It's the summer of 2013 and 21-year-old Ruby, a counselor at Camp Burntshore, can't wait to supervise a rowdy cabin of 11-year-olds, smoke weed by the fire and argue about which city make the best bagels. But when Brent, the camp owner's son, hires Israeli soldiers to deal with a staffing shortfall, Ruby, a committed anti-Zionist, must decide if she's willing to jeopardize her place at Burntshore to fight Brent over the contentious issues of Jewish belonging and settler colonialism, even as she finds herself falling in love with one of the soldiers, the sweetly handsome Etai.

Soon it becomes clear that the conflict is not just about the camp's internal divisions but also about Burntshore's relationship with the neighboring Black Spruce First Nation, strained because of Brent's larger scheme to buy the Crown land surrounding the lake. As campers swim, go canoe tripping and stage an over-the-top musical, Ruby has to contend with her feelings for Etai while simultaneously trying to save her beloved camp from greed and colonialism. A social satire, romance, and political commentary all in one, Lake Burntshore celebrates the contemporary Jewish world through its most iconic symbol — the often idyllic yet always dramatic summer camp.

(From ECW Press)

Lake Burntshore is available in April 2025.

Aaron Kreuter is the Toronto author of the short story collection You and Me, Belonging and the poetry collection Arguments for Lawn Chairs. You and Me, Belonging won The Miramichi Reader's 2019 "The Very Best Of!" award for short fiction, and was shortlisted for a Vine Award for Jewish Literature in the fiction category. His sophomore poetry collection Shifting Baseline Syndrome was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.