Wonderland Road
In the near future, the collapse of social and political order turns a city upside down. Those who can afford it are leaving in droves for fortress communities to the north while those left behind are either migrating to the “Farms” to fill the gaps in the global supply chain or figuring out how to survive under the new conditions set out by a mega corporation, Bayson Inc.
Just because things are teetering towards disaster doesn’t mean that life has stopped. Some, like Pauline, are mourning for lost loved ones; young adults such as Julian are trying to find purpose when the certainty of a known future is gone; and small, lonely girls like Jing find companionship by befriending crows. In a small neighbourhood in the suburbs of the city, community members of both the human and animal variety work side-by-side in order to find new ways to live.
Wonderland Road is a novel replete with hope for a new beginning even in the face of despair. Carrianne Leung brings deft insight to humanity’s reaction to an approaching finale and shows what really matters.
PRAISE FOR LEUNG'S DEBUT STORY COLLECTION THAT TIME I LOVED YOU
“In That Time I Loved You Carianne Leung introduces us to a multitude of intertwined, felt and feeling lives in a Scarborough suburb. Her short stories are crafted like houses, separated by chain link fence. We dedicate ourselves to knowing each character, their hidden, fully inhabited interior; only to glimpse them again later in vivid, green glimpses, painfully undone. Probing love, loneliness, social injustice and the wish to be revealed, her characters stammer and blurt, say the wholly unexpected, their lives tender and brave on the tips of their tongues.”
— CITY OF TORONTO JURY STATEMENT ABOUT THAT TIME I LOVED YOU
“As if channeled by Gladys Kravitz and Charlie’s Angels, Leung’s stories read like the juiciest verified gossip.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Written in the tradition of Alice Munro and Jhumpa Lahiri, Leung’s debut story collection marks the career of a writer to watch.”
— starred KIRKUS review
“Crystalline prose, sharp storytelling, and pitch-perfect narration enhance Leung’s accessible and affecting depiction of how cruelty undermines and kindness fortifies people’s sense of community.” — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Leung, author of Toronto Book Award-finalist The Wondrous Woo (2014), walks readers through the matching split-levels of a Toronto suburb in her striking U.S. debut…. Readers peer through chain-link fences and discretely pulled curtains along with Leung’s vivid, quotable characters-and are reminded that life doesn’t happen between soap-opera episodes, cigarettes smoked at the kitchen sink, and trips to the mall, but during them.”— starred BOOKLIST review
“Every portrait is eloquent and lingers in your mind.” — CANADIAN LIVING
“That Time I Loved You is amazing, heart-breaking, probing, tender; apocalyptic, in the truest sense. With an activist’s compassion and a poet’s eye, Leung challenges everything we knew (or thought we knew) about the suburbs. Behind the facade of tidy houses, manicured lawns, and well-behaved dogs live characters imprisoned by sadness and despair, battling racism and social injustice, yet relentless in their pursuit of love. This is the best coming-of-age story I’ve read in a long time.”— YASUKO THANH, author of Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains
“In That Time I Loved You, Carrianne Leung reveals a suburb on the cusp of change, families whose names are no longer Smith and Watson, but rather Chow and Da Silva. Leung illuminates with clear unassuming prose and much compassion, a neighbourhood that is complex, disturbing, funny, sad and very human.” — JUDY FONG BATES, author of Midnight at the Dragon Café and The Year of Finding Memory
a novel by Carrianne K.Y. Leung
AN APOCALYPTIC FAIRY TALE ABOUT WHAT REMAINS WHEN EVERYTHING WE KNOW COMES TO AN END
“Extraordinary and deeply felt, Wonderland Road is a modern classic. Leung’s writing carries the immense weight of our troubled times, but where there is deep sorrow and permeating loss, there is also an abundance of unabashed beauty and hope in this stunning tale of radical kinship, community building, and chosen family. The characters fight, dream, love, and even thrive in a perilous world that has long collapsed, but while societal conditions are harsh and damaging, they must learn to navigate unexpected relationships, both animal and human. This is a beautiful speculative novel about the inherent goodness of humanity told by an extremely gifted writer of our times. You will weep and rejoice simultaneously as Leung shatters your heart and then miraculously rebuilds it.” — LINDSAY WONG, author of The Woo Woo
“Wonderland Road is a slow-burning, cautionary tale—foreboding and unforgettable. Reading it feels like watching a fuse burn toward hidden dynamite. Before I knew it, the story had split me wide open—then, with the precision of a surgeon, it stitched me back together. It’s about lost connections, regret, hope, betrayal. About finding light in the dark. About coming of age in an apocalypse. About collusion and resistance. About surviving, enduring, and—despite it all—thriving. It’s about holding space for what hurts, and choosing to keep going anyway.” — YASUKO THANH, award-winning author of Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains
“How do we love each other while the world is on fire? This is the question Carrianne Leung grapples with in her latest, much-anticipated book. Wonderland Road follows characters Pauline, Jing and Julian as they dare to see their value beyond their own labour, family in the wake of loss and a future through the smoke of wildfires.” — CATHERINE HERNANDEZ, author of Scarborough, Behind You and The Story of Us
Read an excerpt
See all author's titles
See also
carrianneleung.com
70,000 words
Final manuscript now available
RIGHTS SOLD
Canada: HarperCollins (April 14, 2026)
(Photo: Sarah Couture McPhail)
ABOUT CARRIANNE LEUNG
Carrianne Leung is a fiction writer and educator. Her first novel, The Wondrous Woo (Inanna Publications), was a finalist for the 2014 City of Toronto Book Award, and in 2018 That Time I Loved You, a collection of linked stories, won the Danuta Gleed Award for the best first story collection, and was also a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Award. She holds a PhD in Sociology and Equity Studies from OISE/University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto with her son.
CBC Books: 13 Reasons Why showrunner options Carrianne Leung's That Time I Loved You for TV
Carrianne Leung in The Globe & Mail: In Hong Kong, kinship is a piece of cake
Quill & Quire: Carrianne Leung wins $10,000 prize for debut story collection
Congratulations, Carrianne! That Time I Loved You wins the 22nd annual Danuta Gleed Literary award