Latest news with #LinwoodBarclay
Toronto Star
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Toronto novelist Linwood Barclay took a big risk with his latest book, ‘Whistle': ‘If it sinks like a stone, it will probably be the last of its kind'
May 18, 2025 4 min read Save By Janet Somerville Special to the Star Long before he found his footing as a newspaper journalist, first at the Peterborough Examiner and later at the Toronto Star, Linwood Barclay was a kid writing fan fiction based on his favourite TV shows and was soon befriending celebrated writers Margaret Laurence and Ross Macdonald (pen name of Kenneth Millar). When I met with the internationally bestselling novelist in the Little Portugal home he shares with his wife, Neetha — his beloved and trusted first reader — he had just returned from a book tour in France. It began at Lyon's massive crime literature festival, Quais du Polar, where his 2023 thriller 'The Lie Maker' was the leading Canadian title and one of the finalists for the Grand Prix des lectrices Elle. Barclay is home just as his own second TV series airs there: 'Cette nuit-là (That Night).' It's based on 'No Time for Goodbye,' his breakout book from 2007, which has sold three million copies worldwide. He'll be in the U.K. in mid-June to launch his new novel, 'Whistle' (William Morrow), at an event to announce the Bloody Scotland book festival lineup, and then at Toronto's MOTIVE festival at Victoria University on June 29. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Janet Somerville is the author of 'Yours, for Probably Always: Martha Gellhorn's Letters of Love & War 1930-1949.' Related Stories Forensic anthropology is mainly behind her, but Kathy Reichs is still dreaming up Temperance Brennan novels Ernest Hemingway's time in Toronto working for the Toronto Star sparks a first-time novel In his new novel, the creator of TV's 'Bones' channels the classic private eyes Report an error Journalistic Standards About The Star More from The Star & partners
CBC
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
8 books to read if you loved Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
CBC Books | Posted: March 25, 2025 4:13 PM | Last Updated: Just now Fans of the humorous memoir will love these other Canadian titles Image | Linwood Barclay holding Jennie's Boy Caption: Linwood Barclay holds a copy of Jennie's Boy on the set of Canada Reads. (Joanna Roselli/CBC) Open Image in New Tab Thriller writer Linwood Barclay championed Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston on Canada Reads 2025. Jennie's Boy recounts a six-month period in Wayne Johnston's chaotic childhood, much of which was spent as a frail and sickly boy. While too ill to attend school, he spent time with his funny and eccentric grandmother, Lucy, and picked up some important life lessons along the way. Here are eight Canadian books to read if you loved Jennie's Boy. Son of a Critch by Mark Critch Image | Son of a Critch by Mark Critch - 1 Caption: Son of a Critch is a memoir by Mark Critch. (Penguin Canada, Aaron McKenzie Fraser) Open Image in New Tab This Hour has 22 Minutes star Mark Critch says being from Newfoundland and Labrador has greatly informed his life and work — an influence he explores in his new memoir, Son of a Critch. The book touches on Critch 's 1980's childhood in Newfoundland, including an unfortunate moment when he got locked out of school on a fourth-floor window ledge... or that other time, when he faked an asthma attack to avoid being arrested by military police. Mark Critch is a comedian, actor and writer from St. John's. He is best known for his work on CBC sketch comedy show This Hour Has 22 Minutes. His memoir, Son of a Critch, was shortlisted for 2019 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and made into a CBC TV series. Hollow Bamboo by William Ping Taking place in Newfoundland, Hollow Bamboo is a story about two William Pings — a millennial in the present with a realization that he needs to learn more about his Chinese heritage — and his grandfather in the past who came to Newfoundland from China to work in a laundry in 1931. William Ping is a journalist at CBC St. John's and the writer of Hollow Bamboo, which was a finalist for the 2023 Amazon First Novel Award and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. He completed his Master of Arts at Memorial University and received the English department's Award for Thesis Excellence