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Brad Marchand The Unlikely Star
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95He was too small to make it to the National Hockey League, they decided. Brad Marchand has proven them wrong, helping to lead the Boston Bruins to their first Stanley Cup in thirty-nine years, and scoring the winning goal for Canada in the deciding game of the 2016 World Cup final, which made Marchand—a player fans loved to hate—a hero.
This full-colour book features personal interviews with “The Little Ball of Hate,” who has matured since his days with the Halifax Mooseheads, as well as interviews with family and coaches, and over 40 photos of the star, including some previously unpublished.
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The Only Film in Town How a Little Film With a Big Heart was Made in Rural Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The Only Film in Town is a memoir about the making of a small-town feature film with heart. When Stuart Cresswell of Simple Films Ltd. decided to make The Only Game in Town in and around Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, he did not anticipate the ups and the downs he would encounter, including the scrapping of the province’s film tax credit. Inspired by his own family, Cresswell recruited young and sometimes inexperienced talent, and he forged ahead.
His film is the story of Cormack Vertue, an autistic teenager with a unique ability: his super skill at solitaire. This skill lands him on his school’s solitaire team, complicates his social life, and sends him on a quest to establish who he really is and what he stands for. In The Only Film in Town, Cresswell explains how he made, against the odds, a gentle and humorous coming-of-age story for the big screen, creating art and opportunity in rural Nova Scotia. The Only Film in Town includes behind-the-scenes photos and stills from the film.
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The Last Canadian Knight
$27.95From a small-town law office in Nova Scotia to the pressure-cooker boardrooms of London, England, where he was Margaret Thatcher’s “privatization ace,” lawyer and businessman Sir Graham Day has earned an international reputation as a tough-minded but charming negotiator.
After a rocky educational start in Halifax, Day found his motivation at Dalhousie Law School and established the contacts and experiences that would guide him through the world of global business. With an impressive resume including troubleshooting roles for large companies (Canadian Pacific Limited, British Shipbuilders, Cadbury Schweppes) around the world, often during controversial times, Day solidified his position as an internationally sought-after change-maker.
In The Last Canadian Knight, award-winning business journalist Gordon Pitts chronicles Day’s meteoric rise and explores the lessons Day gleaned from a lifetime spent in and out of the world’s boardrooms.
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Put Your Hand In My Hand The Spiritual and Musical Connections of Catherine and Gene MacLellan
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Put Your Hand in My Hand is the personal, lyrical story of the relationship between one of Canada’s most beloved singer-songwriters and his daughter, a talented musical artist.
Gene MacLellan’s contribution to the Canadian songbook is legendary. He penned top-forty hits, including “Snowbird,” “Bidin’ My Time,” and “Put Your Hand in the Hand,” and his compositions vaulted the careers of international stars such as Anne Murray. In 2004, his daughter Catherine, a Juno award winner, three-time Canadian Folk Award Winner, and two-time ECMA winner, released her debut album to critical acclaim. As the story’s principal narrator, along with experienced biographer Harvey Sawler, this anticipated memoir paints an intimate portrait of a complex man whose words and melodies left us wanting more than he was able to give, before he took his life in 1995 at the age of fifty-six. Includes song lyrics and a colour insert of family photos.
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Portia White A Portrait in Words
Artist: Lara MartinaPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95George Elliott Clarke brings his lyrical brilliance to this personal story, an ode to his great-aunt, the internationally celebrated opera contralto Portia White. From her early years in Halifax to her performance before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1964, the trailblazing, music-filled life of White is celebrated in this stirring tribute, with illustrations from artist Lara Martina.
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Field Notes A City Girl’s Search for Heart and Home in Rural Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Sara Jewell has collected lots of addresses—eighteen in total—including four in Vancouver, British Columbia, and three in her hometown of Cobourg, Ontario. But there was one address that always remained constant: Pugwash Point Road in rural Nova Scotia. She was nine years old the first time her family vacationed in the small fishing village about an hour from the New Brunswick border, and the red soil stained her heart. Life, as it’s wont to do, eventually took Jewell away from the east coast. But when her marriage and big-Âcity life started to crumble, she only wanted one thing: a fresh start in Pugwash.
Accented with five original drawings from Joanna Close.
