When:

Sunday November 6, 10.00 am 

Where:

King Edward Hotel, 37 King St E.

Brunch is served in the Vanity Fair Ballroom on the second floor of the King Edward Hotel.

Tickets are $55.00 each (taxes included) and must be purchased in advance.

Tickets are non-refundable.

Please call us at 416.361.0032 with your credit card information to reserve tickets

The Candidate: Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Noah Richler

Doubleday Canada

During the 2015 federal election, approximately 1200 political campaigns were held across Canada. One of those campaigns belonged to author, journalist, and political neophyte Noah Richler. Recruited by the NDP to run in the bellwether riding of Toronto-St Paul’s, he was handed $350 and told he would lose. But as veteran NDP activists and social-media-savvy newbies joined his campaign, Richler found himself increasingly insulated from the stark reality that his campaign was flailing, imagining instead that he was headed to Parliament Hill. In The Candidate, Richler recounts his time on the trail in sizzling detail and hilarious frankness, from door knocking in Little Jamaica to being internet-shamed by experienced opponents. The Candidate lays bare what goes on behind the slogans, canvassing, and talking points, told from the perspective of a political outsider. With his signature wit and probing eye, Noah Richler’s chronicle of running for office is insightful, brutally honest, and devastatingly funny.

Hero of the Empire by Candice Millard

Doubleday

At age twenty-four, Winston Churchill was utterly convinced it was his destiny to become prime minister of England one day, despite the fact he had just lost his first election campaign for Parliament.  He believed that to achieve his goal he must do something spectacular on the battlefield. In Hero of the Empire, Candice Millard spins an epic story of bravery, savagery, and chance encounters with a cast of historical characters—including Rudyard Kipling, Lord Kitchener, and Mohandas Gandhi—with whom he would later share the world stage. But Hero of the Empire is more than an adventure story, for the lessons Churchill took from the Boer War would profoundly affect 20th century history.

An American Princess: The Remarkable Life of Marguerite Chapin Caetani by Laurie Dennett

McGill-Queen’s University Press

In An American Princess, Laurie Dennett relates the remarkable story of a New England girl whose wealth, intelligence, and charm took her to the heart of aristocratic and intellectual Europe. Marguerite Chapin (1880-1963) was the product of two cultures: her father’s enterprising American one and her mother’s French heritage, which enabled her to move to Paris when she inherited a fortune at age twenty-one. Her marriage, in 1911, to the composer Prince Roffredo Caetani, a member of one of Italy’s oldest dynasties, added a whole new dimension to her life. When Marguerite and Roffredo moved to Rome in 1932, Ninfa, the estate where the Caetani had created a garden among the ruins of a medieval town, offered a refuge from fascism and an outlet for creativity. An engrossing biography based on extensive original research, An American Princess celebrates Marguerite Chapin Caetani’s impressive accomplishments and legacy.

A Number of Things: Stories About Canada Told Through 50 Objects by Jane Urquhart

HarperCollins

From one of our nation’s most beloved and iconic authors comes a lyrical 150th birthday gift to Canada. Jane Urquhart chooses 50 Canadian objects and weaves a rich and surprising narrative that speaks to our collective experience as a nation.

Each object is beautifully illustrated by the noted artist Scott McKowen, with Jane Urquhart conjuring and distilling meaning and magic from these unexpected facets of our history.

The fifty artifacts range from a Nobel Peace Prize medal, a literary cherry tree, a royal cowcatcher, a Beothuk legging, a famous skull and an iconic artist’s shoe, as well as an Innu tea doll, a Sikh RCMP turban, a Cree basket, a Massey-Harris tractor and a hanging rope, among an array of unexpected and intriguing objects.

Bringing the curiosity of the novelist and the eloquence of the poet to her task, Jane Urquhart composes a symphonic memory bank with objects that resonate with symbolic significance. In this compelling portrait of a completely original country called Canada, a master novelist has given all of us a national birthday bouquet like no other.