The Issues books are in-depth examinations of subjects that are often difficult to talk about, such as abortion rights, feminism, assisted dying and mental health. They are written by authors who have a personal involvement and commitment to the subject they are writing about.

The Fragments that Remain

A year after her brother Ally’s death was ruled suicide by overdose, Andy starts university without her “honorary twin,” writing him letters as she strives to embrace her bisexuality and her Indigenous identity. When Andy discovers Ally’s hidden poems, she tries to piece together these remaining fragments of her brother.

An Unbalanced Force

Ethan’s father has been lying about taking “business trips,” using them as cover for a clandestine — and potentially illegal — operation. To catch a liar, Ethan must become a liar, but what if the truth can throw his whole life off balance?

Defy

In Zalmon, every Life Event is pre-determined: where you’ll work, who you’ll marry, and when you’ll die. When his beloved little sister is assigned an imminent Death Date, seventeen-year-old Darius will stop at nothing to save her.

Takedown

When high school wrestler Rowan Harper finds a costly ALS treatment that might save her dad, she delves into the seedy yet profitable world of illegal underground cage fights, jeopardizing a college wrestling scholarship and her love life.

40 Days in Hicksville

Kate just wanted to meet her infamous, estranged grandfather, she didn’t expect to encounter skulls hidden on his property. And she didn’t expect Zach, the exasperating boy next door, to be the only person who can help her solve a thirty-five-year-old cold case.

Life Expectancy

When a class play and her legal studies homework help her connect the dots, Sophie St. John makes some startling revelations about her life: she was born with a serious disease, might be very rich, and has a reduced life expectancy. Amid fear and grief, she learns how love and meaning make any life incredibly precious.

A Mist of Memories

Charlotte is struggling to remember who she was before her accident and Ajay is trying to piece together what happened to a missing friend. Brought together by the whispering mists of Levay Island, Charlotte and Ajay must both face their trauma before the mist lays claim to them both.

Standing on Neptune

In fractured vignettes, Brooke Palinder describes the week she spends wondering if she’s pregnant after realizing her period is late. Her boyfriend is unable to offer support and Brooke can’t even tell her best friend. Feeling isolated, she reexamines her life and readies herself to take a pregnancy test.

Some Unfinished Business

Gripping and evocative, Some Unfinished Business tells the story of a man determined to prevail through anti-Soviet resistance in occupied Lithuania, imprisonment in the Gulag, the hands of bureaucracy that attempt to thwart his love for a woman with a mysterious past, while chasing the back of a man who first dared him to dream.

The Book of Us

Sixteen-year-old Noah Greene is in the relationship of a lifetime with his brilliant girlfriend, Miranda Owens, but when he says something that hurts Miranda and destroys everything they’ve built, he’s devastated. Determined to make amends, Noah sets out to truly understand the harm his words have caused.

Made 4 You

Becky’s main focus is padding her college applications with good grades and volunteer work. So when she’s asked her to show Gene Newman, the new student around, she agrees. But as Gene and Becky grow closer, he confides that he has a secret – one that turns Becky’s life upside down.

White Lies

Missy’s little brother died on her thirteenth birthday and her family has been struggling with their grief ever since. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, she meets Luke and he helps her begin healing.

Things That Fall

A group of cousins reunites at a family cottage to help one of them deal with his father's death. They soon stumble on the family secret that caused their parents to keep them apart for years.

Deep Girls

Short stories about girls and young women who, approaching adulthood, see their parents for the complex, flawed and vulnerable people they are.

The Turing Machinists

Del, a teenager with Asperger's, enlists the help of other special-needs students and a washed-up rock star to win a battle-of-the-bands competition and keep his parents from divorcing.

Delicate

A YA novel that deals frankly with the land mines and pitfalls of teen relationships and sexuality through the lives of two complex but relatable characters.