LOLA 2026 Reading Recommendations from our Patrons

As part of Love Our Local Authors Month, we asked our patrons for some NL book recommendations and WOW did you answer the call! Check out these amazing local books to add to your TBR. This list includes print, eBook, and audiobook copies of the titles where available.

These titles were also recommended and are available in the catalogue but aren't displaying in this list due to technical issues (search for them by title in the catalogue):

Blinders: A Crime Thriller
Chirp's Large Day
Bizzie Tizzie is gonna be Everything from A to Z
Newfoundland and Labrador Lullaby
The Best Christmas Ever
Joshua the G.O.A.T.

Updated April 30, 2026
Newfoundland & Labrador Public Libraries NLPL Local Reads
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Barry Squires, full tilt
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
It's 1995. Twelve-year-old Finbar (Barry) Squires wants desperately to join the Full Tilt dance troupe. Led by Father O'Flaherty, the Irish Step Dancers are the most sought-after act in St. John's, Newfoundland. Having watched Riverdance twice, Barry figures he'll nail the audition. With...
Barry Squires, full tilt
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
It's 1995. Twelve-year-old Finbar (Barry) Squires wants desperately to join the Full Tilt dance troupe. Led by Father O'Flaherty, the Irish Step Dancers are the most sought-after act in St. John's, Newfoundland. Having watched Riverdance twice, Barry figures he'll nail the audition. With...
Barry Squires, full tilt
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
It's 1995. Twelve-year-old Finbar (Barry) Squires wants desperately to join the Full Tilt dance troupe. Led by Father O'Flaherty, the Irish Step Dancers are the most sought-after act in St. John's, Newfoundland. Having watched Riverdance twice, Barry figures he'll nail the audition. With...
The colony of unrequited dreams
Johnston, Wayne.
Paper Book
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is Newfoundland--that vast, haunting near-continent upon which the two lovers and adversaries of this miraculously inventive novel pursue their ambitions. Joey Smallwood, sprung from almost Dickensian privation, is a scholarship boy at a private school, where his...
The colony of unrequited dreams
Johnston, Wayne.
Paper Book
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is Newfoundland--that vast, haunting near-continent upon which the two lovers and adversaries of this miraculously inventive novel pursue their ambitions. Joey Smallwood, sprung from almost Dickensian privation, is a scholarship boy at a private school, where his...
The colony of unrequited dreams
Johnston, Wayne.
Paper Book
"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is Newfoundland--that vast, haunting near-continent upon which the two lovers and adversaries of this miraculously inventive novel pursue their ambitions. Joey Smallwood, sprung from almost Dickensian privation, is a scholarship boy at a private school, where his...
The ewe who knew who knit you
Kansala, Cara
Paper Book
This magically illustrated story celebrates the power of friendship and kindness and teaches us to be proud of the things that make us unique. When the warm winds summon the woollies of the world to the land of ice and fire, Lämmin the lamb sets out on an adventure to find out who she is...
The good women of Safe Harbour : a novel
French, Bobbi
Paper Book
Winner 2023 Newfoundland Reads  Longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award Longlisted for the 2023 Leacock Medal Award Finalist for the 2023 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction Finalist for the 2023 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award  An...
The good women of Safe Harbour
French, Bobbi
Paper Book
Winner 2023 Newfoundland Reads  Longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award Longlisted for the 2023 Leacock Medal Award Finalist for the 2023 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction Finalist for the 2023 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award  An...
The good women of Safe Harbour : a novel
French, Bobbi
Paper Book
Winner 2023 Newfoundland Reads  Longlisted for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award Longlisted for the 2023 Leacock Medal Award Finalist for the 2023 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction Finalist for the 2023 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award  An...
Sweetland : a novel
Crummey, Michael
Paper Book
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package--the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses...
Sweetland : a novel
Crummey, Michael
Paper Book
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package--the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses...
Sweetland : a novel
Crummey, Michael
Paper Book
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package--the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses...
Sweetland : a novel
Crummey, Michael
Paper Book
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package--the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses...
The agony of Bun O'Keefe
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
Little Miss Sunshine meets Room in this quirky, heartwarming story of friendship, loyalty and discovery. It's Newfoundland, 1986. Fourteen-year-old Bun O'Keefe has lived a solitary life in an unsafe, unsanitary house. Her mother is a compulsive hoarder, and Bun has...
The agony of Bun O'Keefe
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
Little Miss Sunshine meets Room in this quirky, heartwarming story of friendship, loyalty and discovery. It's Newfoundland, 1986. Fourteen-year-old Bun O'Keefe has lived a solitary life in an unsafe, unsanitary house. Her mother is a compulsive hoarder, and Bun has...
The agony of Bun O'Keefe
Smith, Heather
Paper Book
Little Miss Sunshine meets Room in this quirky, heartwarming story of friendship, loyalty and discovery. It's Newfoundland, 1986. Fourteen-year-old Bun O'Keefe has lived a solitary life in an unsafe, unsanitary house. Her mother is a compulsive hoarder, and Bun has...
Creatures of the rock : a veterinarian's adventures in Newfoundland
Peacock, Andrew (Veterinarian)
Paper Book
 When you're the only veterinarian in an area that's 130 miles long and has a coast on either side, you never know what each new day might bring. A cow giving birth, a colicky horse, an aggressive lynx, caribou in need of pastures new, a polar bear in a bingo hall, a six-hundred-pound boar who...
Creatures of the rock : animal tales from a Newfoundland vet
Peacock, Andrew (Veterinarian)
Paper Book
 When you're the only veterinarian in an area that's 130 miles long and has a coast on either side, you never know what each new day might bring. A cow giving birth, a colicky horse, an aggressive lynx, caribou in need of pastures new, a polar bear in a bingo hall, a six-hundred-pound boar who...
Kit's law
Morrissey, Donna
Paper Book
In this powerful novel from one of the most gifted storytellers to emerge from Canada since Carol Shields, we find "all the old-fashioned virtues: a vivid sense of place, an intricate and suspenseful plot, and a feisty heroine whom we can't help rooting for on every page" (Margot Livesey). Kit...
Kit's law
Morrissey, Donna
Paper Book
In this powerful novel from one of the most gifted storytellers to emerge from Canada since Carol Shields, we find "all the old-fashioned virtues: a vivid sense of place, an intricate and suspenseful plot, and a feisty heroine whom we can't help rooting for on every page" (Margot Livesey). Kit...
February
Moore, Lisa
Paper Book
February is Lisa Moore's heart-stopping follow-up to her debut novel, Alligator, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Caribbean and Canadian region. Propelled by a local tragedy, in which an oil rig sinks in a violent storm off the coast of Newfoundland, February...
February
Moore, Lisa
Paper Book
February is Lisa Moore's heart-stopping follow-up to her debut novel, Alligator, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Caribbean and Canadian region. Propelled by a local tragedy, in which an oil rig sinks in a violent storm off the coast of Newfoundland, February...
February
Moore, Lisa
Paper Book
February is Lisa Moore's heart-stopping follow-up to her debut novel, Alligator, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Caribbean and Canadian region. Propelled by a local tragedy, in which an oil rig sinks in a violent storm off the coast of Newfoundland, February...

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