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Throw Down Your Shadows
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Sixteen-year-old Winnie is a creature of habit, a lover of ritual and stability. If she had her way, not much would change. But when a new family moves to town, Winnie and her three best friends—all boys—find themselves changing quickly and dramatically to impress Caleb, their strange and charismatic new companion. Under Caleb’s influence, Winnie and her friends test boundaries, flirt with danger, and in the end, illuminate darkness within each other and themselves.
Following a before and after structure that pivots around a mysterious and devastating fire at a local winery, Throw Down Your Shadows is a compelling exploration of the contours of young friendship and the development of powerful new appetites.
Reminiscent of The Girls by Emma Cline and Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, this literary coming-of-age story feeds a growing demand in adult fiction for candid portrayals of the young female experience as complex and provocative, and announces a bold new voice in Canadian fiction.
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Silver Hair and Golden Voice Austin Willis, from Halifax to Hollywood
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Over his extensive career, Halifax-born film, television, and radio performer Austin Willis worked with luminaries from Orson Welles and Peter Sellers to a young William Shatner (his subordinate in CBC’s Space Command—precursor to Star Trek). He bested Goldfinger at cards—with help from Sean Connery’s James Bond—and with his prematurely white hair, he became the debonair, wry host of the 1970s CBC-TV quiz show, This Is The Law.
Through his formidable personal library, his insatiable curiosity, and his conversations with the man himself, oral historian and archivist Ern Dick has brought the voice of Austin Willis to life in the memoir Willis wanted to write—but didn’t, because he never stopped performing.
Featuring a foreword by former CBC Radio personality Costas Halavrezos, afterword by arts and culture commentator Ron Foley MacDonald, and dozens of photos that highlight Willis’s greatest moments of stage, screen, and airwaves, Silver Hair and Golden Voice offers a unique perspective on the life of one of Canada’s most overlooked stars.
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All ‘Bout Canada A Compendium of Canadiana
Artist: Alex MacAskillPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95This fun, informative celebration of Canada is a combination rhyming alphabet book and compendium of factual information about Canada from “Aurora Borealis” to “Zellers” that uses a blend of poetry, prose, posters, jokes, and quizzes—many with a humorous twist—to educate and inform a diverse readership.
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Canada:150 Panoramas (pb)
Photographer: George FischerPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95From frosty Mount Logan in the Yukon to the salty shores of Newfoundland, George Fischer’s stunning landscape photography celebrates the diverse appeal of every province and territory in Canada. With a chapter devoted to each region, Fischer captures the rugged natural beauty, vibrant city life, and abundant flora and fauna of this wide country.
Short, narrative introductions accompany the stunning spreads and include brief historical anecdotes, interesting facts, provincial/territorial flowers, mottos, and capitals, and the date each province/territory joined Confederation. The perfect way to celebrate Canada’s 150th, Canada: 150 Panoramas is an essential collection for any photography lover, whether they call Canada home, or wish they did.
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A Forest for Calum
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95The story is Roddie’s. The stage is his guardian and grandfather Calum’s. A quiet and stoic man, Calum Gillies and his aging friends illuminate for us the changing world around them: the loss of the coal mines, the labour strife and lean years endured, the religious parochialism that divides families and communities and, most important, a disappearing language. The setting is Cape Breton; the themes of cultural and rural change and decline are universal.
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Good Mothers Don’t
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95It’s 1960 and Elizabeth is slowly coming apart. Her reality is splintering and she wants to harm her children. Fifteen years later, Elizabeth is desperately trying to fill in the gaps electric shock therapy has left in her memory. She longs to find her children and explain that she never meant to leave for so long. A moving exploration of illness, memory, and how we fight for who we love.
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Nova Scotia’s Historic Harbours The Seaports that Shaped the Province
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95With twenty-five historical photos, and featuring profiles of more than fifty harbours—from the Bedford Basin to Shelburne Harbour to Cobequid Bay, Louisbourg, and Canso—Nova Scotia’s Historic Harbours explores each harbour’s historical significance and explores how these communities have been shaped by the sea, and how Nova Scotia’s growth has been driven by its harbours.
