Mothers’ Day 2026 Gift List
As Seen on CTV Your Morning
For this year’s Mothers’ Day book list I’m featuring eight titles written by Canadian women spanning various genres. There is truly something here for everyone! This list was featured on the May 8th episode of CTV Your Morning.
For mystery lovers, Moonlight Murder is the second book in the Detective Aunty series, featuring a South Asian Muslim Aunty whose talent for listening turns into a gift for solving mysteries. There are two mysteries in this second volume- the suspicious death of a teenager in a neighbourhood pond, and the unsolved hit and run of Kausar’s own son, twenty years prior. You don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy the second, although it is also delightful and I recommend that you do! The Fourth Princess is a gothic mystery set in Shanghai in 1911, in which Lisan, a young Chinese woman accepts a job as a secretary for Caroline, a newly arrived white American who is tasked with fixing up an ailing and potentially haunted mansion. All the classic Gothic tropes are here- creepy house, ghosts of the past, and a woman going mad- but the friendship between Lisan and Caroline and the historical Chinese setting bring new live into the genre.
For historical fiction lovers, Wild People Quietis an intimate and compelling portrait of Florence, an Indigenous woman who has been passing as white for many years, until her brother turns up in her small Saskatchewan town in the 1940s. Reconnecting with her family and learning about the government’s plan for the Metis people living on the edge of town forces Florence to come to terms with her history, community, and how she wants to live in the world. City of the Muse is a classic historical fiction with two timelines. In the present, a young archeologist teams up with a famous (and handsome) TV archeologist to solve a mystery surrounding a strange series of events during the excavation of an ancient (and potentially cursed) Egyptian city, which we see play out in the second timeline (1903).
In Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, a young woman gets a job at a funeral parlour following the death of her infant daughter. This difficult premise is handled with care, grace, and humour. It’s not a book about grief, it’s a book about everything- love, joy, friendship, healing, and being human. Romance queen Carley Fortune returns with Our Perfect Storm- a great pick for moms who want a swoon-y escape. When Frankie is left (essentially) at the altar, her childhood friend George suggests the two of them go on her honeymoon trip to Tofino. One of the things Carley does best is showcase Canadian locations, and this time it’s the magical, misty beaches of British Columbia’s islands.
Fans of speculative fiction will savour Wonderland Road, a story of three very different people who connect in the midst of societal breakdown. This isn’t a story about the apocalypse so much as it is about what people do afterwards. How do we build community? What makes life worth living? The concept, characters and big ideas would make this an excellent book club pick. Finally, for the mom who loves nonfiction, Joyful, Anywayis a blend of memoir/personal reflection and research on concepts of happiness, joy, and productivity. The result is a refreshing antidote to the toxic positivity, life-hack books that promise simple solutions. Instead, we are invited to sit in our feelings and define what joy means on an individual level.