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Simon Spatz From Holocaust to Halifax, A Story of Survival and Success
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Former journalism professor Michael Cobdon tells the remarkable story of Nova Scotia business magnate Simon Spatz, who survived the Holocaust, immigrated to Canada at middle-age with no knowledge of English, and developed a multi-million-dollar real estate firm.
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The Sea Was in Their Blood
$22.95The Sea Was in Their Blood explores two key questions: who were the men aboard the Miss Ally, and why were they battered and sunk by a storm forecasted days in advance? Through interviews with the crew’s families and friends, rescue personnel, and members of the tight-knit fishing communities of Woods Harbour and Cape Sable Island, award-winning journalist Quentin Casey pieces together the tragic sinking—including important case details not previously reported—and weaves in the backstories of the Miss Ally‘s crew and the lingering effects of their disappearance.
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Years Before Anne (new edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Francis W. P. Bolger, who teaches history at the University of Prince Edward Island, has compiled an informative and complete picture of the fascinating life and brilliant career of Lucy Maud Montgomery, drawing on her scrapbooks, letters, diaries, photos and conversations with family members.
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On Both Sides of the Law (new edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95As a boy in the 1920s, Hugh H. Corkum anticipated every summer when he could sail from Lunenburg and work with his father on cargo ships. When he quit school at 15, his got his ideal job at sea. The cargo wasn’t what he expected, however, and Hugh found himself initiated into the world of rum-running.
In this memoir, Hugh recounts the volatile captains, honourable crewmen, and gangsters whom he dealt with while fleeing police and enjoying New York nightlife. Although he trained in railway telegraphy, the money and excitement of smuggling drew him back in.
After his third arrest, Hugh became a police officer in Lunenburg. Drawing upon specific events, he explains how his past gave him a keen understanding of people and morals that enabled him to become Chief of Police. With 25 photos, including rare pictures of rum-running ships.
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Genius at Work
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$25.95In 1885, nine years after his invention of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell and his wife built a house and laboratory in Nova Scotia, where they summered for the next thirty-seven years. In Genius at Work, Eber weaves together the reminiscences of neighbours with excerpts from family journals, diaries and letters, to create an engaging account of this energetic, exuberant and occasionally eccentric man. Equally fascinating are the photographs that document his work and family. Together with the text, they shed new light on the career and character of this great inventor.
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Fire in the Belly How Purdy Crawford rescued Canada, and changed the way we do business
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Purdy Crawford’s name is synonymous with Canadian business and law. But even after education at Mount Allison and Harvard, Purdy arrived on Toronto’s Bay Street as an outsider, the son of a coal miner from tiny Five Islands, Nova Scotia. So how did young Purdy ascend so quickly and so far to become one of Canada’s top lawyers and best-known business mentors? In this biography of Purdy, bestselling business writer Gordon Pitts begins with the moment in 2007 when Crawford was enlisted by some of the country’s leading corporate officials to stave off financial market catastrophe. The book describes the role Crawford has played in mentoring several of Canada’s brightest economic thinkers, and his contribution to changing the way business was done in the boardroom, particularly in opening the door for women. Includes a photo insert of highlights from Purdy’s professional career and private life.
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Andrew Cobb Architect and Artist
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Andrew Cobb (1876–1943) is synonymous with early twentieth-century architecture in Atlantic Canada. Founder of the Nova Scotia Architectural Association, Cobb designed some of the region’s most renowned landmarks, including Kings College in Halifax, Mount Allison University’s Memorial Library in New Brunswick, and the town site of the Newfoundland Power and Paper Company in Corner Brook. With many of his buildings still standing strong as they approach their centenary, the legacy of Andrew Cobb continues today. More than half a century after Cobb’s death, author Janet Kitz provides a detailed visual biography of the man behind the buildings. Features over 100 modern and archival photographs and forewords from Syd Dumaresq and Graeme F. Duffus.