for the book he wrote for his master's degree. Pluck by Donna Morrissey In the memoir Pluck, writer Donna Morrissey recounts her life from being a grocery clerk to oil fields, from marriage and divorce to working in a fish-processing plant to support herself and her two young children. She layers her account of her life with stories of people who came before her, such as iron-willed mothers, daughters, wives, sisters, teachers and mentors. Pluck shows that even when you're unravelling, you can spin the yarns that will save you. Morrissey is the author of six novels, including Kit's Law, The Fortunate Brother, The Deception of Livvy Higgs and Sylvanus Now. She has also written the children's book Cross Katie Kross, which was illustrated by her daughter, Brigitte Morrissey. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Morissey now lives in Halifax. Baltimore's Mansion by Wayne Johnston In Baltimore's Mansion, Wayne Johnston tells the story of the Johnstons of Ferryland, N.L., a Catholic colony founded by Lord Baltimore in the 1620s. Shedding light on three generations of fathers and sons, Johnston paints a vivid portrait of stubborn and compelling family members. The Woo-Woo by Lindsay Wong Image | The Woo Woo by Lindsay Wong Caption: The Woo-Woo is a memoir by Lindsay Wong. (Shimon/Arsenal Pulp Press) Open Image in New Tab The Woo-Woo is a dark, witty and touching memoir by Vancouver-based writer Lindsay Wong, who gives an honest account of the impact of mental illness on her family. Wong delivers a raw and emotional look at whispered secrets, dysfunctional relationships — and how her grandmother, mother, aunt and even herself initially blamed the mythical "woo-woo," Chinese spirits that plague the living, for their mental health issues. Wong is a Vancouver-based author. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. The Woo-Woo was a finalist for the 2018 Hilary West Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and was defended by Joe Zee on Canada Reads 2019. CBC Books named Wong a writer to watch in 2019. She's also the author of the short story collection Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality and My Summer of Love and Misfortune. My Mother's Daughter by Perdita Felicien Perdita Felicien's mom Catherine was a poor young woman in St. Lucia when she was given a seemingly random, but ultimately life-changing, opportunity: to come to Canada with a wealthy white family and become their nanny. But when she gets to Canada, life is tougher than she expected, as she endures poverty, domestic violence and even homelessness. However, she still encouraged and supported her youngest daughter's athletic dreams. Felicien would go on to be a world-class hurdler and one of Canada's greatest track athletes. My Mother's Daughter is the story of these two women, and how their love for each other got them through difficult times and changed their lives. Perdita Felicien was a 10-time national champion, a two-time Olympian and became the first Canadian woman to win a gold medal at a world championships. She now works as a sports broadcaster and is part of CBC's team covering the Olympics. My Mother's Daughter is her first book. No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod Image | No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod - 1 Caption: (McClelland & Stewart, CBC) In No Great Mischief, a man named Alexander MacDonald recounts the tales of his Nova Scotia clan: loggers, miners, drinkers and adventurers. A story of family, loyalty and exile, No Great Mischief explores the strength of blood ties and the power of a place. Alistair MacLeod was a writer and academic, renowned for his work in short fiction. His books include The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories, Island and Remembrance. He was the first Canadian to receive the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and won the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Born in Saskatchewan, his family moved to Nova Scotia when he was 10. He died in 2014. Annabel by Kathleen Winter Annabel is the haunting story of a mysterious child born in 1968 in a village in the stark but beautiful region of coastal Labrador. Wayne is raised as a boy, but is actually an intersex child. As he comes of age in the hyper-masculine hunting culture of his father, his shadow-self — a girl he thinks of as "Annabel" — becomes irrepressible, forcing the character to confront this duality.
