Dundurn Press

After years working in homicide, retired Toronto detective Steve Ryan reflects on six cases he will never forget.

Retired detective Steve Ryan worked in Toronto’s homicide squad for over a decade. For Ryan, the stories of Toronto’s most infamous crimes were more than just a headline read over morning coffee — they were his everyday life.

After investigating over one hundred homicides, Ryan can never forget the tragedies and the victims, even after his retirement from the police force. In The Ghosts That Haunt Me, he reflects on six of the many cases that greatly impacted him — seven people whose lives were senselessly taken — and that he still thinks about nearly every day. While the stories are hard to tell for Ryan, they were harder to live through. Yet somewhere between the crimes and the heartache is a glimmer of hope that good eventually does prevail and that healing can come after grief.

Although many adults believe they have had encounters with strange creatures from alien spaceships, not everyone has actually reported their experiences to official investigators. But if you're a young person it's even less likely that people will believe you and more likely that your story will never be officially recorded. After all, who would believe a kid?

I Saw It Too! is the first collection of stories told by children, documenting what they saw and when they saw it. These accounts are real cases of UFOs they've seen or alien creatures they've encountered that were reported to government or military officials, UFO investigators, and journalists.

Inside you will find eighteen of these strange, fascinating, and believable tales recounted by young people from around the world with story illustrations by Stacey Archer with Lonigan Gilbert. The truth is really out there, and renowned ufologist Chris Rutkowski has tracked it down!

• make local government work
• find the money to fix what’s broken
• solve the housing crisis
• unclog our streets and transit
• confront the climate emergency
• navigate the rise of big tech
• foster social solidarity
• and design spaces that bring people together.

A debut novel reflecting the anxiety and dynamism of the gay community as it was on the point of extinction.

Beginning with a one-night stand in Paris in 1985, an unnamed narrator embarks on a physical and spiritual sojourn over four decades, from Montreal to Maussane, from Himachal Pradesh to Holland, and from the train stations of a divided Europe to Istanbul and the deserts of Iran with a cast of exiles, fugitives, and rebels. At once an epic journey through time and a love story to his chosen family, this haunting, lyrical novel in five parts explores questions of grief, statelessness, and memory, and is a meditation on survival in the age of AIDS.

A RARE MACHINES BOOK

• Can white men jump now?
• Have three-pointers become the new layup?
• Should traditional ten-foot rims be raised?
• Who is the G.O.A.T?
• Do “free” throws carry a cost?
• Is the WNBA the next big thing?
• Are hip hop and hoops kissing cousins?

Pierre Elliott Trudeau takes on the Quebec Question with a bang, not a whimper.

In Max and Monique Nemni’s third and final volume of their Pierre Elliott Trudeau biography, the man who would be statesman is granted his life’s wish. In his fifteen years as prime minister of Canada, Trudeau oversaw the controversial White Paper of 1969 on Indigenous policy, the fateful October Crisis of 1970, and the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution together with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In retirement, he exercised immense influence over Canada’s later constitutional politics and was principally responsible for defeating both the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords during the government of Brian Mulroney.

Loved and hated in almost equal measure, Trudeau was an iconoclast, shaking up Canada’s two solitudes as no other prime minister has ever dared to do. In this meticulously researched and argued political biography, Pierre Trudeau is seen wrestling with the most difficult — and momentous — decisions of his career.

A teenage boy’s curious road trip across a radically changing country.

In the year 1967, fifteen-year-old Robin drives an antique pickup truck west from Saskatchewan, travelling on farmland and on unmapped roads to avoid police. Like Odysseus striving toward home, he encounters trying situations: men on the run, hippies creating utopia, marijuana farmers, mechanical breakdowns, a raging forest fire. Robin passes through a massively changing society — a rural culture that, though eroding, hangs on to values of kindness and endurance, and one in which Robin must be both heroic and vulnerable.

A RARE MACHINES BOOK

How deep does corporate dominance go in Canada? The second book in Nora Loreto’s landmark series dives into the corporate web spun around Canada’s economy, society, and politics.

The joke goes that Canada is three mining companies in a trench coat. Or three oil companies in a trench coat. Or three telecom companies in a trench coat. It’s funny because it’s almost true: a handful of corporations exert a disproportionate amount of power over Canadian democracy.

