One eRead Canada 2024 Literary Choice

Cover image of the book The Break by Katherena Vermette

Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah, with the French version translated by Daniel Grenier, is this year’s One eRead Canada book. It’s available with no holds or waiting lists from April 1-30, 2024.

Download the eBook or eAudiobook:  

eBook – English  
eBook - French 
eAudiobook - French
eAudiobook - English 

 

About the Book 
 
A vivid love letter to the 1980s and one woman’s struggle to overcome the challenges of immigration. 

It’s 1986, and Muna Heddad is in a bind. She and her son have moved to Montreal, leaving behind a civil war filled with bad memories in Lebanon. She had plans to find work as a French teacher, but no one in Quebec trusts her to teach the language. She needs to start making money, and fast. The only work Muna can find is at a weight-loss center as a hotline operator. 

All day, she takes calls from people responding to ads seen in magazines or on TV. On the phone, she’s Mona, and she’s quite good at listening. These strangers all have so much to say once someone shows interest in their lives–marriages gone bad, parents dying, isolation, personal inadequacies. Even as her daily life in Canada is filled with invisible barriers at every turn, at the office Muna is privy to her clients’ deepest secrets. 

Following international acclaim for Niko (2011) and The Bleeds (2018), Dimitri Nasrallah has written a vivid elegy to the 1980s, the years he first moved to Canada, bringing the era’s systemic challenges into the current moment through this deeply endearing portrait of struggle, perseverance, and bonding. 

About One eRead Canada  

This national One Book, One City initiative is an opportunity for all public libraries to participate in a Canada-wide digital reading program. It’s presented by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council / Conseil des Bibliothèques Urbaines du Canada (CULC/CBUC).  
 
Un livrel/One eRead Canada brings people and libraries together from coast to coast to read / listen to a single title in both English and French and engage with each other about how it impacted them. Similar to a One Book, One City program, but on a national scale and in digital format, and with a bilingual offering. It highlights French and English literary gems from Canada, and celebrates works in translation. 

Books are an important means of connecting and understanding the world around us; the importance of access to digital books and audio has never been so clear for libraries and our users. 

Share your thoughts on this year’s novel by using  these hashtags on your social media: 

#1eReadLivrelCanada #BookClub  

Join the One eRead Canada Book Club Facebook Live Group.  

National Online Events  

Stay tuned for more details to attend English and French Facebook events in April! 

Consultez le livre numérique ou le livre audio-numérique et discutez en ligne de la sélection 2024 de Un Livrel/One eRead Canada avec d'autres amateurs de livres.