You are invited to join people from across the country in reading Hotline by Dimitri Nasrallah for One eRead Canada.
Throughout April, libraries will be making Hotline available as an eBook and eAudiobook without waitlists or holds - both in English and in in French (translated by Daniel Grenier).
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.
- Esplanade Books
The book will be available across our digital collections, collections and format availability are listed below.
ORL eBooks|OverDrive and the Libby App (eBook, eAudiobook)
CELA (DAISY Audio)
NNELS (Doc, EPUB)
Bibliothèque Numérque de la C.-B. (eBook)
NNELS (EPUB)
View our info pages for tutorials and instructions on downloading digital books.
Discuss the book with readers from across the country in the One eRead Canada Facebook group and follow One eRead Canada on Instagram.
Hotline makes a great pick for book clubs! Use the Book Club Discussion Guide to help get the conversation started and learn about the background of the novel. Not in a book club? Tell your friends and family from across Canada to read the book and meet virtually to share your thoughts.
Launched in 2019, One eRead Canada is an annual initiative by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council to promote digital reading through public libraries, while also raising awareness about issues that libraries face in providing access to eBooks and eAudiobooks.