Corporate profits are at a record high, and the divide between the rich and the poor has never been wider. Canadians are struggling with affordability, the housing crisis, and wages that don’t cover basic needs. The combination of these forces is a pressure cooker that politicians have promised to tackle, except they can’t: they are too restricted by corporate power to confront the roots of the problems Canadians face.

The first book in the Canada in Decline series examines the rise and fall of Canada’s social safety net. In this next volume, Loreto goes further, identifying why Canadian politicians seem impotent in the face of corporate Canada.

• feel the hot breath of a polar bear
• sail in the Galápagos of the North
• backcountry horseback ride in the Rockies
• hike the East Coast and West Coast Trails
• ice canoe across the St. Lawrence River
• taste the world’s most memorable cocktail
• cruise across the Northwest Passage
• float in Canada’s very own Dead Sea
• and much more …

• Timely topic: As wildfires become a seasonal threat, this book celebrates the technology and the people involved in aerial firefighting and gives insight into the dangers and heroism involved
• Showcases people and the airplanes that have revolutionized wildfire fighting, giving an accessible history of the evolution of our ability to fight wildfires
• Author is Canada's foremost aviation history author, and has a deep knowledge of the world of airplanes

Consider this: every individual and business tells a story to the world, and that story is their brand. It’s alive, constantly developing, experienced in real time by everyone around it. Now ask yourself, Are you consciously shaping and broadcasting that brand story? Is it under your diligent care and control, or is it running amok, causing chaos everywhere it goes? Or, perhaps even more tragic, is its sitting in a corner sulking, wondering why no one notices it?

BrandJitsu™ is a practical and effective way to strengthen your living brand, like a muscle, so that it tells the story you want it to tell — a meaningful and memorable tale that will not just attract the attention of your ideal customers but also the best employees, partners, and suppliers.

Mastering BrandJitsu™ won’t take years. It’s a skill that can be quickly learned, understood, and applied as soon as you finish reading this book. It teaches you to sharpen your focus, strategically align your brand’s DNA, and ensure your story is not just heard but felt, leaving a lasting impression on everyone it touches.

The shocking crimes of a trusted teacher wrought lasting damage on Inuit communities in Canada’s Arctic.

In the 1970s, a young schoolteacher from British Columbia was becoming the darling of the Northwest Territories education department with his dynamic teaching style. He was learning to speak the local language, Inuktitut, something few outsiders did. He also claimed to be Indigenous — a claim that would later prove to be false. In truth, Edward Horne was a pedophile who sexually abused his male students.

From 1971 to 1985 his predations on Inuit boys would disrupt life in the communities where he worked — towns of close-knit families that would suffer the intergenerational trauma created by his abuse.

Journalist Kathleen Lippa, after years of research, examines the devastating impact the crimes had on individuals, families, and entire communities. Her compelling work lifts the veil of silence surrounding the Horne story once and for all.

The remarkable story of how one ship — doomed by war — intersected lives and crossed into history.

Completed in 1913 for Canadian Pacific, the Empress of Asia plied the oceans for nearly 30 years. Built for long-haul ocean travel during peace-time, she saw wartime service as an armed merchant cruiser and troopship before Japanese dive-bombers destroyed her in 1942.

Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression, she brought continents and people together, delivering mail and multimillion-dollar consignments of silk. As a luxurious passenger liner, she was a “Greyhound of the Pacific,” braving epic storms and smashing transpacific speed records. From stokehold to bridge, steerage to first-class staterooms, she steamed with a kaleidoscope of lives, including courageous and recalcitrant crew, immigrants and refugees seeking a better life or relief from disaster, drug smugglers, weapons dealers, and the idle and not-so-idle rich.

This is the dramatic story of how that one ship and the lives of those on board intersected during a tumultuous period of world history, culminating in her sinking off Singapore in the Second World War.

A provocative and revealing look at the scandals and corruption behind the Sweet Science’s greatest fights.

Controversy is the one constant running throughout modern boxing’s history since its inception in England during the seventeenth century. Boxing’s Greatest Controversies takes an incisive look at some of the highest profile fights in history — from the infamous and racially charged Jack Johnson vs. Tommy Burns fight in 1908 to the shocking Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield fight in 1997 — laying to rest many of the popular rumours surrounding them while also considering the social, cultural, political, and sporting impacts of these fights on the world stage. Did the eras shape the fights or did the fights shape the eras? Boxing history is vibrant and continuous and its controversies never end — they just get passed down to the next generation of fight fans. These prized bouts are among the most enduring and notorious fights boxing has ever produced.

