Times are hard for independent bookstores. Facing a mountain of debt and an uncertain future with her own small business in Saskatchewan, Annabel Townsend sets out on a mission in the big city: to visit as many bookstores as she can, to find camaraderie amongst fellow booksellers, and hope for the future of the industry.

Inspired by the accidental discovery of a book about wandering, Annabel gets lost in Toronto enthusiastically. She seeks out this one single book, uncovering the city’s weird and wonderful literary community along the way.

 I admire the oddness of Townsend’s quest; …Her pilgrimage to Toronto’s bookstores gives us an opportunity to consider how miraculous it is that any independent bookstores exist at all… Buy this book when it appears. Townsend guides us through her psychogeographical pilgrimage in a thoughtful, engaging way.

-KEN WILSON

Books in the City is released February 2025 with Pete’s Press. You can read a review from a beta reader, Ken Wilson here:

Quill and Quire Magazine published an excerpt of Books and the City here:

Sask Books also reviewed the book here: