Amy is a new mother, navigating the fog of those bewildering early days and struggling with a role she feels ill-prepared for. It's the first time in a decade that she hasn't been living the busy life of a successful children's musician, and her sense of self is unravelling. To make matters worse, her former bandmates have seemingly abandoned her.

In flashbacks, we see Amy's journey to artistic success — her stumblings as a solo singer-songwriter and her eventual evolution into acclaim as a children's entertainer. But as the novel progresses — and Amy grapples with a devastating loss — we come to understand how precarious definitions of artistic success can be and how hard it is to truly find our place in the world.

The Fun Times Brigade examines the enduring challenges of reconciling being an artist with being a mother, and how we ultimately fail and find the need to forgive those we love. It is also a timely reflection on what it really means to have a good life in a world that demands we have — and be — it all, and asserts that amidst the chaos, we can find our way back to our genuine selves.

(From Book*hug Press)

The Fun Times Brigade is available in May 2025.

Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a Toronto-based author and the creator of the Love Lettering Project. She holds a MA in creative writing from the University of Toronto. Her first picture book, Dear Street, was selected as a Junior Library Guild pick, named a Canadian Children's Book Centre Book of the Year and nominated for the 2024 Forest of Reading Blue Spruce Award. She is also the author of the novel Letters to Amelia.