• The police procedural series is perfect for fans of Louise Penny or Tana French
• Author is a former psychologist who brings a deep knowledge of human motivation to her characters that makes for riveting, character-driven classic police procedurals light on violence and high on emotional depth

Praise for Shipwrecked Souls:

“Two families with ancient wartime secrets collide in this riveting return of the beloved Inspector Green... A beautifully told story.” — Iona Whishaw, bestselling author of the Lane Winslow Mysteries

Does the past define who we are, who we become?

In April 1942, Suzanne’s mother was an eight-month-old baby when her family was torn from their home in Victoria, British Columbia. Arriving at Vancouver’s Hastings Park, they bunked in horse stalls for months before being removed to an incarceration camp in the Slocan Valley. After the Second World War, forced resettlement scattered Japanese families across Canada, leading to high intermarriage rates and an erosion of ethnicity. Loss of heritage language impeded the sharing of stories, contributing to strained generational relationships and a conflict between Eastern and Western values.

This hybrid memoir and fourth-generation narrative of the Japanese Canadian experience celebrates family, places, and traditions. Steeped in history and cultural arts, it includes portraits of family and community members — people who, in rebuilding their lives, made lasting contributions to the Toronto landscape and triumphed over adversity.

“Coren tells us the stories of his fascinating life with clarity, self-deprecating wit, and page-turning verve.” — STEPHEN FRY



From England’s working class to high profile media personality, Michael Coren charts his encounters with people of faith, fame, and fortune.

Growing up in a blue-collar mixed-religion family then entering a career in media, Michael Coren was, and in some ways still is, the consummate outsider. In Heaping Coals, he writes of his life leading up to entering the seminary, being ordained, and his early successes as a journalist, encountering Oscar-winning writers and celebrities.

After marrying and settling in Canada, Coren became a darling of the Christian right with his TV and radio shows and syndicated column. His shift to more progressive Christianity and politics embodies Romans 12:20 — heaping coals onto the heads of one’s enemies — and charts the returning of good for evil through a process of self-reflection.

From outsider to institutional mainstay to penitent, Coren shares not just a humble admission of fault but an articulate and convincing account of one man’s spiritual awakening.

The entrepreneur Time magazine called “the Bad Boy of banking” is back with crucial insights about the importance of business culture in a dizzyingly complex global marketplace.

In business, breaking rules is easy. What’s really hard is what comes next: building the right company culture — the lifeblood of effective leadership. In a complex, 24-7 globalized marketplace, how do you answer the question “Who are we?” Culture-driven leadership is as much about the why as the how. Long-term and short-term. Reacting and reflecting. It means identifying, creating, and sustaining a company culture. For a culture-driven leader, spending time “above the clouds,” or finding the sweet spot of perspective, can make all the difference.

Entrepreneur and pioneering financial services CEO Arkadi Kuhlmann offers a seasoned antidote to navigating blind through our increasingly competitive landscape. Drawing on ten key principles from his time at ING Direct and his many years’ experience on the front lines of innovative customer-focused leadership, Kuhlmann explores real-world leadership challenges and both the bullseyes and missteps of Disney’s Robert Iger and Starbucks’s Howard Schultz, as well as Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and others. Kuhlmann makes a compelling case for how leaders can use the right culture to meet the formidable challenges that lie ahead.

In the end, it’s about making leadership count. And making a difference.

Do you know who was in the first on-screen nude scene in a Canadian feature film? Or which David Cronenberg film was raided for obscenity? Why was Oliver Reed arrested while shooting The Brood ? Which iconic Canadian television series was syndicated in over fifty different countries? Which Canadian film critic wrote a full-page retraction after reconsidering a positive review he gave a film? And what role did Canada play in the creation of Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider?

With an eye for the unique and the absurd, 101 Fascinating Canadian Film & TV Facts, from one of Canada’s leading film critics, is a lively and humorous look at the best and the worst, the firsts and the lasts, and the groundbreaking truths behind Canada’s film and television industry.

The story begins in a London theatre in 1745, where the modern idea of anthems started out as triumphant expressions of national superiority. They glorified violence, claimed the support of God for their country, and mostly ignored women.

