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Looking for the perfect holiday gift? CBC Books has compiled the best books of 2025 for you.
Discover our top picks for Canadian fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and children’s books of the year.
Fiction
Our top choice: Endling by Maria Reva
Endling narrates the tale of three women impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yeva, a scientist, focuses on breeding rare snails, funding her research by dating Westerners on romance tours in Ukraine. Sisters Nastia and Solomiya are also tangled in the marriage industry, seeking answers about their mother’s disappearance. As war erupts, their plans are disrupted, delving into the harsh realities of conflict.
Maria Reva, born in Ukraine and raised in New Westminster, B.C., currently resides in the same city. Her collection of short stories, Good Citizens Need Not Fear, received the 2022 Kobzar Literary Award and was shortlisted for the 2020 Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Reva’s debut novel, Endling, made the longlist for the 2025 Booker Prize and was a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Reva serves as a judge for the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize.