Title: Scarborough
Description: CANADA READS RUNNER-UP, 2022

NOW A MOTION PICTURE directed by Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson; screenplay by Catherine Hernandez

Trillium Book Award and City of Toronto Book Award finalist; Edmund White Debut Fiction Award finalist; A Globe 100, National Post and Quill and Quire Best Book of the Year

Scarborough is a low-income, culturally diverse neighbourhood east of Toronto, the fourth largest city in North America; like many inner-city communities, it suffers under the weight of poverty, drugs, crime, and urban blight. Scarborough the novel employs a multitude of voices to tell the story of a tight-knit neighbourhood under fire: among them, Victor, a black artist harassed by the police; Winsum, a West Indian restaurant owner struggling to keep it together; and Hina, a Muslim school worker who witnesses first-hand the impact of poverty on education.

And then there are the three kids who work to rise above a system that consistently fails them: Bing, a gay Filipino boy who lives under the shadow of his father's mental illness; Sylvie, Bing's best friend, a Native girl whose family struggles to find a permanent home to live in; and Laura, whose history of neglect by her mother is destined to repeat itself with her father.

Scarborough offers a raw yet empathetic glimpse into a troubled community that locates its dignity in unexpected places: a neighbourhood that refuses to be undone.
Subjects: Poverty, Fiction, Fiction, general, Ontario, fiction, Pauvreté, Romans, nouvelles, neighbourhoods, Community life, Multiculturalism, Mental Health, Canadian fiction, Canadian literature, Collection:Canada Reads, Collection:Canada Reads 2022, LGBTQ novels, BIPoC, Youth culture, Asian literature, collection:edmund_white_award=finalist
Places: Scarborough (Ont.), Greater Toronto Area (Ont.), Eastern Canada, canada
People: Victor, Winsum, Hina, Bing, Sylvie, Laura