezmozgis before May 2003, when Harper's, Zoetrope, and The New Yorker all printed stories from his forthcoming collection. In the space of a few weeks, America thus met the Bermans--Bella and Roman and their son, Mark--Russian Jews who have fled the Riga of Brezhnev for Toronto, the city of their dreams.Told through Mark's eyes, the stories in Natasha possess a serious wit and uniquely Jewish perspective that recall the first published stories of Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth, not to mention the recent work of Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Adam Haslett.

Free Reign


Rosemary Aubert - 1997
    Now, he lives as a vagrant in the wilderness that runs through the heart of Toronto. One day, while working in his garden, he unearths a severed hand—a hand that wears a ring Ellis recognizes. Thirty years ago, on the day he became a lawyer, he and four of his companions had sealed a pact with just such a ring. Now Ellis begins a search for the victim’s identity, returning to world that had cast him out years ago—a world far more dangerous than the one he left behind...

A Band of Steel


Rosie Goodwin - 2011
    When Adina and her family are forced to flee Cologne to escape the vicious menace of German invasion in 1938, leaving their luxurious lifestyle is painful. Harder still is finding herself a refugee in a foreign country. But Adina is a compassionate and determined girl and as they settle into a new life in the Midlands she finds the strength to survive. However, her brother and sister aren't so lucky and their family ties are stretched to breaking point. And then Adina runs the risk of losing her family forever when she is drawn towards the one man she should never fall in love with...

The Water and the Wine


Tamar Hodes - 2018
    Leonard Cohen is at the start of his career and in love with Marianne, who is also muse to her ex-husband, Axel. Australian authors George Johnston and Charmian Clift write, drink and fight. It is a hedonistic time of love, sex and new ideas. As the island hums with excitement, Jack and Frieda Silver join the community, hoping to mend their broken marriage. However, Greece is overtaken by a military junta and the artistic idyll is threatened.

The Asylum


Debra Meller - 2020
    Her infant son, already dead, lies on her chest still clinging to his mother.On the morning that is Patty found, she is not expected to survive but is taken to hospital where she eventually recovers. But, severely emotionally disturbed, Patty soon finds herself a patient at Hillside Asylum. There, Patty’s condition deteriorates, and the staff and doctors perform unnecessary experimental procedures on their patient.But when someone from Patty’s past learns about her incarceration, they vow to get her out. And those responsible for the abuse will be made to suffer . . .

Away


Jane Urquhart - 1993
    The narrative unfolds with shimmering clarity, and takes us from the harsh northern Irish coast in the 1840s to the quarantine stations at Grosse Isle and the barely hospitable land of the Canadian Shield; from the flourishing town of Port Hope to the flooded streets of Montreal; from Ottawa at the time of Confederation to a large-windowed house at the edge of a Great Lake during the present day. Graceful and moving, Away unites the personal and the political as it explores the most private, often darkest corners of our emotions where the things that root us to ourselves endure. Powerful, intricate, lyrical, Away is an unforgettable novel.

Palace of Tears


Anna King - 1998
    If finding her mother Nellie in hospital after a savage beating from her husband wasn’t enough, Emily’s plight deepens when she yields to the advances of Tommy, a young soldier, and becomes pregnant with his child.Not for nothing is Victoria station nicknamed the ‘palace of tears’. As trainloads of men leave for the Western Front, and Emily says goodbye to Tommy, she is left contemplating the life of a single mother. Yet amidst the devastation, happiness still lies within her grasp… A classic saga of World War One, Palace of Tears is a perfect read for fans of Carol Rivers, Sally Warboyes, and Annie Murray.

George And Rue


George Elliott Clarke - 2004
    Brothers George and Rufus Hamilton, in a robbery gone wrong, drunkenly bludgeoned a taxi driver to death with a hammer. It was 1949, and the two siblings, part Mi'kmaq and part African, were both hanged for the killing. Those facts are also skeletons in George Elliott Clarke's family closet. Both repelled and intrigued by his ancestral cousins' deeds, which he only learned about from his mother shortly before her death, Clarke set out to discover just what kind of forces would reduce men to crime, violence and, ultimately, murder. His findings took shape in the 2001 Governor General's Awardwinning Execution Poems and culminates brilliantly in George and Rue. The novel shifts seamlessly back into the killers' pasts, recounting a bleak and sometimes comic tale of victims of violence who became killers, a black community too poor and too shamed to assist its downtrodden members, and a white community bent on condemning all blacks as dangerous outsiders. George and Rue is a book about a death that brims with fierce vitality and dark humour.Infused with the sensual, rhythmic beauty that defines Clarke's writing, it is a remarkable literary debut.

The Story of Bobby O'Malley


Wayne Johnston - 1985
    His memories cluster around the houses they lived in, the schools he went to, the uncles and aunts and cousins he knew as a boy. This is an extremely funny book and the account of how Ted O'Malley repaired the plumbing is likely to become a classic of its kind. It is also a warm and touching book. As a picture of its time, it is clear, true and absolutely unforgettable