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Kings of Friday Night The Lincolns
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Over a span of ten years, The Lincolns played rock ‘n’ roll, R & B, and soul, not just in their hometown of Truro but at dances and on campuses across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They changed the lives of small-town kids clamouring for a beat that would move their feet, their hips, and their hearts. Through interviews, stories, and photos, The Lincolns will stir fond memories for the band’s countless fans.
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Prophet of the Wilderness Abraham Gesner
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Shipwreck and arrest were common setbacks in the early nineteenth century, but neither slowed the rise of scientist and inventor Abraham Gesner (1797–1864). He possessed a curious mind and a dynamic speaking style, enlivened by his many fact-finding travels throughout the Maritime provinces and beyond. Of his innovative experiments, the most famous led to a refining method for a new fuel named kerosene, an invention that would change the world.
This biography depicts a man far ahead of his time, as interested in social problems—such as lighting cities at night and establishing decent immigrant settlements—as he was in advancing science and industry. A fascinating and meticulously research account of a man too often not given the credit he deserved.
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The Hermit
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Eleven year old Danny was hoping to have a simple, fun summer, but his plans are derailed when developers threaten to build condos on his community’s beloved soccer field and when he cultivates an unexpected friendship with a hermit living in the nearby woods. Further uncovered secrets might just help Danny save the soccer field once and for all.
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Under Amelia’s Wing Book 2 of the Ginny Ross Series
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95A STEM-friendly novel about a girl who just wants to learn to fly. Stubborn to a fault, Ginny Ross is enrolled at Purdue University to earn her pilot’s license and help her friend and mentor, Amelia Earhart, recruit more young women into aviation and engineering. But when Amelia goes missing in 1937, Ginny must learn to carry on alone.
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Évangéline The Many Identities of a Literary Icon
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$34.95Sociologist Joseph Yvon Thériault presents three versions of the literary heroine: Évangéline the Acadian, Évangéline the Canadian, and Évangéline the American. Can these three distinct identities be merged, and will survive the effects of globalization?
CBC most anticipated non-fiction of Spring 2021
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Use Your Imagination!
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890—when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property—and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock’s resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood becomes obsessed by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself.
The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. In seven long stories, Kris Bertin examines the complex labyrinth of lies, delusions, compromise, and fabrication that makes up our personal history and mythology. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.
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The Boy Who Moved Christmas
Artist: Carloe (Shan) LiuPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Based on a true story, Evan is sick and may not make it to December. His town decorates for Christmas in October so they can celebrate with him but will everything be ready? Will Santa know to come?
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Casey The Remarkable, Untold Story of Frederick Walker “Casey” Baldwin: Gentleman, Genius, and Alexander Graham Bell’s Protégé
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Eleven months before the historic 1909 flight of the Silver Dart in Baddeck, Frederick Walker “Casey” Baldwin, became the first Canadian to fly. One of Alexander Graham Bell’s young associates, Casey was an aeronaut, engineer and politician—and heralded as a true genius. In this biography by John Langley, Casey’s remarkable story is told in full for the first time.
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It’s Our Time Honouring the African Nova Scotian Communities of East Preston, North Preston, Lake Loon/Cherry Brook
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The Black Loyalists were the first large group of people of African ancestry to settle in Halifax, in 1782. In 1796 the Jamaican Maroons arrived. Then in 1813, Black refugees fleeing the United States came. These Loyalists, Maroons, and refugees settled in the Preston area, and although some subsequently left for Sierra Leone, many stayed and established the largest community of African Nova Scotians in the province. Since then, the Preston township—comprising North Preston, East Preston, and Lake Loon/Cherry Brook—has become a web of vibrant neighbourhoods with a rich and complex history.
