At FriesenPress, we celebrate each and every book we help our authors publish. Here are some of our team’s recent favourites – happy reading!
This courageous and lyrical memoir chronicles the challenges of growing up gay in the seventies and eighties in Toronto, and how the enchanting discovery of first love can change the shape of a person’s life. Homophobia had robbed Dan of any hope of finding a man to fall in love with…until he met Raymond. It was love at first sight. Though their relationship was not without its challenges from the outside world, time and time again, love prevailed. Dan spent years going to great lengths to conceal every part of that relationship, living in the closet, and holding close the memories of his first relationship. But over time, he realized that he wanted to share their story. The heartfelt love they shared is a beacon of hope and reminder to everyone that love can win out over hatred.
In Kohkum’s kitchen the family is large, the stove is warm, and the stew is oh so good. But just what makes this special stew so delicious? Is it Kohkum’s recipes and knowledge, or Mushum’s traditionally hunted moose meat? The grandchildren all think that they know the answer! But how will they decide who’s right? They’d better have another bowl or two before they come to any big decisions. Kohkum's Kitchen’s is the first book in a series that celebrates Indigenous culture and the traditional knowledge that was almost lost. Perfect for any child who wants to learn more about how modern Indigenous peoples live, this book is a fun and easy way to learn how similar we all are in our hearts.
Twenty-one-year-old sorceress Adara has trained since childhood to be a killer. Her grandfather, as head of the Assassins’ Guild, raised her to believe in the morality of their mission: to rid the world of criminals and the suffering they cause. But there’s more to Adara than her lethal abilities—more than she even knows herself. When a routine mission goes wrong, she is kidnapped by enemies of her estranged mother, and soon, Adara is caught up in politics at the highest level. In discovering the truth about her parents and the origins of her powers, Adara must decide who she wants to be . . . even if it means leaving everything from her old life behind. The fate of the world may rest in the balance. Set in a richly imagined world where magic has evolved after the fall of democracy, In Her Shadow is an action-packed story of power, corruption, justice, and family bonds.
On the eve of his sixteenth birthday, Dematris Blackhorn—a lordling on the cusp of achieving his dream of being Imprinted with the magic he will carry for the rest of his life—finds his world crumbling around him. Since the Founding of Serillia, five centuries ago, his family has led and protected the province of Fallon. When that unbroken history of service is shattered by murder and betrayal, Dematris is set on a path he never expected. One of survival, truth, and finding his way back home. Rife with beauty, danger, and magic, the continent of Serillia exists in uneasy peace. When the balance of power shifts, and the echoes of its violent past begin to reverberate, ancient races will stop at nothing to dominate its land once more. Driven from his home, and with his brother far across the ocean, Dematris alone stands in a position to stem the tide of destruction that threatens everything he has ever known and loved. But with the blood of so many innocents already weighing on his conscience, can he summon the courage to return?
Millie is ready to tell her family that she’s a girl. It’s something that she knows about herself, even if others don’t realize it! With the support of those who love her, she can be who she truly is! Told in rhyming verse, Millie’s Wonderful Day is the celebratory tale of a transgender child’s warm and supportive coming-out experience.
Maya couldn’t quite put into words the feelings she was experiencing as she and her father walked along the tree edge looking for berries and nutrients from the plants. Was it the fact that she had missed the soft, moist earth beneath her feet? She considered that the Universe was guiding her towards a renewed way of living. Twenty-seven-year-old Maya has been released from prison for the third time since she was seventeen, and this time she knows things have got to change. From her family cabin in the woods of Northern Ontario, she starts to process and heal from past wounds. For the first time in her life, she becomes aware of the systemic injustices that lead to the criminalization and imprisonment of Indigenous women like herself, and to know that she is not alone is at once comforting and deeply troubling. She is introduced to community members who assist her on her healing journey; she takes an interest in her cousin’s legal woes, but in the wake of so much trauma, Maya becomes fearful. Curious rustlings play at the edges of her consciousness, and she can’t shake the feeling that she is being watched, that helping other women may come at a price. An ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a profound meditation on trauma, ancestral wisdom, familial bonds, and empowerment in the face of adversity, Dragonfly reminds us of all the lessons nature and history can teach us. Most importantly, Vermette assures us that on the other side of tremendous suffering, there is always a renewed way of living.
When seven-year-old Dahlia’s parents are killed in a tragic house fire, she is taken away to a mysterious orphanage. Ten years later, she and her close friends at the orphanage are suffering ongoing abuse at the hands of the cruel matron and the unkind therapist, who seems to have a personal vendetta against Dahlia. When things suddenly get worse, the traumatized but feisty teenagers at Oakwood Orphanage band together and fight for a new life, fight for freedom, while battling their own dark pasts that are pushing back. Plagued by nightmares about the fire that killed her parents, a desperate Dahlia searches for answers that will bring her closure, but soon her past comes back to haunt her, and the only way to get past it is to face it head on.
This can’t be happening! Mike Triggs had spent most of his life in politics, primarily working for the Republican Party. In fact, he was considered a political golden boy until his career is forever tarnished. While managing a governor’s re-election campaign, a right-wing opposing candidate unceremoniously OUTs him and he quickly spirals from the top echelons of the GOP to selling underwear at a high-end department store in Sheboygan, WI. Seriously! Going from his comfortable closet to the retail world, Mike never expected the crazy drama he would encounter. From hoity-toity Sheboygan shoppers to crafty shoplifters, religious fanatics, screaming kids, racists, entitled “Karens,” and drag queens to an evil store manager and her slimy sidekick, a co-worker who thinks she’s an African queen and vicious coworkers scrapping over a whopping 1% commission—you just can’t make this $#!+ up! And Mike takes it all on with satiric flair while revealing his struggle with coming out, coping with the aftermath of the AIDs epidemic and finding true friends in unlikely places. Based on true experiences, Seriously, You Can’t Make This $#!+ Up! is just as laugh-out-loud fun as it is undeniably heartwarming.
