Disappearing Moon Cafe written by Sky Lee in an amazing novel which was based on true events concerning with racism against Chinese Canadians during the 1800s-1900s. The book was written in a journal and biography format which is told by a character name Kae Ying Woo. She narrates the mysterious story of her ancestors and the secrets which were hidden ever since her late family moves to Canada. The whole story begins with how her great grandmother, Miu Lan, comes to Canada to live with her husband, Gwei Chang, and hoping to start a new. Together they open a restaurant, Disappearing Moon Cafe, which gave them tons of fortunes. They give birth to a son name Choy Fuk, and they have also raise another child name Ting An which Gwei Chang adopted prior to Choy Fuk's birth. Later as both of the children grew up, Miu Lan arrange a marriage for her son, Choy Fuk, and brought a girl name Fong Mei to be her son's bride. Fong Mei describes the difficulty of her trip into coming to Canada and how after arriving to Canada, there were no hope in escaping. Many women were raped and abused if they stayed any longer at the camp where Fong Mei have stayed before her mother-in-law came to pick her up. After marrying Choy Fuk, five years had passed and the couple couldn't bear any child. Miu Lan becomes frustrated, hence she lures her son into bearing a child with a concubine. Fong Mei later found out her mother-in-law's secret motives, and broke down into tears. She write letters to her sister in China, and her sister replies saying that she should not give up or else it would ruin their family's reputation and pride. Years pass by and both Choy Fuk's concubine, Song An, and Fong Mei give birth to many children. No one knew that Song An's child, Keeman Woo, is not related to Choy Fuk biologically. Fong Mei gives birth to three children with Ting An: Beatrice, John, and Suzanne. Beatrice falls in love with Keeman, which drives Fong Mei and Choy Fuk crazy. The story later reveals that both Keeman and Beatrice are not related. Together they give birth to Kae Ying Woo. Incest in the family happen between Ting An's child, Morgan born from a woman from a French-Canadian race, and Fong Mei's daughter, Suzanne. The story later reveals who Ting An's father is, and it creates chaos in the family. This book also talks about events of racisms towards Chinese Canadians. The death of Janet Smith was blamed upon the Chinese Canadians. This was a big issue towards Gwei Chang and his crew because having white people blaming them for murdering a white women gave them trouble which hurt their prides. This book also talks about how there were more Chinese men than Chinese women, which was one of the reason why it was hard for the Chinese family to keep their family's name going. This was also the reason why Miu Lan wants her son to give birth so badly. Having family is one of the most important factor for the Chinese culture. Having a big family keeps their family's name strong, and give them more power. Miu Lan describes how most of her customers were old Chinese bachelors, which is one of the thing we have learned throughout our Chinatown trip where there were places where old bachelors hung out to bath, gamble, and smoke opium. Chinese men were not allowed to bring their family over to Canada due to the Chinese Immigration act 1923, and that forces a new law prohibiting Chinese men to be near white women. This book talks mainly about their family history rather than the racism against Chinese Canadians. We did learn many things concerning with racism and the Chinese Immigration act. I wasn't really surprised about how Miu Lan tried her best to help her son give birth to a child, since this was something every Chinese women did during the olden days. If I were to describe this book, it would be exactly like any Chinese dramas you can watch on TV. The genre of this book is mainly drama. There were not a lot of romance, and the plot is very thrilling. If you read this book, there will never be a dull moment since every little details turns into something exciting. I would rate this book a 4/5 because there were some parts that were pretty disturbing, but of course, that's just life.

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Marilyn Bowering’s haunting novel What It Takes to Be Human, is set largely in an asylum for the criminally insane in British Columbia in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Sandy Grey’s version of reality may not match those in the world within a world in which he finds himself, but he does know what it is ‘to be human’—unlike those, beginning with his parents, who have treated him cruelly. The world outside is disintegrating in war, and within the confines of the asylum, the same war with its automatic hatreds and racism continue to play out.

“…a vast, sprawling feast of a book. You finish reading it glad of the experience, aware that some of the ingredients were fabulous, even astonishing…dazzling language and poetic imagery…abound.” —The New York Times Book Review Bowering Creates a Wonderful Three-ring Circus Of A Story At the end of a series of quotations on the frontispiece … Continue reading "Visible Worlds"

It's the 1950s, and just when Terry Belshaw -- the unlikely hero of Peter Trower's two previous novels, Grogan's Café and Dead Man's Ticket -- vows never to log again, his circumstances change and he needs to return to BC's backwoods to get a stake, and fast. His newest adventures -- gripping and ominous -- are detailed in The Judas Hills, in which Terry is hired out to a remote logging camp in the brooding shadow of Mesachie Mountain. Trower takes the most memorable loggers he ever met during his own career in the woods and casts them all in this fast-paced thriller: from Garfield Timber Wolf Hobson, the tenacious camp boss who wants to harvest all the trees from the Mesachie hills at any cost, to Albert Ox Tully, a hulking and menacing logger who reads philosophy and poetry in his spare time, to Gordy Grandaddy Tough Dower, Hobson's formidable foreman. As the story unfolds, it soon becomes clear that what these loggers face is more than the usual dose of danger they find on the job. Mesachie Mountain and the whole valley seem to be under a curse with supernatural forces at work. A half-mad camp watchman, a series of unlucky logging accidents, an abandoned Aboriginal village and a ghost camp all point toward a sinister mystery that must be solved. The story moves from one inevitable crisis to another and concludes with a nerve-shattering climax. It isn't often you come across a poetic voice that truly reflects the history and feeling of the land and its folk - a poet of the people. -The Globe and Mail

The winners were announced for the BC Book Prizes on Saturday at a ceremony in Vancouver.