FINALIST FOR TORONTO BOOK AWARDS

The inside story of the grassroots fight to have a suicide barrier erected on Toronto’s “bridge of death.”

Most Torontonians have no idea their city once hosted the second most popular suicide magnet in North America, behind the Golden Gate Bridge. Since its completion in 1918, more than four hundred people jumped to their death from the Bloor Viaduct, which spans the cavernous Don Valley.

That number might still be rising if not for the tireless efforts of a group of volunteers, led by two citizens, who fought City Hall for years to get a suicide barrier erected. Not only did they win, they saved numerous lives and brought to light valuable research on how barriers actually lower suicide numbers overall. The resulting barrier — The Luminous Veil — has been praised for its ingenious and inspiring design.

The Suicide Magnet tells how the battle was won, and explores the ongoing efforts to help those suffering from mental health challenges.

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.

From the award-winning author of The Polished Hoe comes this delightful memoir about the trials, joys, and ultimate disillusionment of a small Barbadian boy experiencing British colonialism in the 1940s. Alive with the warmth and colour of the Caribbean, singing with the lilting cadence of Barbadian speech, this is renowned author Austin Clarke’s own story–the story of the trails, joys, and ultimate disillusionment of a small Barbadian boy experiencing British colonialism in the 1940’s. Authentic and vivid, Growing Up Stupid Under the Union Jack details the life of a boy whose mother struggled against insurmountable odds, yet succeeded in giving her son the best available education. It is a dazzling account of a slow, dogged climb upward in a society whose rigid customs, rules and expectations were imported from England and accepted almost without question by the islanders. It is the story of a boy bent on making his mark in that society, despite the cruelty of British schoolmasters and the incongruity of studying for his Senior Cambridge examinations in a mango tree–his improvised study–in a vast field of sugar cane. Throughout this first volume of Clarke’s autobiography courses his irrepressible exhilaration with life itself, his deep delight in the antic humour of people who populated his childhood, and his unshakable pride in his heritage.

How does the Canadian government handle information about UFOs? Veteran UFO researcher Chris Rutkowski reveals all.

Polls show that millions of Canadians believe they’ve seen a UFO. Are these strange phenomena alien visitors? Meteors? Advanced foreign technology?

Chris Rutkowski has been researching Canadian UFO reports since the 1970s and has gained an unparalleled understanding of how UFO reports are handled by government agencies. While the Canadian government and military establishment have taken UFO reports very seriously, they were unsure of how to manage them and looked to Rutkowski and other Canadian researchers for advice.

With a public hungry for official UFO details and politicians asking the prime minister pointed questions about UFO reports, it’s clear that UFO sightings matter more than they ever have before, and Canadian researchers have become integral to international UFO studies.

In Canada’s UFO Secrets, Rutkowski reflects on decades of investigation, tracing the development of Canadian UFO policy and detailing remarkable sightings, including cases never before revealed to the public.

An overview of successive Canadian governments, from Confederation to the present, placed in the historical context of electoral politics.

Dynasties and Interludes provides a comprehensive and unique overview of elections and voting in Canada from Confederation to the most recent federal elections. Its principal argument is that the Canadian political landscape has consisted of substantial periods of governance by one political party and/or leader (dynasties), often punctuated by short, sharp disruptions brought about by the sudden rise of new parties, leaders, or social movements (interludes).

This revised and updated third edition includes analyses of elections during the Harper era (2006, 2008, 2011) and that of Justin Trudeau (2015, 2019, 2021), as well as an analysis of the dramatic 2025 election and its implications for the future of Canadian politics under the minority government of Mark Carney.