Enter for a Chance to Win Free Books!
49th Shelf members can enter to win a copy of any of the books listed here (please sign up here if you haven’t already). At the end of the giveaway period, we do a random draw, and the publishers ship copies directly to the winners. Good luck!
Curse of the Savoy
A Priscilla Tempest Mystery, Book 4
Curse of the Savoy, the fourth in the Priscilla Tempest mystery series, is a gripping tale of suspense set against the backdrop of high society and 1960s London.
In the luxurious setting of London’s Savoy Hotel, an opulent dinner party hosted by the legendary filmmaker Orson Welles takes a sinister turn. Amidst the grandeur of the Pinafore Room, fourteen renowned guests, including Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, and the scandalous Miss Christine Keeler, gather for an unforgettable evening. However, the spectre of an old curse looms over the event—a curse said to bring doom to the first guest who leaves a dinner with thirteen attendees. Kasper, a three-foot-tall sculpture of a sleek black cat is said to be the antidote to the curse—if only the reckless attendees had paid heed to the superstition!
In the aftermath of the party, blackmail, betrayal, and murder ensue, entwining the guests in a web of deceit and danger. Once again, Priscilla Tempest, plucky head of the Savoy’s press office, finds herself at the heart of the intrigue. The mysterious events even draw the attention of the Queen, hinting at a conspiracy that reaches the highest echelons of society. Is the curse real, or is something more sinister at play? This riveting mystery, as sparkling as a Buck’s Fizz, promises celebrity gossip and scandal along with twists and turns that will delight readers until the very last page.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 146
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The Riveter
A Novel
A cross-cultural love story set against the dramatic backdrop of the Allied invasion of Europe in WWII.
Vancouver, 1942. Josiah Chang arrives in the bustling city ready to serve his country in the war against fascism, but Chinese Canadians are barred from joining the army out of fear they might expect citizenship in return. So, Josiah heads to the shipyard to find work as a riveter, fastening together the ribs and steel plates of Victory ships.
One night, Josiah spots Poppy singing at a navy club. Despite their different backgrounds, they fall for each other instantly and begin a starry-eyed romance that lasts until the harsh reality of their situation is made clear. Determined to prove himself, Josiah takes a train to Toronto where he’s finally given the chance to enlist. After volunteering for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and jumping into Normandy on D-Day, he must fight through the battlefields of Europe to make it back to the woman he loves.
By turns harrowing and exhilarating, The Riveter explores what one man must sacrifice to belong to the only country he has ever called home.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 146
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The Day I Left You
A Novel
For readers of The Secrets We Kept and Jill Santopolo comes an epic love story about Greta and Henry, who by chance meet in 1982 East Berlin and find a love that’s meant to last a lifetime—until Greta vanishes.
I’m sorry. I can’t stay.
East Berlin, 1982. When Greta Schneider meets Henry Henderson, she is instantly smitten. An engineer on a work visa from Britain, Henry offers Greta a taste of the world beyond the Iron Curtain, a world that she yearns to explore as a translator once she finishes university. For Henry, Greta is simply perfect—bold and beautiful, her lively and inquisitive nature adding a vital spark to his everyday life.
But their time together is limited. Henry can’t stay once his visa expires, and Greta is forbidden from going beyond the Berlin Wall. It’s only been a few weeks, but they know how they feel about each other, so when Henry proposes, Greta accepts—and is given permission to start a new life with Henry in England. And for a time, everything is perfect. Until, one day, out of the blue, Greta walks out the door of their Oxford home, leaving a simple note behind.
Decades later, Henry still has unanswered questions. Greta loved him, and he loved her. They surmounted the odds to be together, and in his heart, he knows their marriage was happy. So why did she leave? How well did he really know his wife? When a young mother visits Henry’s antique restoration shop, she unknowingly brings with her a clue that sends Henry on a journey to find out what happened to the love of his life all those years ago.
Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, The Day I Left You is a gorgeous, spellbinding story about the nature of love, the memories we cling to, and the hurts we must leave behind to move forward.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
- Members entered
- 136
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Bad Artist
Creating in a Productivity-Obsessed World
The perfect antidote to the toxicity of the current productivity narrative, this collection of essays on creativity features 21 Canadian and international writers, providing warmth, support, camaraderie, and empathy.
In a world that worships productivity, creating for art’s sake is seen as romantic and nearly indefensible. For anyone who has ever struggled to honour their artistic impulses, Bad Artist offers an antidote to this toxic productivity narrative. This collection of essays features 21 Canadian and international writers from a breadth of backgrounds and experiences whose lives are not always proscribed by predictable work schedules or reliable support systems. They fit creating into the cracks of their lives, and through their stories show us all how to keep creating—not producing.
As artists, many of whom have faced systemic barriers, the collection’s contributors offer pragmatic reflections on resisting the culture of productivity, reminding us that creativity can take many forms. Taken together, the essays present a comprehensive rumination on creativity in late capitalism, providing warmth, support, comradery, and empathy. It’s The Paris Review meets the Billfold’s “Doing Money” with a generous dash of the friend who knows you’re an artist even on the days when you’re not so sure.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 111
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It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished
A Memoir of My Body
A raw, beautiful memoir of a girl born missing an ear, a medical system insistent on saving her from herself, and our culture’s desire to “fix” bodies.
When Kate Gies was four years old, a plastic surgeon pressed a synthetic ear to the right side of her head and pulled out a mirror. He told her he could make her “whole”—could make her “right”—and she believed him. From the age of four to thirteen, she underwent fourteen surgeries, including skin and bone grafts, to craft the appearance of an outer ear. Many of the surgeries failed, leaving permanent damage to her body.
In short, lyrical vignettes, Kate writes about how her “disfigured” body was scrutinized, pathologized, and even weaponized. She describes the physical and psychic trauma of medical intervention and its effects on her sense of self, first as a child needing to be fixed and, later, as a teenager and adult navigating the complex expectations and dangers of being a woman.
It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished is the story of a girl desperately trying to have a body that makes her acceptable and of a woman learning to own a body she has never felt was hers to define. In an age of speaking out about the abuse of marginalized bodies, this memoir takes a hard look at the role of the medical system in body oppression and trauma.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 110
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Second Degree
From Med School to Murder, The Story Behind the Shocking Will Sandeson Trials
An expanded and updated edition of the bestselling work of true crime from award-winning journalist Kayla Hounsell, exploring the high-profile 2017 Will Sandeson murder case.
"I pulled the trigger."
In 2017, a jury found Will Sandeson guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Taylor Samson. A "good kid" from a good family, Sandeson was about to start classes at Dalhousie University's medical school when Samson disappeared. The trial exposed a dangerous world of drugs, greed, and misplaced loyalties—including a private investigator accused of switching sides. Sandeson was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
He immediately appealed; in 2020, Sandeson's conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered. In a shocking twist, Sandeson finally took the stand, detailing in four days of explosive testimony how and why he killed Samson, and for the first time offering an explanation of what he'd done with Samson's body.
An updated and expanded follow-up to award-winning journalist Kayla Hounsell's First Degree: From Med School to Murder, Second Degree features all-new chapters and never-before-published material. Accented with 25 colour photos, this riveting work tells the powerful story of a drug deal gone terribly wrong and examines the crime, the courts, and the killer's crusade for freedom.
A portion of the royalties from this book will help fund a scholarship at Amherst Regional High School in Taylor Samson's name.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 97
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This and That
The Lost Stories of Emily Carr; Revised and Updated
A new edition of Emily Carr’s final writings, This and That is a collection of autobiographical stories that gives fans of her work insight into the artist’s childhood, education, and development as a painter and writer.
