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Relative Happiness (movie edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Lexie Ivy loves her little house in Cape Breton, her big family, and the endless sea that surrounds her. She wouldn’t trade her life for anything, but at thirty she’s starting to feel like something’s missing.
Enter Adrian, a charming backpacker who takes a wrong turn at the U.S. border and ends up on Lexie’s doorstep, and Joss, an irresistible man who disappears just as quickly as he arrives. Lexie’s peaceful life has suddenly become more complicated than she ever imagined.
Lesley Crewe’s funny, whip-smart debut novel brims with Cape Breton-style humour. Filled with heartache without succumbing to it, Relative Happiness is the story of life and love in a small town, of four sisters who love, betray, and rescue each other in turn, and of Lexie Ivy’s joyful awakening. Released as a feature film in 2015.
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Witnesses to a New Nation
Publisher: SSP Publications$29.95From pioneer houses to elegant neo-Classical churches, this collection from Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia is based on an exhibition of the same name that toured the province in 2017, to great acclaim. A must-have for historians, conservationists and architecture buffs, this volume is replete with great colour images and solid research and writing.
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Historic Architecture of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: SSP Publications$34.95Architect Scott Smith has complied a thorough and fascinating description of Prince Edward Island’s unique pre-1914 built heritage. From lighthouses to churches, picturesque houses to stately civic buildings, this is the only comprehensive study of architectural history in The Garden of the Gulf.
Seen through the eyes of an architect, this limited edition volume s meticulously detailed in its description and beautifully illustrated with black and white and color photography, drawings and archival material.
The Historic Architecture of Prince Edward Island is a must have for historians, collectors, students and anyone interested in the material history of this special place.
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The Winter House And Other Christmas Stories from Atlantic Canada
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95The Winter House includes a delightful mix of fiction and memories about Christmas in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. These 20 stories showcase Christmas scenes past and present, real and imagined—a revelry with a gang of rowdy mummers; childhood memories of school Christmas concerts; the tale of New Brunswick’s very first Santa Claus; and many more.
Selected fiction and non-fiction includes stories by David Adams Richards, Ernest Buckler, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Gary L. Saunders, and many others, with a foreword by Bruce Nunn. The Winter House will bring yuletide cheer in the best Atlantic Canadian tradition.
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Flavours of Halifax and Road Trips
Photographer: Heidi JirotkaPublisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$34.95Whether you consider yourself a foodie or you only dine out a couple of times a year, Flavours of Halifax and Road Trips offers you a window into the best food the city has to offer.
In Flavours of Halifax and Road Trips, the best of the region’s epicurean leaders take food lovers on a culinary journey through the city’s emerging hotspots. Quite simply, it is a celebration of the culinary scene in all its resplendent glory.
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Build the New Instant Boats
Publisher: WoodenBoat Books$21.95Harold “Dynamite” Payson was a lobsterman off his native Maine coast for many years before becoming a full-time boatbuilder; the sea and his shop have kindled in him a fond respect for the simplest, most direct course to one’s desired destination. This philosophy he has imparted in two previous books, Instant Boats and Go Build Your Own Boat!, and in many articles for National Fisherman, WoodenBoat, and Small Boat Journal.
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Nova Scotia Shaped by the Sea
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$24.95The history of Nova Scotia is an amazing story of a land and people shaped by the waves, the tides, the wind and the wonder of the North Atlantic. Lesley Choyce weaves the legacy of this unique coastal province, piecing together the stories written in the rocks, the wrecks and the record books of human glory and error. In this true-life adventure, he provides a down-to-earth journey through the natural and man-made history that is both refreshing and revealing. The story begins after the retreat of the glaciers when the first people arrived, and over thousands of years evolved the highly civilized Mi’kmaq culture. The arrival of the Europeans disrupted their life, unleashing tumultuous conflicts that would last centuries. Then came the power struggle between France and England, which was fought at sea as well as on land. As England emerged the victor, the Acadians were driven from the land they loved. Once the wars subsided, the pirates and privateers still plundered the seas, but the honest sailors and shipbuilders of Nova Scotia led the province into a flourishing world trade. During the First World War, Nova Scotia was again thrust into military action, resulting in one of the most devastating explosions ever to rip through a city. Decades later, Halifax was torn apart again, this time by military riots. Here in the new century, it is clear that the way of life along this coast is changing. But while the wealth of the sea has been plundered by human greed, the dreams of life in harmony with the fierce yet beautiful North Atlantic live on, even as the coastline continues to be carved away by the restless surge of the waves
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Story of the Chestnut Canoe
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The Chestnut Canoe Company began in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1897 and its impact was unequaled on the development of recreational canoeing and the canoe itself. Photos and images from the famed catalogues illustrate this intriguing Maritime story.