CBC
18-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
For Linwood Barclay, humour helps the story go down — Watch Day Two of Canada Reads here
The great Canadian book debate is back for its 24th season! The second round of Canada Reads kicked off March 18, 2025 at 10:05 a.m ET. Watch Day Two above or find other ways and times to tune in here. WATCH | Linwood Barclay discusses the humour in Jennie's Boy on Day Two of Canada Reads 2025: Linwood Barclay discusses the humour in Jennie's Boy on Day Two of Canada Reads 2025 17 minutes ago Duration 1:10 On Day Two of Canada Reads 2025, thriller writer Linwood Barclay discussed the merits of humour in Wayne Johnston's memoir Jennie's Boy. Jennie's Boy recounts a six-month period in Wayne Johnston's chaotic childhood, much of which was spent as a frail and sickly boy. While too sick to attend school, he spent time with his funny and eccentric grandmother, Lucy, and picked up some important life lessons along the way. The book deals with many difficult life experiences, like extreme poverty, illness and addiction, but through it all, there are moments of levity that, in Barclay's opinion, propel the story. "I don't think this book would be fun to read at all without these moments where he sees the irony and the humour in what he went through," said Barclay. He explained that part of the reason Johnston is able to see this irony is because of the distance he has from the events he's writing about. "Time plus distance is what allows us to look back at something that's tragic and find something that's funny," he said. Time plus distance is what allows us to look back at something that's tragic and find something that's funny. To illustrate, Barclay pointed to some of the moments from Jennie's Boy that really made him laugh. He recounted a point in the memoir when the family's television was broken and Wayne's father hired the cheapest technician to fix it. Because he was so inexperienced, the repairman didn't fix it correctly — and the TV played the images from upside down. To solve the problem, the Johnstons turned the TV upside down and put a flowerpot on top. "That's funny now," said Barclay. "I'm sure at the time it was like, 'well, we're pretty poor so this is all we can do.'" Barclay also pointed to a moment when Lucy compared Wayne's sickly skin colour to evaporated milk. "That just made me laugh out loud because, first of all, it's brilliantly descriptive, it's funny, and also shows that in the midst of all this poverty and so forth, that Lucy, his grandmother, had such a sense of humour," said Barclay. "And I think that her sense of humour is one of the things that brought him through this very difficult period." WATCH | Saïd M'Dahoma defends Dandelion 's pacing on Day Two of Canada Reads 2025: Saïd M'Dahoma defends Dandelion's pacing on Day Two of Canada Reads 2025 9 minutes ago Duration 3:08 After pastry chef Saïd M'Dahoma talked about how Dandelion, the book he's championing, humanizes immigrants as "regular people with dreams, struggles and aspirations," actor Michelle Morgan shared how she connected to the novel as the daughter of an immigrant. In Dandelion, Swee Hua, the mother of an immigrant family from Brunei, walks away from her family and is never heard from again. Upon arriving in Canada, she deals with mental health challenges and longs to return home, yet she's told she must show gratitude for having the opportunity to live there. Morgan appreciated that the novel shared a perspective on immigration where it's okay to have a hard time adjusting or not want to stay. "My mother is an immigrant and she experienced depression as well," she said. What took her out of the novel, however, were "the food metaphors that would come out of nowhere," she said. She discussed a scene where Lily, Swee Hua's daughter, is watching an argument between her parents and compares her father's feelings to grains of salt spilled on the floor that can't be picked up. "It felt like I suddenly heard the author's voice instead of being in that scene with Lily," said Morgan. M'Dahoma argued that including food throughout Dandelion was an intentional and integral part of the story. "Food is so important," he said. "It's just a point of anchor for immigrants." In fact, as an immigrant and son of immigrants himself, M'Dahoma's career as a pastry chef was born from him missing the foods of Paris when he moved to Canada. Living so far from home and working as a neuroscientist at the University of Calgary, he began to miss French pastries, so he started making his own. Through trial and error and by sharing his journey online, he decided to give up his career as a neuroscientist and become a pastry chef