• Syncopation: A Novel in Verse

Syncopation: A Novel in Verse

by Whitney French

February 3, 2026 | ISBN 978-1-998408-28-3 | 300 Pages

Find at your local bookstore (Canada).

Find at your local book seller (Indiebound USA).

Regular price $24.00 CAD
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.

In the aftermath of a Memory War, society is fragmented into strange new cultures, castes and coalitions. Set against a backdrop of retrofitted food garages, microchip-sorting factories and hyperloop terminals, Whitney French brings us a dazzling novel in verse where memory is the highest currency and love, like all revolutions, is dangerous, unruly and singed with hope.

O and Z are two young women searching for purpose in a world where a decades-long earthquake reverberates through the Earth’s crust, and the population scrambles to hide from deadly acid rain. Descended from space pirates, O is drawn to the sky, while Z is earthbound, a skilled forager with connections to the black market. The two become travel companions and lovers until, torn between choosing their values or each other, a fateful decision must be made at the el Corazón space station.

In this speculative and intoxicating novel, French offers readers an intricate future-world that resonates so powerfully with our own, as it explores a people gripped in the war-torn politics of migration, memory-keeping, labour and survival.

“Wry, tender and powerfully inventive, Syncopation names the worlds and relations that may yet outlive a ravaged earth. Whitney French is herself a ‘Neo-Griot,’ creating an inhabitable future through rhythm, choral voice and incantatory memory work. This is vigilante storytelling, demanding not only speculative contexts but also generic refusals, a book that honours the sublime forms of love.” – David Chariandy, author of Soucouyant and Brother

"A vivid, compelling, active novel in verse. The world is divided into four quadrants, each plagued by its own unexpected weather. O and Z adore each other through the ruins of memory loss, earthquake, and world collapse, as they travel together towards a new way of being. Whitney French has a wonderful sense of image and true ear for beauty. I loved especially the play with déjà vu, the society of beings who eschew names as a way to stay together, and how Hogan's Alley appears anew as roadway of the future. This is an extraordinary book – original and strange." – Larissa Lai, author of The Tiger Flu and The Lost Century

Events with Whitney French

    • Paige LeBlanc, whitney french, syncopation: a novel in verse
      hamilton: buckrider books, 2026. $24.00       (Paige LeBlanc, The Ampersand Review, 6-Aug-2026)
      "This Black, queer, dystopian sci-fi novel in verse is a work of multiplicities, emphasizing the “offbeat,” underrepresented “nameless” characters. In doing so, Syncopation emphasizes the importance of intimacy and connection within revolutionary political movements through the timely, complex love story of O and Z: a love that forces the reader to navigate the tension between our personal and public desires for safety, intimacy, and justice."
    • 30 Canadian books to read this Pride Month and beyond (CBC Books, 11-June-2026)
      We're delighted to see Whitney French's Syncopation on the CBC's great list of books to read for Pride!
    • Whitney French's Syncopation a dystopian novel in verse (Shawn Conner, Vancouver Sun, 24-Feb-2026)
      "I didn’t want to write it this way at first — it was really hard — but it was either abandon the story or brush up my poetry chops"
    • The "Sorry Remnants of the World" (Zoe McKenna, The British Columbia Review, 14/01/2026)
      "Whitney French’s new novel-in-verse, Syncopation, is a beautiful, challenging narrative … Syncopation is ultimately a story about memory, history, and the dangers of forgetting far more than it is a story about ill-fated love in unlikely circumstances."
    • Syncopation by Whitney French (Paul Kincaid, Strange Horizons, 12/01/2026)
      "Vigorous, insistent, and stimulating, [Syncopation is] the sort of book that sets you off in an unexpected new direction."
    • Who's Who British Columbia (BC Bookworld, Winter 2025–2026)
      "Whitney French imagines a fractured future where memory is currency, migration is survival and love is as dangerous as it is vital in her speculative fiction novel, Syncopation."
    • 14 Canadian books coming out in November (CBC Books, 04/11/2025)
      It's great to see Whitney's novel included on this list!
    • New science-fiction books offer techno terror, body horror and a novel-length poem (Alex Good, the Toronto Star, 01/11/2025)
      "It’s Whitney French’s ability to blend experimentation in language with an earthy, often documentary-like directness that makes “Syncopation” a unique genre experience."
    • 50 Canadian fiction books we're excited about this fall (CBC Books, 21/08/2025)
      Whitney's book is one of 50 Canadian fiction books the CBC is excited about this fall
    • 2025 Fall Preview: Fiction (Cassandra Drudi, Quill & Quire, 23/07/2025)
      We're delighted to see Whitney French's amazing novel Syncopation on this list.
    • Most Anticipated: Our 2025 Fall Fiction Preview (49th Shelf, 10/07/2025)
      Whitney's novel in verse is included in this great list of most anticipated fall fiction.

  • Whitney French (she/her) is a writer, educator and publisher. She is the editor of the award-winning anthology Black Writers Matter (University of Regina, 2019) and Griot: Six Writers' Sojourn into the Dark (Penguin Random House, 2022). Whitney is a Black futurist who explores memory, loss, technology and nature in her work. She is a certified arts educator and an Assistant Professor in Creative Writing at the University of British Colombia. She is also the co-founder and publisher of Hush Harbour, the only Black queer feminist press in Canada.