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Digging the City
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$16.95At the last census in 2006, just over 80 percent of Canada’s population lived in urban centres. How we feed that population and protect its food sources is an enduring subject of debate in food security circles these days. As consumers and citizens, we all need to take a hard look at the deficiencies in Canada’s ability to feed the urban poor; our dependence on imported foods and centralized food processing; our detachment from our food sources; the often problematic solutions to food security devised by governments, municipalities and non-profit groups; and where we are headed if we change nothing in these times when change is urgently needed. Many efforts are being made to introduce urban agriculture initiatives all across the country, to address the problems we’ve created and to protect our cities from real and potential crises in the food supply.
With passion and lyricism, Digging the City addresses the problems facing urban omnivores in the 21st century and looks at various policy, grassroots and utopian solutions being developed and implemented, while considering the pros and cons of plans such as vertical farms, urban fish farms, transition-town initiatives, seed banks, permaculture and water conservation projects.
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Canada’s First Nations 1850-1920
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$12.95This poignant and beautiful record of Canada’s First Nations people and their culture, as seen through the eyes of talented photographers, is a fascinating glimpse into Canada’s past. Of great historical and aesthetic interest, this collection of photographs captures the diversity and dignity of First Nations during a time of tumultuous change. Assembled by Edward Cavell, a former curator at Banff’s Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, the photographs span the period from the infancy of photography to the more sophisticated technology of 1920.
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Go Nuts Recipes That Really Shell Out
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$19.95Nuts make the most mundane foods extraordinary. The added crunch or buttery smoothness of a certain nut can change the dish completely. They are versatile, tasty, a great source of protein, available and affordable.
This exciting culinary collection has something for everyone, from the seasoned cook to the budding new chef. The recipes are of easy-to-medium difficulty with a few advanced choices, and encompass exotic, savory, sweet, affordable, healthy, organic, vegetarian and meat-lovers specialties. Well-tested, these dishes will get you rave reviews from family and friends. Along with helpful nutritional information and instructions on how to handle, store and toast different types of nuts, a pairing guide is also included so you will learn what food and beverages go well with each type of nut. Sample recipes include Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes, Honey Almond Spread, Sherried Mushroom and Chestnut Soup, Brie and Walnut Stuffed Figs, Chocolate Almond Fudge Cake and many more.
With a dish for every occasion, Go Nuts is the first cookbook that features an all-nut cast of culinary delight.
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Fish On Seafood Dishes That Make a Splash
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$19.95In this mouth-watering collection of seafood recipes, simplicity and great taste are key. For every home cook who has ever been intimidated by seafood, Fish On is a call to foster one’s own tastes and opinions. The book focuses exclusively on preparing and cooking the most commonly harvested seafood found on the Pacific West Coast. Try your hand at dishes with salmon, halibut, snapper (rockfish), cod, prawns, mussels, clams, oysters, Dungeness crab, and scallops. Learn the different cooking methods (poaching, roasting, grilling, planking), and how they work for seafood.
A reminder that “good” and “complicated” aren’t synonyms, this is the go-to place for tasty recipes using seafood. Sidebars are included throughout the book with interesting facts on the science of cooking, and the nutritional information is included with each recipe for easy reference. Try recipes such as Tequila Lime Grilled Halibut, Thai Curried Mussels, or Drunken Prawns en Flambe. Impress friends and family by serving Tandoori Salmon with Mango Chutney, or Crab Bisque.
