Coast to Coast: Canada’s Literary Women

The Opportunist

by Elyse Friedman

When Alana Shropshire’s seventy-six-year-old father, Ed, starts dating Kelly, a saucy twenty-eight-year-old, a flurry of messages arrive from Alana’s brothers, urging her to help “protect Dad” from the young interloper. Alana knows that what Teddy and Martin really want to protect is their father’s fortune, and she tells them she couldn’t care less about the May–December romance. Long estranged from her privileged family, Alana has no stake in the game, and as a hardworking single mom, she has more important things to worry about. But when Ed and Kelly’s wedding is announced, Teddy and Martin kick into hyperdrive, and eventually persuade Alana to fly to their father’s 900-acre West Coast island retreat to perform one small task in their plan to lure the “gold digger” away from their father. Kelly, however, proves a lot wilier than expected, and Alana becomes entangled in an increasingly dangerous scheme full of secrets and surprises. Will she be able to escape her brothers’ elaborate web of deceit? Just how far will her siblings go to retain control?

Smart, entertaining and brimming with shocking twists and turns, The Opportunist is both a thrill-ride of a story and a razor-sharp view of who wields power in the world.

The Park Street Secrets

by Yvonne Van Lankveld

A vacated, historic government office which served as a post office, customs house, and finally a police station in Niagara Falls, Ontario is redeveloped into seven condominiums. Some new occupants have ties to its cultural heritage; others bring secrets to keep there.

Despite their animosity toward each other, siblings Lily and Rose must cohabitate for one year or lose their inheritance. Gracie Sheehan is determined to make a fresh start after many unexpected events force her to question her values and life goals. Young lovers move down the hall from Adrian Common, a single, self-serving customs broker who always gets whom and what he wants.

A feisty octogenarian, a messed-up pair of newlyweds and others form the medley of characters who move under the same roof. Add a building manager with secrets of his own, and discover how Park Street becomes a chaotic blend of love, betrayal and the need for human connection.

The Retirement Plan

By Sue Hincenbergs

When a bad investment wipes out their retirement savings, three lifelong friends discover their husbands each have million-dollar life insurance policies. Inspired by another widow’s sudden windfall, they start to wonder if murder might be the answer, unaware their husbands are plotting a dangerous scheme of their own.

What follows is a wickedly funny, fast-paced battle of wits where loyalty is tested, secrets are exposed, and no one is safe. Perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, this debut is a sharp, big-hearted tale of friendship, marriage, and middle-aged mayhem.

The Paper Birds

by Jeanette Lynes

Raised by her war-weary Aunt Wren after losing her parents, Gemma secretly takes a job at The Cottage, a covert WWII codebreaking unit in Canada. Bound by a lifelong oath of secrecy, she thrives in the work but risks everything when she befriends Tobias, a prisoner of war in a nearby camp, until he vanishes without warning.

As the pressure of her cryptology work mounts, Gemma’s secrecy strains her relationship with Wren. When she unexpectedly crosses paths with Tobias again, both are forced to face the dangerous truths they’ve been hiding. The Paper Birds is a moving tale of love, loyalty, and the extraordinary women who helped shape the course of WWII from the shadows.