Crazy things happen on Halloween. Still, the last thing Kestrel expects is to inadvertently bring a large gargoyle statue to life. And the last thing she figures a statue-come-to-life will want is a one night stand. Damaris is strong, sexy, and remarkably persuasive. Who is she to say no? But Damaris is cursed, and Kestrel might be falling for a man she can only be with one night a year.

A Selection of the Scientific American, History, and BOMC2 Book Clubs“An in-depth look at the anatomy and history of feet reveals their often overlooked importance in human evolution, medicine and art." —Science News“Stylish, informative, entertaining, and pleasantly personal . . . Whether Rinzler is exploring how our feet explain or illuminate such topics as evolution, disability, racism, diet, or desire, she maintains a fascinating perspective on the peculiarities of being human." —Rain Taxi Review of Books“This neat little book draws a clear picture of our feet, providing understanding that extends far beyond the obvious. Readers often like to walk away from a book feeling they learned something—that the author left them with a new way to look at an old idea, and this book fulfills that need." —City Book Review“Rinzler lifts the lowly human foot to new heights...

The exciting sequel to Slam Dunk! Julian Pryce was once the star center of the Tornadoes. But when he joins a new team after his family moves, he suddenly finds himself the star benchwarmer. It turns out the Warriors already have a starting center, Paul Boyd, who has no intention of sharing the court with Julian. The coach is no help, either, for one simple reason: Paul is his son! Now Julian may have to take drastic measures if he's going to get back into the game. . . but is he to blame when Paul winds up in the hospital?

Missy Turner thinks of herself as the most ordinary woman in the world. She has a lot to be thankful for: a great kid, a loving husband, a job she enjoys and the security of living in the small town where she was born. Then one day everything gets turned upside down. She loses her job, catches her husband making out with the neighbor and is briefly taken hostage by a young man who robs the local café. With her world rapidly falling apart, Missy finds herself questioning the certainties she's lived with her whole life. Originally published in 2010, The Middle Ground was a 2011 Golden Oak Award Nominee and an early work from an award-winning author. This edition includes discussion questions at the back for reading and literacy groups.

The huge imposing castle and the barren terrain of Merkazad are a far cry from the modest farm and the emerald fields that horsewoman Iseult calls home. Or used to, until Sheikh Nadim bought her family's stud farm. As part of the deal, she must work at his royal stables....Nadim enrages Iseult...but he also inspires a more unwelcome, unfamiliar feeling: desire. Drawn into Nadim's sensual world, Iseult feels like a beautiful, confident woman for the first time.But she must remember the sheikh's cast-iron rule....

Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W. H. Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first in twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, among others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s new play is as much about the theater as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.**

In Cities of Refuge, Michael Helm’s keenly anticipated new novel, a single act of violence resonates through several lives, connecting closeby fears to distant political terrors. At the story’s centre is the complex, intensely charged relationship between a 28-year-old woman and the father who abandoned her when she was young. One summer night on a side street in downtown Toronto, Kim Lystrander is attacked by a stranger. Thrown deep into turmoil, in the weeks and months that follow, she confronts her fear by returning to the night, in writing, searching for harbingers of the incident, and clues to the identity of her assailant. The attack also torments Kim's father, Harold, an historian of Latin America. As he investigates the crime on his own, the darkest hours from his past revisit him, and he gradually begins to unravel. Entwined in their story are Kim’s ailing mother, Marian; Father André Rowe, whose mission to guide others involves him in a decision with troubling consequences; Rodrigo Cantero, a young Colombian man, living illegally in the city; and Rosemary Yates, a woman whose faith-based belief in the duty to give asylum to any who seek it, even those judged guilty, draws Harold to her, before a fateful choice changes the future for them all.*            *Cities of Refuge is a novel of profound moral tension and luminous prose. It weaves a web of incrimination and inquiry, where mysteries live within mysteries, and stories within stories, and the power to save or condemn rests in the forces of history, and in the realm of our deepest longings.From the Hardcover edition.Review"[A] stunning read..., gripping, thought-provoking, ultimately haunting.... Cities of Refuge may be the future of The Canadian Novel: intrinsically and internally varied, polyvalent, confident, contemporary and challenging. If this is the future, bring it on."— Edmonton Journal "Michael Helm has never quite gained the acclaim his accomplished work merits. His new novel ... might just change that."— Globe and Mail "[W]hat [Helm] shows in a remarkable display of multiple-perspective sympathy, is how, in a world where we’re all inter-connected as never before, guilt and innocence are all but impossible to apportion with finality.... Cities of Refuge establishes him as one of Canada’s most commanding writers." — Montreal Gazette "Smart, soulful writers usually get noticed in Canada. So it’s a bit mystifying that Michael Helm, despite some major short list appearances, hasn’t already achieved star status. Cities of Refuge should get him the attention he deserves...." — Now magazine"'Where is the Great Toronto Novel?'.... Hats off ... to Michael Helm for Cities of Refuge.... The novel's thematic breadth pushed Helm into the front ranks of Canadian novelists."— Quill and Quire "[A] powerful...novel.... What is best ... is Helm's patient evocation of his deeply wounded characters."— Globe and MailFrom the Hardcover edition.About the AuthorMichael Helm is the author of The Projectionist, a finalist for The Giller Prize, In the Place of Last Things, a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and a regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, and, most recently, Cities of Refuge. His writings on fiction, poetry, and photography have appeared in North American newspapers and magazines, including Brick, where he serves as editor. He teaches at York University, in Toronto.