With accessible and easy-to-make recipes, Fish On is a selection of Pacific Northwest favourites sure to satisfy the seafood lover’s appetite.
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Canadian Wildlife Activity Book : Vol 1
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$9.95Tom Hunter’s outstanding artwork and clever brainteasers provide entertainment and instruction for children, parents and teachers. Canada is home to hundreds of species of amphibians, reptiles and insects, as well as over 1,200 different kinds of larger animals: birds, fish and mammals. Hunter provides an introduction to many of these species. Canadian Wildlife Activity Book: Volume One contains over 200 detailed illustrations, including the largest creature that has appeared on Earth: BC’s blue whale, a mammal that weighs up to 120 tonnes. Canada is also home to North America’s smallest mammal—the pygmy shrew, which weighs about the same as a soda cracker.
The Canadian Library Association calls this “a splendid activity book . . .drawings are accurate and the animals look as if they could step off the page . . .invaluable on a family camping holiday.”
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Canadian Wildlife Activity Book: Vol 2
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$9.95Tom Hunter’s outstanding artwork and clever brainteasers provide entertainment and instruction for children, parents and teachers. Canada is home to hundreds of species of amphibians, reptiles and insects, as well as over 1,200 different kinds of larger animals: birds, fish and mammals. Hunter provides an introduction to many of these species. Canadian Wildlife Activity Book: Volume Two contains over 200 detailed illustrations, ranging from Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to leopard frogs, which help children identify and appreciate their magnificent wildlife heritage.
The Canadian Library Association calls this “a splendid activity book . . .drawings are accurate and the animals look as if they could step off the page . . .invaluable on a family camping holiday.”
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Embedded on the Home Front
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$19.95Home front. It’s hard to separate that expression from war. In the First and Second World Wars, the home front was a clear entity and location: if you weren’t on the frontlines, you were on the home front. But during current times of peacekeeping, peacemaking and armed interventions, the notion of home front seems to comprise only those who are in some way directly affected by the military: family and friends of soldiers, returning soldiers or ex-soldiers—an invisible group camouflaged by everyday jobs and activities.
Editors Barb Howard and Joan Dixon have compiled insightful essays and reflections from 14 writers, including Melanie Murray, Scott Waters, Ryan Flavelle and Chris Turner. All have found themselves, at one time or another, embedded on the home front. And even though each experience is unique and comes from a single perspective, common motifs surface: family, fate, death and memory. This anthology captures triumphs, incredible fortitude and humour, often in the face of grief, as well as the complicated logic, fears, anger and other everyday realities that are part of home-front life.
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The Fisher Queen
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$17.95It’s 1981, and Sylvia Taylor has signed on as rookie deckhand on a wallowy 40-foot salmon troller. Looking forward to making money for university, she is determined to master the ins and outs of fishing some of the most dangerous waters in the world: the Graveyard of the Pacific. For four months, she helps navigate the waters off northern Vancouver Island, learning the ways of fisherfolk and the habitat in which they breathe, sleep and survive.
The politics of selling fish, the basics of tying gear, near-death experiences, endless boat troubles, the emotional perils of sharing cramped quarters—all are part of a steep and unforgiving learning curve. Taylor’s story captures the reality of life on a fishboat and documents the end of an era, a time when the fishing industry wasn’t yet marred by unchecked overfishing or hyper-regulation. Her lyrical, simple prose explores the tight-knit relationship of fishers with the west coast’s wild, untamed waters. Her memoir bursts with all the humour and hell, peace and upheaval that is the Pacific Ocean.
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Chilcotin Yarns
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$17.95Getting three trucks and two horses stuck in the mud on “a good road” into BC’s wild, remote interior was just the start of Bruce Watt’s Chilcotin adventures—and it was his honeymoon, too. The wildlife, landscape and quirky, down-to-earth people captivated Bruce, and despite the hard work and challenging conditions, the Watts put down roots, raising a family, alongside herds of cattle and horses.