With care and precision, award-winning writer Wanda Lauren Taylor delves into the history and development of this area, the organizations and churches that helped bolster the population, and the struggles, successes, and personal stories of several Preston-area residents. Through interviews and archival documents, Taylor shows how a resilient group of marginalized people built a thriving community that generations of African Nova Scotians can be proud of. Contains seventy-five images, both contemporary and archival, of the people and places around Preston.
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Canadian Spirits The Essential Cross-Country Guide to Distilleries, Their Spirits, and Where to Imbibe Them
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Take a spirited tour of the distilleries of Canada with award-winning, bestselling authors Stephen Beaumont and Christine Sismondo. Featuring over 75 colour photos, Canadian Spirits provides thirsty readers with reviews of spirits and the distilleries in which they are produced, as well as the history of Canada’s distilling industry. Raise a glass with this cross-Canada roadmap to exploring craft spirits.
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My House is a Lighthouse Stories of Lighthouses and Their Keepers
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Can you imagine yourself as a light keeper? Could you live full-time on an isolated coast? Your job is to keep a light shining out to sea, guiding ships to land, warning them of jagged shoreline, and maybe even assisting with a rescue in the case of a shipwreck.
Even though there are 750 lighthouses across North America, only 51 light keepers actively live and work in one in Canada, and just 1 keeper remains in the United States. In the newest installment of Nimbus’s popular Compass series, Christine Welldon takes readers past the postcard-perfect image and depicts a day in the life of 11 modern light keepers. From Cape Beale, British Columbia, to Puffin Island, Newfoundland, learn about the grit, intelligence, and quick thinking that helps keep our coastlines safe. Expertly weaving the historical with the modern, Welldon shows us how light keepers are still bound by an age-old mission: “Keep the light shining. Be ever watchful. Help those in trouble on the sea.”
Includes over 50 full-colour photos, illustrations, and maps, as well as a glossary, index, and historical timeline.
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Nova Scotia Folk Art An Illustrated Guide
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95There may be many folk artists in Canada, but there is only one integrated folk art scene: the one in Nova Scotia.
Classic folk art is the work of artists who did not think of themselves as artists, who made art that they never considered to be art at all. There were no festivals, no galleries, and no touring exhibitions when they started—just a sign by the side of the road, a painted house, or colourful sculptures in the yard to attract the attention of passers-by. Today in Nova Scotia, contemporary folk art has become a distinct style, one which stresses individual creativity over collective utility. The maker, and their stories, is central to the appeal.
Written by former Art Gallery of Nova Scotia curator Ray Cronin, Nova Scotia Folk Art features profiles of fifty artists—some obscure and some well known—from the first, second, and third waves of folk art. The list includes Barry Colpitts, Laura Kenney, Ralph Boutilier, Craig Naugler, Joseph Norris, and Maud Lewis. With more than 150 colour images, this illustrated guide explores the exhibitions, collections, and festivals that allowed a group of Nova Scotia artists to move their creations from the roadside to the museum, and in so doing to create its own genre: Nova Scotia Folk Art.
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Saltwater Chronicles Notes on Everything Under the Nova Scotia Sun
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95This book celebrates the ordinary: the everyday disasters and discoveries that shape a life. In this, his one hundredth book, Lesley Choyce takes readers along as he writes about nearly everything under the sun from his home by the sea on the North Atlantic coast of Canada—all of it most ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.
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Atlantic Canada’s Greatest Storms
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Wind, waves and snow: Atlantic Canada has experienced more than its share of dramatic and tragic storms. In this accessible narrative, author Dan Soucoup takes readers from the eighteenth century to present day, as he details the blizzards, floods, tornadoes—and even tsunamis—that have brought havoc to the East Coast.