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From Old Hollywood to New Brunswick Memories of a Wonderful Life
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Imagine receiving a mysterious invitation from Charlie Chaplin, doing jigsaw puzzles with Marilyn Monroe, having a heart-to-heart with Jack Kennedy, or being kissed by Greta Garbo. All of these and more are the sensational memories of UK-born, honorary Maritimer Charles Foster. After an unlikely childhood, his adventurous spirit brought him in 1943 to RAF pilot training school in Calgary. Through a series of incredible circumstances and fortunate friendships, Foster went on to become a Hollywood writer and publicist.Now writing from New Brunswick as a regular columnist for Senior’s Advocate, Foster shares his most tantalizing stories as a collection for the first time. With tales from the golden age of film, radio, theatre, and music, including international adventures from Moscow to Berlin and beyond, From Old Hollywood to New Brunswick shows just how far an RAF uniform, a little bit of luck, and whole lot of charm could take you in mid-twentieth century show business.Includes a 20-page insert of original photographs.
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My Grandfather’s Cape Breton (new edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$20.95This is the timeless story of a young boy and his grandfather. It is a voyage of discovery that starts for both of them when young Clive arrives one summer at his grandfather’s farm in Cape Breton. Clive, with all the uncertainty of approaching adolescence, has only the vaguest impression of what a cow looks like and what is expected of him. Under the gentle guidance and wry wit of his Acadian grandfather he learns how to gallop a horse without falling off, how to save the hay crop from from an approaching storm, and how to assist with the birth of a calf. This is a story of Grand Étang, a humorous, sensuous vibrant place, and of a boy growing up wise one summer in Cape Breton.
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Joshua Slocum The Captain who Sailed Around the World
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95The newest title in the Stories of our Past series tells the tale of the Brier Island boy who went to sea at sixteen and never looked back. The first person to circumnavigate the globe alone, Captain Joshua Slocum has remained a nautical icon since the publication of Sailing Alone Around the World in 1900.
In Joshua Slocum, journalist Quentin Casey takes readers from the treasured sea captain’s humble upbringing on Westport, Brier Island, through his lifelong quest for adventure on the sea. Follow Slocum’s career from ordinary seaman to master of celestial navigation, and experience a rare look into his personal life, trouble on and off the sea, and his mysterious disappearance. Includes sidebar features on little-known Slocum facts and over 60 images, including photographs, maps, and illustrations.
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Haunted Girl Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95In 1878 eighteen-year-old Esther Cox arrived in Amherst, Nova Scotia, to live with her sister’s family. Shortly after Esther moved in, the story goes, the house was plagued by unexplained occurrences–something (or someone) knocked on the walls, hid household items, moved furniture around, and set fires. Esther herself was subject to mysterious fevers, prodding and, on one occasion, stabbing. These occurrences followed her when she went to stay with other families in the area. Eventually she was charged with robbery and spent a month in jail, after which the haunting ceased.
Was Esther the victim of paranormal powers or the troubled mind behind a series of elaborate hoaxes? At the time of her alleged haunting, the plausibility of Esther Cox’s claims were hotly debated in newspapers and by fellow Amherst residents. In the hundred years since her death, Esther’s story has been retold numerous times and she remains to this day the town’s most famous historical figure.
Includes 30 photos of key locations in Amherst related to the story as well as Esther’s family members.
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Dramatic Life of a Country Doctor Fifty Years of Disasters and Diagnoses
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Dr. Arnold Burden’s career began unintentionally when he performed his first surgery in the woods following a hunting accident at age 14. As a 20-year-old hospital clerk, he handed battle casualties after D-Day in France and Germany. His early years as a doctor began in rural Prince Edward Island, where he served in the combined role of doctor and coroner. Back home in Springhill, Nova Scotia, Dr. Burden was the first medic to enter the mines after the deadly No. 4 mine explosion in 1956 and the No. 2 mine bump, the most severe bump ever recorded in North America, in 1958. In both cases he risked his life alongside the underground rescue teams to bring the gassed and trapped miners to the surface.
In this new edition Dr. Burden gives his account of an active life and of a man dedicated to his patients; a man full of common-sense and interesting stories, who writes candidly of his dealing with patients, unusual cases, and brave efforts made under difficult conditions. As the author states: “The real satisfaction in life has come from helping people.”
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Elizabeth Bishop Nova Scotia’s “Home-made” Poet
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979) is best known as an American author, but she spent formative years in Great Village, Nova Scotia, and in fact called herself “3/4ths Canadian.” In recent decades there has been a growing movement in Nova Scotia to reconnect appreciation of Bishop with the landscape of her childood. This pictorial biography highlights the early influence of Bishop’s maternal family and the cultural community of Great Village, and the poet’s lifelong ties to Nova Scotia.