Written in the last two years of Emily Carr’s life, the stories collected in This and That (which Carr wrote under the working title “Hundreds and Thousands”) were buried in the BC Archives for decades after their author’s death, not published in book form until 2007. This revised edition includes five more stories and an updated introduction, and is illustrated with some of Carr’s own artwork.
Centred on the Carr home on Government Street, the collection includes vivid snapshots of family life, told from the frustrating but often comical position of being the youngest of four strong-minded daughters. We meet beloved family pets, a plant-loving father with a fearsome temper, a hated aunt, siblings, neighbours, shopkeepers, and local personalities.
In these pages Carr traces her beginnings as a writer, her time at art school in San Francisco, visits to places like Nootka and Skidegate, and the early reaction to the change in both her painting style and subject matter these trips brought about.
Carr’s stories conjure the world of folk tales with a generous dash of Nancy Mitford. Taken together these anecdotes comprise a slant-wise autobiography of an artist ahead of her time in Victoria at the turn of the twentieth century.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
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- 3
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- 128
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Waltraut
The story of a first-generation-Canadian girl growing up in the shadows of the Second World War and navigating two cultures while struggling to find herself.
Eleven-year-old Waltraut wants to fit in at school, but it’s not easy. Not only does her name rhyme with the ethnic slur that is often hurled her way, but no one can relate to her immigrant family and their complicated past. On weekends, however, she attends German school with friends who are just like her. They share a language, food, and customs—and they understand what it’s like to live in two cultures.
As Waltraut navigates between her two worlds, she copes by reading and imagines how much easier her life would be if her name was Nancy, like the heroine of her favourite mystery series. So when her family moves to a new neighbourhood, Waltraut seizes the chance to reinvent herself. But she soon learns the price of pretending to be someone else. With support from an insightful teacher, a warm-hearted father, a tough-minded mother, and even her annoying younger brother, she embraces her true self, with all of its complexities and contradictions.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
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- 114
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The Sky's The Limit!
Canadians Who Blazed a Trail in Aviation
This action-packed, full-colour middle grade non-fiction book opens up the world of aviation to youth from diverse backgrounds, through the incredible stories of Canadians who broke barriers to reach the sky—from Newfoundland and Labrador to Manitoba to the Yukon.
From commercial, transport, and military pilots to search-and-rescue helicopter pilots to airplane mechanics, The Sky's the Limit! introduces readers to inspiring contemporary aviators, including commercial pilot Captain Mohamed Samanter, Gwich'in pilot Fred Carmichael, and Kimberly Ballantyne, the first woman of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation to become a pilot. Along the way, readers will learn important context about the history of flight in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Black soldiers of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, military pilot Allan Selwyn Bundy—one of only two known Black Canadian combat pilots who flew during the Second World War—and many more.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
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- 3
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- 91
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Black Boy, Black Boy
(pb)
Black Boy, Black Boy celebrates self-love and identity for Black boys globally. Written by acclaimed author and poet Angela Bowden, this poignant spoken-word poem encourages young minds to embrace their cultural roots and identities, and to dream boundlessly.
Using vivid imagery and verse to bring readers on a journey of self-discovery and resilience, Black Boy, Black Boy invites readers to explore legacies passed down from ancestors, embodied in today's Black men, and destined for future leaders. This moving poem honours achievements in every field, from medicine and music, to the nurturing embrace of Black fatherhood. Renowned artist Ibe Ananaba enriches this journey with vibrant illustrations depicting icons like Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Chinua Achebe, Walter Borden, Chadwick Boseman, and other heroes, both iconic and unsung.
By showcasing Canadian and American icons alongside international ones, the book universally reflects the experiences of Black boys everywhere. It affirms that the spirit and legacy of Black excellence moves beyond geographic borders and resides within each individual, inspiring pride and limitless potential.
- Giveaway period ends
- Mar 01, 2025
- Copies available
- 3
- Members entered
- 70
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