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The Book of Selkie
Artist: Briana Corr ScottPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Stories about the selkie have been told for hundreds of years by those who live near the North Atlantic and North Sea. Sometimes called “seal folk,” the selkie, as humans, are tall and strong with dark hair and eyes. Extremely private, they keep their seal coats hidden away until they get restless and are called to the sea, and take on their seal forms.
In her lyrical follow-up to She Dreams of Sable Island, artist and author Briana Corr Scott explores the Selkie legend in a book of short, whimsical poems. Find out what Selkie likes to eat, where she lives, how she spends her time on land and in the sea, and learn a Selkie lullaby. Lilting and lyrical, with acrylic paintings that recall the ocean?s depths, this magical book is ideal for both bedtime and playtime. Features a paper doll, clothes, and seal.
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Grandfather’s House Returning to Cape Breton
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Grandfather’s House is Clive Doucet’s follow-up to My Grandfather’s Cape Breton, published in 1980 and continuously in print. Now a grandfather himself, Doucet muses about this role. While he believed as a child that to be a grandfather was to own a farm by the sea, he now realizes that his job as a grandfather is to tell stories. In doing so, he traces the history of the Doucets back to Acadie, then to the early years of the Cape Breton village of Grand Étang and to modern-day Ottawa.
Doucet’s musings are interspersed with poetry, short stories, and with summer adventures with his grandchildren in Grand Étang. He paints a loving portrait of his grandfather’s village and the people, past and present, who make it a vibrant community. The themes of resilience and rejuvenation permeate the memoir, which is both rooted in nostalgia and filled with hope for a more sustainable future.
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Cod Collapse The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland’s Saltwater Cowboys
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95It’s 1992 in Newfoundland and Labrador and the cod moratorium has put some thirty thousand fishers out of work. Journalist Jenn Thornhill Verma blends memoir and research in this gripping account of the enduring legacy of the largest mass layoff in Canadian history. Tracing the early history of the fishery to the present, Verma considers what lies ahead and what was lost along the way.
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Anne of Green Gables : The Original Manuscript
Editor: Carolyn Strom CollinsPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95This fascinating book presents the original text of Montgomery’s most famous manuscript, including where the author scribbled notes, made additions and deletions, and other editorial details. L. M. Montgomery scholar Carolyn Strom Collins offers a rare look into Montgomery’s creative process, providing a never-before-published version of the worldwide phenomenon.
This book differs from previous versions of Anne in that it provides a transcription of the text and notes from Montgomery’s original manuscript, and shows how they were integrated to form the full novel. The culmination of years of research, Anne of Green Gables: the Original Manuscript is a necessary addition to any Montgomery lover’s collection. This volume features scans of the first page of each chapter from the original archived document (showing editorial notes in Montgomery’s handwriting) and an appendix of rare foreign-language covers.
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Ultimate African Heritage Quiz 10th Anniversary edition
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book will test your knowledge of the many notable people, places, and events that have shaped African culture in the Maritimes. Based on the immensely popular African Heritage Youth Quiz contest held at Halifax North Memorial Public Library every year, The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book is a great way to bring the fun and excitement of the game home.
Packed with over three hundred questions about black literary figures, civil rights leaders, sports stars, historical events, and a wide variety of other topics, The Ultimate African Heritage Quiz Book is sure to challenge and entertain trivia fans of all ages and ethnicities.
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Annaka
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Upon returning to her childhood home of Yarmouth, Anna—once known as Annaka—relives memories from her younger self and faces some uncomfortable truths. This bittersweet homecoming forces Anna to reconcile who she was with who she is becoming. From the celebrated spoken-word poet and author of Worthy of Love comes a YA novel about family, identity, and reclaiming the past.
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No Girls Allowed Inspired by the True Story of a Girl Who Fought for her Right to Play
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95All 10-year-old Tina wants is to play hockey. In Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1977, however, there’s no team for girls and Tina isn’t allowed to play on the boys’ team. Sheer determination, and support from her family, drives her to take the fight to the Human Rights Commission, all in order to do what she loves most: play hockey.