Author Sandra Barry takes readers through the significant chapters in Bishop’s life, from her ancestry and early years in Great Village to her first publications, her extended stays in Florida and Brazil, and her final years teaching at Harvard University. The book concludes with an overview of some of the Bishop-inspired work made since her death, and the commemorative efforts undertaken in Nova Scotia and around the world.
With photos throughout, sidebar features on historic events, Bishop’s publications and travels, and background on her awards and other achievements, the book provides a fascinating introduction and important new angle on one of the best-loved poets of the twentieth century.
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Molly Kool First Female Captain of the Atlantic
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Born and raised in Alma, New Brunswick, Molly Kool started her life at sea helping her father sail the lumber scow the Jean K through some of the most challenging waters in the world, including the changing tides of the Bay of Fundy and the Reversing Falls in Saint John. When it came time for Molly to choose her own career, her first instinct was to get her captain’s licence, but doing so would involve more than just hard work—it would also mean changing some of Canada’s oldest laws. But thanks to her inspiring example and the tireless efforts of contemporaries in the 1930s and ’40s, the Shipping Act of Canada was changed and Molly became the first female sea captain in North America. With interviews, colour photos, and background on other women pioneers and shipping practices in the early twentieth century, Molly Kool: Captain of the Atlantic also includes an interview with the first woman to command a Canadian warship, Commander Josee Kurtz.
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The Gift
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95When Margaret Miller’s son, Bruce, was killed at age twenty-six by a drunk driver, her grief threatened to consume her. Mother’s Against Drunk Driving became her lifeline, and as she slowly became involved with the organization, she found a way to use her grief and anger to start helping other families and to fight impaired driving across the country.In this moving memoir, Margaret details her journey through grief and describes how she turned her sadness into action, first volunteering with and then becoming national president of MADD Canada. She also introduces us to other victims and bereaved families she has met through her work with MADD Canada. Poignant and inspiring, The Gift tells not just heartbreaking stories but also uplifting and hopeful stories of life after injury and loss.Believing firmly that the hope MADD Canada has brought to her life is a gift from her son, Margaret has dedicated her life to bringing that hope to other victims. This book honours the victims of impaired driving, provides hope for the bereaved, and gives every reader a strong reminder that with the help of ordinary Canadians, MADD Canada is saving lives.
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Country Roads Memoirs from Rural Canada
Editor: Pam ChamberlainPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Rural people, places, and communities vary greatly in a country as geographically vast and culturally diverse as Canada. For some, the country was a place of happiness and belonging; for others, it was a source of hardship and sorrow. For many, it was both. Some writers grew up loving their rural homes, never wanting to leave. Others couldn’t wait to escape to the city.
From Victoria, British Columbia, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, three generations of Canadians tell their stories of growing up in rural communities in Country Roads. The writers–including journalist Pamela Wallin, NHL coach Brent Sutter, and award-winning authors Sharon Butala and Rudy Wiebe–share one thing in common: they were all country kids whose upbringing profoundly impacted their identities. The thirty-two memoirs in Country Roads are sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, but always engaging. -
The Great Maritime Detective
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95He was a sailor a miner, a bounty hunter, a prospector, a ghost hunter, and a railway guard, just to name a few. Whether sinner or saint, Peter Owen Carroll, a.k.a. Peachie Carroll, is best remembered as the infamous Maritime police detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Although his methods were sometimes unscrupulous, and he was often considered a mercenary, Peachie Carroll was a formidable investigator. Peachie was fired, re-hired, and quit many times, but as a police officer Peachie solved some of the Maritimes’ best-known crimes, such as the murder of Moncton police officer Joseph E. Stedman. He arrested moonshine-makers and embezzlers, petty thieves, rum-runners, bank robbers, and murderers. In 1896, Peachie gained fame again, solving the New Brunswick murders of Eliza Dutcher and her son.
