Blaze Island by Catherine Bush is Hamilton's must-read novel for 2021

The Hamilton Public Library (HPL) has released this year's must-read title as Blaze Island by Canadian author Catherine Bush.

The novel, billed as "an ecological thriller about climate change," is inspired from Shakespeare's The Tempest. A Category 5 hurricane devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, and characters Miranda and her father, Alan, escape to a cove in Canada's Maritimes, HPL said in a media release. 

In the aftermath, "their lives are turned upside down."

In the release, Bush said she looks forward to discussing her book with readers and "setting off together on journeys of discovery and resilience."

"While the pandemic shapes our immediate lives, the climate crisis goes on gaining force," she said.

"When it comes to transforming the future, acts of imagining are as essential as any other gesture. We need to story our way into new possibilities."

Experimental film We Are Islands adapted from book

Based in Toronto, Bush has written five books, the others being Minus Time (1993), The Rules of Engagement (2000), Claire's Head (2004), and Accusation (2013). 

Bush is also the coordinator of the University of Guelph's creative writing MFA program.

In an HPL YouTube video, the novelist said she was intrigued by the dilemma of a climate scientist in her creation of Blaze Island.

"How do you navigate all that you know about climate change and human inaction in the face of it while trying to parent?" she said. 

In 2020, Bush released a collage-based experimental film, titled We Are Islands, adapted from the book.

It takes place on Fogo Island, Newfoundland — where Bush collected stories and research for her novel — and was a collaboration with filmmaker Mike Hoolboom, photographer Paddy Barry, and painter M'Liz Keefe.

Lisa Weaver, HPL's director of collections and program development, says in the release that books have been both an escape and space of common ground for readers throughout the pandemic. 

In fact, the past year broke borrowing records at HPL, she said. 

"Hamilton loves to read, and Blaze Island opens the door to many important conversations regarding climate change and caring for our environment," Weaver said. 

New for the book club this year, the library has a "telephone stories" feature, where staff read the prologue and chapters one through five of the novel. That will start in mid-May. 

The public will be able to dial 905-546-3200 and follow the prompts.

The must-read book for Hamiltonians in 2020 was Waubgeshig Rice's Moon of the Crusted Snow. Other previous titles include Lawrence Hill's The Illegal, Miriam Toews's All My Puny Sorrows, and Tom Wilson's Beautiful Scars. 

Blaze Island is available through the HPL as a book and eBook. An eAudiobook will be available through the fall via OverDrive.

People can borrow the novel with a library card or sign up for one at hpl.ca.