Kirjahaku

Winner of BEST CRIME NOVELLA at The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence 2022Set in Toronto 1970, just as the FLQ crisis emerges to shake an innocent country, eleven year old Johnny Wong uncovers an underbelly to his tight, downtown neighbourhood. He shares a room with his Chinese immigrant mother in an enclave with American draft dodgers and new Canadians. He is befriended by Rollie, one of the draft dodgers who takes on a fatherly and writing mentor role. Johnny's mother is threatened by the "children's warfare society." A neighbour is found murdered. He suspects the feline loving Catwoman next door and tries to break into her house. Ultimately he is betrayed but he must act to save his family. He discovers a distant kinship with Jean, the son of one of the hostages kidnapped by the FLQ who have sent Canada into a crisis. As his world spins out of control, his only solace are letters to Dave Keon, who "as Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, can be trusted."

Every family has rules, routines, and rituals that hold it together. But sometimes those are the very things that tear them apart. THE FAMILY CODE is an intense and gritty, family drama featuring the troubled and chaotic life of Hannah Belenko, a young woman dogged by the brutality of past traumas, and a code of silence that she must crack in order to be free. It unabashedly reveals the power and perils of parenting both under the public microscope and behind the suburban facade. The state permanently removes Hannah's daughter, sending her into flight mode with her remaining son at stake. She is unable to learn that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot outrun herself or her upbringing. She flees from Ottawa to Dartmouth and meets up with others on the precipice of life. Driven by a desperation to survive and the elusiveness of hope, she makes an enormous gamble, risking her son and her sanity.

It is 1977 and Eighteen year old Johnny Wong's family is in debt to his Aunt who has links to the newly arrived Triad in Toronto. Johnny tries to make sense of his chaotic life by having conversations with his idol, Bruce Lee, who died four years ago. Johnny begins selling drugs through the restaurant until his Aunt catches up with him, culminating in a mah jong battle for Johnny's future.