David Pate says it’s time to dump lyrics about cutting throats, watering fields with blood, building walls with the bodies of enemies, and celebrating the sound of machine guns. From the author’s own youth as a schoolboy in Scotland when he was caned for refusing to sing “God Save the Queen” to the ubiquity of anthems in sports and as weapons for extreme patriotism, The Worst Songs in the World looks at the origins of many of the world’s anthems, including the movie theme song that became China’s national anthem and the English tune used for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

This wide-ranging, deeply researched narrative combines politics, personalities, humour, and vivid storytelling to argue for what we should all want: better national songs.

Creative sector jobs are driving our economy and offer a viable career path for today's youth.



Careers and business opportunities in creative industries offer flexibility, variety, and security. Why then do people hesitate to go into them? A belief in the myth of the starving artist, which conjures images of penniless writers and artistic bohemians, is to blame. The myth leads many away from choosing a path they would love in favour of more traditional fields. Years later, they may come to regret that choice.

Mark J. Jones shows that the persistent stereotype of the starving artist is not just costing youth and working-aged people the opportunity to explore satisfying careers, it could also cost Canada’s economy in lost opportunities. Through education and entrepreneurial strategy, artists, musicians, writers, media makers, designers, actors, and others can come to understand how to reach audiences and customers in a global market.

In The Starving Artist Myth, Jones erases any remaining doubt about the opportunities in the creative economy by getting at the origin of the starving artist stereotype, demonstrating the economic resiliency of the sector, and delving into the strategies for achieving career success.

Canada is at a crossroads. Social services and politics have been transformed to serve market economies, while Canadians struggle to pay rent, buy food, and find a stable job that pays well enough to cover daily costs. Everywhere we look, things are falling apart, but there’s still time to reverse the decline.

The Social Safety Net, the first book in the Canada in Decline series, tracks the forty-year attack on Canada’s welfare state. As neoliberalism has matured, Canadians have seen the impact of these attacks: unreliable healthcare, crises in education and social services, and a society that feels like it is losing cohesion.

This series tells the story of Canada’s untenable status quo and the forces that have led us to where we are today. It outlines the choices we need to make to fix all that is crumbling around us as well as the possible paths forward.

• A dramatic coming-of-age story about a girl grappling with issues such as domestic abuse, sexism, and the disconnect between modern youth and traditional parents.
• Debut novel for readers of Butter Honey Pig Bread and The Son of the House.
• Commercial women's fiction from Nigeria, originally published in 2021 by Penguin South Africa.

“A brave and lyrical exploration of motherhood and mental health … as terrifying as it is riveting.” — Susannah Cahalan, NYT bestselling author of Brain on Fire

Early motherhood is supposed to be joyous, but for Aaisha Alvi, those early days were ruined by terrifying, delusional thoughts about her baby and family. Far beyond the trials of breastfeeding and getting her baby to sleep, Aaisha’s experience was the antithesis of everything she had ever been told about motherhood.

When her second pregnancy ended in miscarriage, Aaisha’s psychosis returned. This time, however, she was blindsided by the unimaginable: voices urging her to stab her daughter and to harm innocent people. Aaisha felt evil, worthy of taking her own life. But each time she sought medical help, she was turned away.

With unflinching honesty, Aaisha takes readers beyond the vitriol and blame flung at women — particularly women of colour — suffering from postpartum psychosis. Her story is a clarion call to increase awareness of a condition that need never result in tragedy and to build support for those affected by it.

Tiga’s Tale chronicles the remarkable life of world champion boxer Barrington “Tiga” Francis, who survived crushing poverty and violence in Jamaica’s notorious ghettos and the insidious racism of 1980s Montreal to emerge as one of Canada’s most successful professional fighters.

This riveting narrative is told in the twelve rounds of Barrington’s fight for the coveted British Commonwealth title, coupled with twelve vignettes that capture his exceptional story of perseverance, faith, and, ultimately, triumph.

In the seventh book in the award-winning Inspector Green series, an old man is found beaten to death on a street corner in Ottawa’s Byward Market in what initially appears to be a mugging gone wrong. The victim is identified as Dr. Samuel Rosenthal, a retired psychiatrist with a contentious approach to life and treatment. When Green discovers that the doctor recently changed his will, disinheriting his estranged son and benefiting several former patients whom he believed he had failed, the mystery only deepens.

But who is the young mystery woman seen visiting Rosenthal every Saturday night? And more importantly, what does she know about the doctor’s death? Green races to track down the young visitor, but he is unprepared for the final resolution that leaves him grappling with the ultimate meaning of justice.

