Books & Lit
The top 20 novels set in Toronto
Here's a list of the top 20 novels set in Toronto that we put together via suggestions from our readers. When the question was first posed, the responses came in fast and furious — far more so than initially expected — and were quite varied. Along with CanLit giants like Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Morley Callaghan and Timothy Findley, the list below shows off younger writers working in a wide range of genres. A rather well-known series of graphic novels and those written for young-adults are even represented (as they most definitely should be).
The criteria that informs the selection below isn't scientific, nor does it claim to rank novels solely based on their literary value. Rather, the point here is to put together a reading list based on the relative popularity of these novels against others set in Toronto. That's why no numeric ranking system is used. In general, emphasis has been placed on those that feature significant sections set in the city. But we are, of course, happy to hear more suggestions — so let us know what novels you'd nominate in the comments section.
Lastly, a note about the links: each novel links out to a site that offers either a review or additional information about the text, rather than strictly retail info (although in some cases that's there too). For more information about Toronto-based books, the Imagining Toronto website and the book of the same name are excellent resources.
The top 20 novels set in Toronto as suggested by blogTO's readers
- In the Skin of a Lion — Michael Ondaatje
- What We All Long For — Dionne Brand
- Consolation — Michael Redhill
- Headhunter — Timothy Findley
- The Robber Bride — Margaret Atwood
- The Edible Woman — Margaret Atwood
- Cat's Eye — Margaret Atwood
- The Scott Pilgrim series — Bryan Lee O'Malley
- Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town — Cory Doctorow
- Old City Hall — Robert Rotenberg
- Fifth Business — Robertson Davies
- The Fionavar Tapestry — Guy Gavriel Kay
- Girls Fall Down — Maggie Helwig
- Self Condemned — Wyndham Lewis
- Cabbagetown — Hugh Garner
- Killing Circle — Andrew Pyper
- The Blood series — Tanya Huff
- Booky series —Bernice Hunter
- Girl Crazy — Russell Smith
- All My Friends Are Superheroes — Andrew Kaufman
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Last Stop Sunnyside (2006)
The Corpse Will Keep (2008)
Up there with Jim Carroll's Basketball Diaries as a raw, unsentimental insider's account of youth living on the edge. I never knew that the now-gentrified Annex was once the home of a crazy punk scene until reading this book.
"Headline Murder" (2008) April Lindgren
"When Hell Freezes Over" (2006) Rick Blechta
"A Girl Like Sugar" (2004) Emily Pohl-Weary
"Buffalo Jump" (2008) Howard Shrier
"High Chicago" (2009) Howard Shrier
"The Guilty Plea" (2011) Robert Rotenberg
http://jakebabad.com/
From last year, Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall's Ghosted.
Set in T.O. and uh, gritty, to say the least. Powerful storytelling - with a nod to Davies' In the Skin of the Lion, too!
Wyndham Lewis' Self-Condemned is a curious choice (although a must-read for anyone interested in the city's literature) -- a near-memoir about a man stuck in a hated city, a thinly fictionalized version of Toronto he calls Momaco.
Anyone checking out the books listed here might also want to read their other literary works. Hugh Garner, for example, set nearly all his novels and many of his short stories in Toronto (see for example Present Reckoning, The Sin Sniper and Death in Don Mills). Russell Smith is also the author of How Insensitive, Noise, Young Men and Muriella Pent, all set largely in Toronto. Maggie Helwig's poetry is wonderful and engages with urban and spiritual themes. And Tanya Huff, a prolific, popular author of fantasy novels, has another books set in Toronto, called Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light (Daw, 1989), a surprisingly and wonderful story about a brain-injured girl, a busker and a bag lady who save the city from forces of Darkness. Pity these protagonists aren't on the current city council!
Thanks for all the additional suggestions!
My choice would be Vices of My Blood. It gives a good look into the House of Industry and how social assistance worked in Victorian Toronto
I also thought of Barbara Gowdy's "The Romantic." The novel does not take place entirely in Toronto, but part of it does. Great book!! :)
He's the GTA based writer who has won just about every Science Fiction award. The Terminal Experiment, Factoring Humanity and Calculating God are set entirely in Toronto. Although The Terminal Experiment won all the awards, I think Calculating God is the best of the three.
Lemon - Cordelia Strube
Ghosted - Shaugnessy Bishop stall
Troubles Coming By Subway, Love On the Killing Floor, Dragging the Rivr - Trevor Clark