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COMING JULY 2012: 
ONE GOOD HUSTLE

"Stuck in a rough hustle, the sensitive daughter of two con artists uses badass honesty and wit to survive.  Funny, sharp and tender, ONE GOOD HUSTLE delivers a gritty page-turner about what happens when love and loyalty collide with self-preservation." 
—Eden Robinson, author of Monkey Beach & Blood Sports

"What a joy to read a work so brave and unsettling. Billie Livingston holds nothing back: the terrors of teenage life; the charm of criminals; and the innocence and anger of girls on the run. Sammie Bell is Holden Caulfield, if he was born on the wrong side of the tracks and wandering through Vancouver streets."
—Rebecca Godfrey, author of The Torn Skirt & Under the Bridge
“In ONE GOOD HUSTLE, Billie Livingston once again masterfully deploys her edgy wit to create a perfectly pitched adolescent voice, an unforgettable heroine whose scam artist toughness is matched only by her yearning for authenticity. A great read from start to finish. 
—Lilian Nattel, author of Web of Angels
                                                                                  GREEDY LITTLE EYES

Winner of The Danuta Gleed Literary Award
Winner  of the CBC Bookie Award
Globe and Mail “Best Book” Selection
Georgia Straight “Outstanding Book” Selection

“Dark, funny, graceful, witty: Billie Livingston's voice has an intense intimacy that evokes trust, almost confession....(GREEDY LITTLE EYES) is like a tray of treats that you can have one at a time, or gobble up all at once.”
— Globe and Mail (Best Book Selection)

“Billie Livingston’s first collection of short fiction exhibits her trademark snappy wit while delving into the sadder aspects of life...Livingston gets to the heart of human need, with all its confusion and messiness and she does so with  textured emotion and blistering prose.” 
— Quill and Quire  (starred review)  

“..reading—any kind of reading—wakes up your mind to the equal and opposite extent that TV puts it to sleep. And that’s especially true when what your reading is as eloquent and insightful as Livingston’s work.”  
—The Georgia Straight (Outstanding Book Selection)
 
 
 
      CEASE TO BLUSH

Best Book Selection: Globe and Mail, January Magazine, Tyee.ca
Book of the Month: Chatelaine Magazine, Flare Magazine, YummyMummyClub.ca


"With CEASE TO BLUSH Livingston has made her rep as one of the most dangerous writers you will ever be lucky enough to encounter."
—The Vancouver Review

“Provocative but wildly fun... It's a book that ought to be put in a time capsule and dug up 100 years from now by women who, with any luck, will have finally figured things out. A great read, in short, and you won't be able to put it down." 
— Globe and Mail (Best Book Selection)

"With its parallel stories, CEASE TO BLUSH is a well-crafted, thought-provoking novel about women's beauty and vanity and where it can take them and how a person's exterior can hide an unknown story." (Editor’s Choice) — Vancouver Sun
      
 
 
 
                                                                                        

GOING DOWN SWINGING

A Canada AM Book Selection 
Beyond Words Book Selection 

"GOING DOWN SWINGING is a moving first book, and Livingston a compelling new voice — 
one that should be welcomed and watched." 
— Globe and Mail

"Livingston succeeds gorgeously in capturing the messiness and unresolvable ambiguities of familial love. Her lovingly drawn, half-crazy characters always transcend a caseworker's clichés." 
— National Post

"Livingston's characters are scrappers. They're canny and sharp and share a dark streak of humour that comes from the love of family and the communal understanding of knowing who is the enemy." 
— New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
 
 
 
 
THE CHICK AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH
        Pat Lowther Award (Shortlist)

“A powerful debut collection, THE CHICK AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH  tears through memory, long legs flashing, dust aflyin'.” --The Georgia Straight

“When the skin horripilates, the mouth goes dry, and you feel (as Rilke put it) the past breaking out in your heart, you know this is poetry. Billie Livingston's THE CHICK AT THE BACK OF THE CHURCH is this rare, lightning-striking kind of poetry.” 
--BC Bookworld

“Meet (Livingston’s) comic alter ego in this first collection of poems that probably has the ghost of Lenny Bruce clapping from a back booth. Livingston gives us shots of the hard stuff, but served chilled and always with a twist.”--The Vancouver Sun
 
 
 
 
                                                         THE TROUBLE WITH MARLENE
 
                                                                                             
“… these two stories published in one volume will catch the attention of hi/lo readers.” —School Library Journal, 05/11 

“Teens who love gritty, real life stories with “what if?” situations are sure to like these stories.” —CM Magazine, 11/10 

“… a fast-moving and intensely dark story. Kudos to Livingston for shedding light on a very dysfunctional situation that we all know exists, but refuse to acknowledge.” —unexpectedtnt.com, 04/11/11