Time to hit the road: the minivan is packed, the cooler is chock full, and the lake beckons. Summer is the perfect setting for sharing short stories at the cottage, around the campfire, in the tent, or on the long ride to camp.

The Death Swing at Falcon Lake has a story for every occasion. There are epic tales of neighbourhood battles over the best fort, harrowing myths of the bravery it takes to walk to the outhouse in the dark, embarrassing accounts of first love at summer camp, and maybe even a legend about the monster watching you from the shadows while you read this very book.

Raconteur Jeremy John delivers another hilarious, heartwarming, and sometimes bone-chilling collection of short stories ideal for summer reading.

A gripping noir mystery introducing artless young detective Patrick Bird, set in Toronto’s Parkdale during the tumultuous ’60s.

Patrick Bird, police academy burnout turned PI, works divorce cases, using his camera to catch the unfaithful and the lonely looking for love in rented rooms. But his easy routine is shattered by a new case involving a missing girl.

Sixteen-year-old Abbie Linklater hasn’t been home for two days. Her stepmother believes Abbie’s getting an abortion. Her twin brother thinks she’s studying at the library. Her best friend couldn’t care less. Her father has no idea; he just wants her home without involving the police.

Before the sun sets on the first day of his investigation, as Bird roams the streets of Toronto looking for the runaway, he’s caught a drifter prowling in the Linklaters’ backyard, stumbled into a creepy church with a belligerent minister, sparred with the client, been hit by a car, and discovered some loose ends in a bank robbery gone wrong a decade earlier.

And that’s before he finds the body.

The Essence of Invention tells the story of medical inventors who have laid the foundation for modern patient care, from the development of anaesthesia and safe surgery to the advent of vaccines against smallpox, polio, and Covid-19, and how, through creativity and persistence, they have changed the world.

The same kind of energy that drove Van Gogh or the Beatles can manifest itself in medicine as inventiveness and the creation of new medical devices. The field may feel very different from what is traditionally considered a creative industry, but the fundamental motivation and aspiration to create and the conviction and resilience needed to do so are the same.

Dr. Murphy celebrates the creative energy of courageous men and women, honours their unique gifts, and explains how a culture of creativity and collaboration can and must be established around them to allow their talents to take flight.

Having reported from over 115 countries on seven continents, Robin Esrock has spent decades chasing the extraordinary. Travelling across British Columbia and Alberta, he’s discovered a wild variety of experiences that you simply cannot find anywhere else on the planet. With his renowned storytelling, trademark wit, curiosity, and eye-popping photos, Robin takes us on a personal journey to exceptional destinations and activities that are instantly memorable, absolutely fascinating, and waiting to be discovered.

Get ready to:

• sail among whales in the Galápagos of the North
• backcountry horse ride in the Rockies
• heli-fish in streams roiling with salmon
• drive the world’s most beautiful stretch of road
• houseboat under the stars
• go medieval glamping in the Prairies
• alpine ski by torchlight on New Year’s Eve
• and much more …

• Is it time for your aging father to stop driving?
• How can you balance your career opportunities with your mother’s care needs?
• Can your parents cope on their own?
• Is it time for long-term care? Given their reluctance, is that even an option?

Millions of people are dealing with aging parents and are stunned by the complexities and demands of their care. As demographics change and societies adapt, that caring — that parenting — isn’t getting any simpler. In the fourth edition of this eldercare classic, advocate Bart J. Mindszenthy and geriatrician Dr. Michael Gordon present twenty-four case studies of families working through the eldercare puzzle. With new scenarios, such as legalized marijuana and medical assistance in dying, this revised and updated edition makes the case for good planning, family unity, and being aware of your loved ones’ health.

With the help of Gordon and Mindszenthy’s expert advice, care providers are able to shed guilt and worry and become confident that they have done all they can to make their parents’ latter years as fulfilling and comfortable as possible.

An anarchist online group sets out to assassinate the corporate elites they believe have turned culture into a digital nightmare.

Don Barton is the visionary creator of Greenhouse, a popular immersive game where millions play at “saving the environment” in the surreal digital landscapes of the metaverse. Now retired to his plutocratic wealth, he learns his teen son, a gifted gamer, has suddenly gone missing, having joined a terrorist group led by a mysterious young woman, Eris, a former cryptocurrency trader. She’s on a mission to destroy the world’s entertainment and social media platforms and assassinate the corporate elites who run them.