A consummate storyteller, Bruce tells it like it was—and perhaps still is for many people calling this place home. These yarns capture the adventure and humour of running a ranch—from roping cougars to close calls on cliff edges and other “typical” accidents. His stories of chasing horses, navigating the backcountry and getting five kids off to school have a charm all their own.
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Becoming Water: Glaciers in a Warming World
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$16.95Becoming Water takes the reader on a tour of Canada’s glaciers, describing the stories they tell and educating the reader about how glaciers came to be, how they work and what their future holds in our warming world. By visiting Canada’s high and low Arctic and the mountain West, the reader will learn how varied and complex our glaciers really are, how they are measured and how they figure into the national and global story of inevitable change. The reader will learn to think like a scientist, in particular how to look at climate-related data that contains cycles, trends and shifts, and then ponder what questions to ask in the face of our dramatically changing environment.
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Little Black Lies
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$16.95Beginning in 1967 and for just over 30 years, the oil industry toiled in the relative obscurity of Northern Alberta as machines peeled away earth and boreal forest to exhume what has now become one of humanity’s most precious and contentious resources: bitumen. As the years passed, the bitumen mines sprawled, poisonous tailings ponds spread, toxins polluted the environment, cancer reared its head downstream and the price of petroleum soared beyond all expectations.
As plans continue to build the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines, a growing number of scientists, journalists, First Nations and environmentalists are fighting to raise the alarm about the implications and propaganda surrounding the world’s largest energy project.
In his second RMB Manifesto, Jeff Gailus dissects the global war on truth that has come to define the battle for oil. It is a battle fought not with bullets and bombs but with a dark web of Little Black Lies that poses a threat not only to environmental and human health, but to our moral and social well-being.
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Moving to Nova Scotia
$25.00The world loves Canada, everyone knows it. But, Nova Scotia in particular has its own allure to people looking to move not only across the country, but across the world. These are just a few of the stories from people who packed up, and did not stop until they found their home in Nova Scotia.
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Premier Steven McNeil
$19.95The McNeils and Mombourquettes established a joint heritage that began in Cape Breton, then to Spryfield and continues in Upper Granville, in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley.
Stephen, our present Premier and the twelfth of seventeen siblings, was a mere eight years old when his father died suddenly. It thrust the family, led by his mother, into some challenging yet rewarding times. Older brothers and sisters took on new roles and created a bond that continues to this day.
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Downhomer Almanac Cookbook 1
Editor: Downhome MagazinePublisher: Downhomer$19.95The Downhomer Household Almanac and Cookbook is the first of its kind. There have been almanacs before, and there have been cookbooks before, and this is not the first cookbook to have home remedies and cures, nor is it the first with household hints. There have been books containing humour, heart-touching stories, thoughts to live by, and even books in which to keep track of your family tree, but this is the first book that incorporates all of these. Not only that, this book also contains calendars covering the 1801 to 2050, cooking conversion tables, metric conversion tables, places to keep important dates, photographs, a place to write a biography of yourself, dedications, and much, much more. It is a wealth of information and a place to keep records to be handed down through the generations. This book is a must for people whose family and roots are near and dear to them, and contains a place to keep track of your future family tree (your children and grandchildren). On top of that, the beautiful writings, stories and poems in this book will make you laugh and make you cry. Downhomer Household Almanac and Cookbook is one of the most interesting books you will ever read.
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Tonic for the Woman’s Soul
Publisher: Downhomer$19.95Tonic for the Woman’s Soul is the third in Downhome’s Household Almanac and Cookbook series, the previous two making the Canadian best-seller list.
What’s new in Tonic for the Woman’s Soul
- Understanding Me – Create your own autobiography by simply filling in the blanks—a record of a woman’s life for herself or for those with whom she wishes to share.
- Life, Love & Laughter – Short stories, jokes, biographies, poetry, facts and much more, all pertaining to women from Newfoundland and Labrador and throughout the world. After all, the best recipe for happiness is to “live, love and laugh.”
- Recipes – More than 250 recipes contributed by Downhomer readers around the world. Included are Diet and Diabetic recipes with delicious choices for those of us who have to watch a little closer what we eat.
