The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: Summer 2025
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
September 23, 2025
Fiction
We Are All of Us Left Behind by Bradley Somer, Freehand Books
She’s A Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock, ECW Press
A Mouth Full of Salt by Reem Gaafar, Invisible Publishing
The Cost of a Hostage: A Lane Winslow Mystery by Iona Whishaw, Touchwood Editions
Days of Feasting and Rejoicing by David Bergen, Goose Lane Editions
Bonk’d: A Hamilton Comics Anthology by Rulito (Editor), Joe Ollmann (Editor), Sunny Sigh (Editor), Bonk’d Comics
Had a Great Fall by Raye Anderson, Signature Editions
She Falls Again by Rosanna Deerchild, Coach House Books
Love by Alexander Finbow (Editor), Shea Proulx (Editor), Jillian Fleck (Illustrator), Renegade Arts Entertainment
Origins of Desire in Orchid Fens by Lynn Hutchinson Lee, Stelliform Press
Nonfiction
Messy Cities: Why We Can’t Plan Everything by Dylan Reid (Editor), Zahra Ebrahim (Editor), Leslie Woo (Editor), John Lorinc (Editor), Coach House Books
Encampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community by Maggie Helwig, Coach House Books
In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times by James Cairns, Wolsak & Wynn
Bebías Into Ohndaa Ke: Queer Indigenous Knowledge for Land and Community by Sydney Rae Krill, Kleo P. Skavinski, ARP Books
Jesusland: Stories from the Upside Down World of Christian Pop Culture by Joelle Kid, ECW Press
It Can’t Rain All the Time: The Crow by Alisha Mughal, ECW Press
Ally is a Verb: A Guide to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples by Rose LeMay, Page Two Books
Corporate Control: Canada in Decline Book Two by Nora Loreto, Dundurn Press
Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival by Kevin Nikkel, University of Manitoba Press
Battle of Britain: Canadian Airmen in their Finest Hour by Ted Barris, Sutherland House Books
Kids
RJ and the Ticking Clock by Ian Duncan (Author), Scot Ritchie (Illustrator), Owlkids
Maya Plays the Part by Calyssa Erb, Annick Press
The Mango Monster by Derek Mascarenhas (Author), Meneka Repka (Illustrator), Owlkids
A Park Connects Us by Sarah Nelson (Author), Ellen Rooney (Illustrator), Owlkids
The Beauty of Us by Farzana Doctor, ECW Press
How I Built This List:
I am very grateful for all the bookstores who generously shared their sales data with me. The information used to create this list was drawn from the sales of Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, The City and the City Books in Hamilton, Epic Books in Hamilton, McNally Robinson Booksellers (both the Grant Park and the Forks Locations in Winnipeg), McNally Robinson Saskatoon, Shelf Life Books in Calgary and Wordsworth Books in Waterloo. We’re covering a fair amount of Canada, but I hope to add more stores over time and create a more wide-ranging list. If you are a bookstore who would like to contribute to the list please get in touch with us, we’d love to have more information.
Many of the authors on this list will be new to readers, but what I’ve done here is create a bestseller list drawn only from those books published by Canadian-owned independent presses. Most of the books in the top half of both the fiction and the nonfiction bestseller lists sold well in several of the stores on the list and many of the other titles are books that sold well in only one or two stores who shared information. Sometimes these were strongly regional titles. This summer list is a combination of July and August numbers to better capture trends during the quieter summer months.
I acknowledge that this list is not at all perfect. It is only a small sampling of the data out there, but it is a fascinating look at what independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores across a reasonable amount of Canada.
My deep thanks to the Hamilton Review of Books for publishing this Independent Bestseller List. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read, visit your nearest independent bookstore and ask them what they suggest. The people who work in these stores know an amazing amount about books and will find you your next best possible read.
Noelle Allen