full-time. "Every time you're feeling bad, you're eating something from home. Every time you're feeling happy, you're getting something from home," M'Dahoma said. "So that's why it might feel like there's too much food [in Dandelion ], but that's one of the ways that we communicate with each other." The 2025 contenders are: Here's how to tune into Canada Reads 2025: ONLINE: CBC Books will livestream the debates at 10:05 a.m. ET on YouTube and CBC Gem. The debates will be available to replay online each day. The livestream on YouTube will be available to watch outside Canada. If you'd rather listen to the debates online, they will air live on CBC Listen. A replay will be available later each day. ON RADIO: Canada Reads will air on CBC Radio at 10:05 a.m. in the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones. It will air at 11:05 a.m. in Nunavut, the Maritimes, 1:05 p.m. in Labrador and at 1:35 p.m. in Newfoundland. The debates will replay at 9 p.m. local time in all time zones, except in Newfoundland, where it will replay at 9:30 p.m. ON TV: CBC TV will broadcast Canada Reads at 1 p.m. in the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones. It will air at 2 p.m. in the Atlantic time zone and at 2:30 p.m in the Newfoundland time zone. PODCAST: The episode will be posted each day after the live airing. You can download the episodes on the podcast app of your choice.
CBC
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Linwood Barclay's latest novel, Whistle, is a spooky tale about an evil toy train set — read an excerpt now
Social Sharing Bestselling American Canadian thriller novelist Linwood Barclay is not only one of the five contenders for Canada Reads 2025 — he's also coming out with a new book of his own! Barclay's latest novel, Whistle, dips into the horror genre as a train set comes to life with sinister motives. In Whistle, Annie, a mother, moves charming town in upstate New York with her young son. She's reeling from the sudden death of her husband in an accident and the fact that one of the children's books she authored and illustrated ignited a major scandal. When her son, Charlie, finds an old train set in a locked shed on their property, he's thrilled, but there's something eerie about the toy. As weird things start happen in the neighbourhood, Annie can't help but feel that she's walked out of one nightmare and right into another. "I'm a life-long model train enthusiast (also known as, in some circles, a nerd) and it struck me that toy trains never get their shot at being evil the way dolls (think Chucky) and ventriloquists' dummies (think Magic) and wind-up toy monkeys (The Monkey) do," wrote Barclay in an email to CBC Books. "How unfair is that? But can toy trains BE scary? I don't think you'll ever look at an old Lionel or American Flyer trains set the same way again." Linwood Barclay and Wayne Johnston dish on Canada Reads strategy — and the magic of writing a life's story Barclay is a New York Times bestselling author who has written over 20 books, including thrillers I Will Ruin You, Find You First, Broken Promise and Elevator Pitch and the middle-grade novels Escape and Chase. Many of Barclay's books have been optioned for film and television, and he wrote the screenplay for the movie Never Saw It Coming, adapted from his novel of the same name. His books The Accident and No Time for Goodbye were made into a television series in France. Barclay lives near Toronto. He's also championing the memoir Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston on Canada Reads 2025. The debates will take place from March 17-20. Thriller writer Linwood Barclay champions Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston Whistle will be released on May 20, 2025. You can read an excerpt below. Jeremy was mesmerized. He could lay here like this for hours, imagining himself in the cab of that locomotive, shoveling coal from the tender into the firebox, elbow on the window ledge, head poked out to view the track ahead, a red kerchief tied round his neck blowing in the wind, the world flying past. It felt ... magical. As though he and the engine had somehow become one and the same, fused together. He remembered that book his mother read to him when he was two or three, about that little engine that could. Jeremy was that engine now, and he could do anything. "Have fun," his father said, and went to the kitchen with Jeremy's mom. He tentatively touched his finger to the track, pulling it away a millisecond before the train swept past on its latest loop. He felt a small charge, that tingle again. He knew that wasn't supposed to happen, but he definitely felt something. Maybe this train was different. Special, even – "Oops," said Glynis, kicking over the red boxcar and sending the entire train off the tracks. Maybe this train was different. Jeremy was so transfixed that the derailment hit him as though he'd been awakened from a dream. He looked first at the fallen train, then slowly turned his head to look up at his sister. She said, "You got a used second-hand gift. Somebody's old junk. My Bratz doll is new. I'm gonna eat your Cinnabon." She set her doll on the living room couch and disappeared into the kitchen. Jeremy pondered his sister's history of villainy as he looked at the devastation she had wrought, this scale train wreck. Telling him the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny. The time she put rabbit turds in his ice cream. Stuffed a dead toad into the toe of his runners. Told everyone at school he'd wet the bed. That time she stole three dollars from their mother's purse and, when it looked as though she might be found out, slipped the bills under Jeremy's pillow. Their mother found them when she was changing the sheets. Jeremy's protestations of innocence were to no avail. Glynis was a very, very bad sister. She was his tormentor. He was her victim. It had always been this way. He'd considered retaliation before but anything he attempted would bring serious blowback from his parents. He couldn't just hit her or pull her hair or put a snake in her underwear drawer. He wished he were more creative, that he could find a way to teach her a lesson without anyone tracing it back to him. She was his tormentor. He was her victim. Then he rolled over and eyed the Bratz doll Glynis had left sitting on the couch, staring into the room with its dead eyes. And there, on the floor, discarded strands of green ribbon that had secured some of the now unwrapped presents. An idea was forming. One day, his father had shared some old tapes of cartoons he'd loved as a kid. One was about a dumb Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman named Dudley Do-Right who was forever saving a girlfriend when she got tied to the railroad tracks by the nasty Snidely Whiplash. Jeremy took the Bratz doll from the couch. Placed it across the track and secured it with the green ribbon. Then he put the locomotive and cars back onto the track. See how Glynis liked it when her new toy got run over by his used t rain. He cranked the throttle so hard the engine's wheels spun as they sought purchase on the track. Only half a loop to go to make contact. There was no Dudley Do-Right coming to rescue Glynis's Christmas present. For a second there, as Jeremy looked into the face of the doll, he thought he saw the face of his sister. That was not possible, of course. He blinked, and the doll went back to being a doll. He blinked, and the doll went back to being a doll. Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuffchuffchuff Jeremy hit the whistle button. Woo-woo! Rounding the turn. Almost there. The moment of impact a millisecond away. Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuffchuffchuf. And then whomp. What wonderful chaos. The doll was catapulted across the room, the flimsy ribbon cut by the loco's wheels before the engine bounced off the track and landed on its side, taking the attached cars with it. It was, Jeremy thought, an epic derailment as good as any he had ever seen in a movie. And then, from the kitchen, the sound of something shattering. Followed by a bone-chilling scream. Jeremy sprung to his feet and went to the kitchen doorway to investigate. His mother, father and sister were crowded around the sink, Glynis in the middle, holding her hand over some dishes that had been left there to soak. On the floor by their feet, the shattered remains of a glass. Blood was dripping furiously from Glynis' hand. Blood was dripping furiously from Glynis' hand. "My God!" Jeremy's mother shrieked. "Call an ambulance!" Jeremy's father said there was no time for that, he would wrap the detached finger in a cloth with ice cubes around it and drive Glynis to the hospital and maybe they could reattach it and how in the hell did this happen anyway and then Jeremy's parents were yelling at each other while Glynis continued to wail. Jeremy went back into the living room. He found the Bratz doll. The right hand was missing, as if neatly cut off with a pair of shears. After a brief search, he found the hand between two of the metal ties that supported the train. He tucked the tiny hand deep into the pocket of his jeans. Once the locomotive and cars were back on the track, Jeremy set the throttle to a nice, steady speed, got on the floor again, propped up on his elbows, head resting in his hands, and watched the train go round and round and round and round.