In desperation, Barton roams Greenhouse, the only place his radicalized son will talk to him, learning that the game — his life’s work — is on the terrorist hit list. And both his life and his son’s are in danger.

A RARE MACHINES BOOK

Teo’s life as a Paris brasserie apprentice is filled with challenges and triumphs, as well as all the regular abuses of slammed commercial kitchens. Still, he rises through the ranks, eventually returning to his hometown of Vancouver to open Rue Véron, a French restaurant that goes on to become a sensation. His second restaurant, Orinoco, is also successful. But on the cusp of opening his third, a news story breaks filled with troubling accusations against Rue Véron’s popular executive chef, Frankie.

The media firestorm and subsequent public relations disaster threaten to destroy Teo’s empire, as well as his own personal life. And when the compounding consequences lead to unimaginable tragedy, Teo is left to question the impact of both individual action and people acting in great numbers.

Luisa Abrego, an enslaved woman in Seville, is impregnated by her master, then set free upon his death. With limited options for her future, Luisa agrees to marry a white man who wants to take her with him to Mexico, even though it means leaving her infant son behind in the care of nuns. The couple set off on a dangerous sea voyage and a perilous trek across unconquered territory, and when the settlers’ caravan is attacked by Indigenous warriors, Luisa is forced to kill a man in self-defence. Years later, still wracked with guilt and convinced she must atone for her sin, Luisa confesses to having made a promise of marriage to another man long before, in Spain. By the laws of the church this makes her a bigamist, a criminal who must be tried by the fearsome Inquisition.

Based on sixteenth-century trial records of the real Luisa, this novel is not just one woman’s life in fragments but a carefully researched imagining, told in the vivid, distinct voices of the Europeans who came into contact with her.

On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle — an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military — was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine.

Sinking a hospital ship violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had a submarine deck gun fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued.

The incident became a pivotal case at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, an attempt to establish justice after the Great War ended. The Llandovery Castle trial resulted in a historic legal precedent that guided subsequent war crimes prosecutions at Nuremberg and elsewhere.

Atrocity on the Atlantic explores the ship’s sinking, the people impacted by the attack, and the reasons why this wartime atrocity was largely forgotten.

On the morning of March 10, 1988, in Orillia, Ontario, a house fire engulfed fourteen-year old Joey Philion in flames. He suffered third-degree burns on 95 percent of his body. Doctors didn’t think he would make it through the night.

After the Flames is the story of one of the world’s most famous burn victims: his incredible survival, his nightmarish path to recovery that helped revolutionize medical treatment for burn victims worldwide, the fame thrust upon him after he was declared a hero by the media, and the tumultuous years that followed, most of which were spent under the microscope of an unforgiving public eye.

Intertwined with Joey’s story are those of his family, including his mother, Linda; stepfather, Mike; and younger brother, Danny, all of whom endured their own tremendous hardships in the wake of a fire that changed their lives forever

In this powerful and deeply personal essay collection, Gloria Blizzard, in an international diasporic quest, moves up and down an urban subway line; between Canada and Trinidad; to and from a hospital emergency room; back and forth in time — and as a descendent of Africa living in the Americas, negotiates the complexities of culture, geography, race, and language. Through food, music, dance, and family history, Blizzard explores the art of belonging — to a family, a neighbourhood, a group, or a country. Using traditional narrative and the tools of poetry, Blizzard’s essays hover at the crossroads, in the spaces where art, science, and spirit collide. The intimate becomes universal, the questions are all relevant, and the answers of our times require a sleight of hand — the holding of simultaneous and overlapping worlds.

One of the most bizarre stories to emerge at the end of the Second World War was that of Kanao Inouye. Born in Kamloops, B.C., in 1916, he had relocated to his ancestral homeland of Japan, and by 1942 was a translator for the Japanese army. He was assigned to the prisoner of war camp in Hong Kong where he became infamous as one of the “most sadistic guards” of the Canadian survivors of the Battle of Hong Kong. Scores of prisoners would attest to his brutality administered in revenge for the treatment he had received growing up in Canada.

His reputation was such that he was quickly apprehended after the war and faced charges of war crimes. But his subsequent trials became mired in questions as to who he really was. Was he a Canadian forced to serve in the Japanese military machine? Or was he a devoted soldier of his emperor obeying his superiors?