Dundurn is pleased to announce that Local Customs by Audrey Thomas has been nominated for the Ontario Library Association (OLA)’s 2016 Evergreen Award, part of the Forest of Reading program. The Evergreen Award features adult titles, and the list is chosen by a committee of experienced library staff.

Published in 2014 to stellar reviews, Local Customs is a fictional retelling of the true story of Victorian poet Letitia Landon, who travelled to the Gold Coast of West Africa after her marriage to George Maclean, then governor of Cape Coast Castle. Eight weeks later, she is dead. Not from malaria or dysentery, or any of the multitude of dangers in her new home, but by her own hand. Or so it would seem. The mystery of Letitia Landon’s death continues to this day.

Publishers Weekly called Thomas’s writing “stylistically brilliant”. The Literary Review of Canada called Local Customs “fascinating”, and the Georgia Straight wrote “the ambiguity of the novel only contributes to the haunting, dreamlike feel of this stunning book from one of Canada’s great, too-little-lauded literary figures.”

The Evergreen Award will be announced in October 2017. For a full list of nominations, or more information about the Forest of Reading program, visit accessola.org.