In The Great Maritime Detective, author Monica Graham profiles this long-standing hero of Pictou County and one of the region’s ultimate characters. -
Jerome
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95For many Nova Scotians the name Jerome is synonymous with Maritime mystery, much like Oak Island, the Marie Celeste, or the Shag Harbour UFO crash. Jerome was the name given to the nearly dead, legless stranger who washed up on a Digby Neck beach in 1863. During the next fifty years, Jerome spoke only a few words and never revealed his identity.
Author Fraser Mooney Jr. embarked on a ten-year investigation to find the remarkable truth about Jerome. Using newspaper articles, historic documents, and interviews, Mooney explores and dispels the myths that have long been associated with Jerome and provides amazing detail about his life on Digby Neck. He takes us through Jerome’s life-from his appearance on the beach, through the time he spent living with a number of families in the region, to his death. Most importantly, Mooney discovers the truth behind the identity of the anonymous, mutilated man who took his secret to the grave. Including photos of Jerome, the beach where he was discovered, and those who knew him, Jerome is an incredibly well researched, intriguing book that will appeal to readers who enjoy Maritime mysteries and historical non-fiction. -
Ketchum’s Folly
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$13.95“Even today, after man has been to the moon and regularly takes jaunts into space, the idea of a huge ship being transported by rail over dry land in order to avoid the stormy waters elsewhere sounds like science fiction.” The author states in his introduction. “Perhaps that was the Chignecto Ship’s Railway’s problem.” IN examining Henry Ketchum’s dream, and both his spectacular successes and failures, Jay Underwood contributes to a better understanding of an interesting segment in Maritimes’ history.
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Lighthouse Legacies
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Imagine living your life perched on a tiny island, without electricity, exposed to the fury of the sea, and always at the service of the mariner. This is how lightkeepers and their families spent their lives, even up until the 1960s. We are very close to losing the last of the people who lived this isolated life and experienced the heyday of lightkeeping in Canada. Lighthouse Legacies lets us share in the memories of those who kept the lights.
These stories are presented largely in the words of the people, with context and history by author Chris Mills. Each chapter deals with an element of lighthouse life and is complemented by photos from lighthouse family collections, the Coast Guard and Mills’ own collection.
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Valiant Hearts
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$26.95Valiant Hearts chronicles the stories of inspiration and courage shown by men in wartime, stretching from the Crimean War (1854-1856) to World War Two, telling the life stories of the gallant men from Atlantic Canada who won that most coveted of bravery awards- the Victoria Cross.
The twenty men profiled in this book all have strong connections to Atlantic Canada (11 of them were born in the region; 9 have other ties to the region, having either lived or served here). With a focus on historical accuracy, this book tells the stories of these courageous men by filling in the details of their lives before and, for those who survived, after winning the VC, with attention to the specific events that led to their recognition as heroes.
No comparable book has ever been written. Most books about Canadian Victoria Cross winners cover the entire country and were published some time ago. Most of the previously published books contain little more than citations for the awards or excerpts from them, with only the briefest of personal details. This book is particular to the Atlantic region, and is detailed, personal and informative as well as being carefully written. -
The Alpine Path
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Lucy Maud Montgomery, the creator of Anne of Green Gables and many other popular children’s stories penned this memoir during World War I and it is often considered the best account of her childhood on Prince Edward Island and her first years as a writer. The Alpine Path references her long and difficult journey to become a full-fledged writer and describes, in charming detail, her childhood in rural Prince Edward Island during the closing years of the 1800s.
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The Search for Heinrich Stief
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Heinrich and Regina Stief left their homeland in 1749 and settled in Pennsylvania. From there, they and a small band of fellow settlers migrated to the rough terrain around New Brunswick’s Peticodiac River. Faced with starvation, frigid winters, and abandonment by their sponsors-among them Benjamin Franklin-the settlers defied the odds by not only surviving but prospering. Steeves descendants now number upwards of 150,000 worldwide.
Heinrich’s tale has been told so many times that its parts have become legend. From the stories his earliest descendants told around the fire to the ones family historians have written and published since then, the facts surrounding Heinrich Stief, his roots, and his exploits have become confused, murky,and half remembered. Certain pieces of the puzzles has always eluded genealogists.
Recently, a Stief family descendant with a knack for research and more than his share of luck has uncovered a piece of history that is as significant as it was elusive. Here, then, is Heinrich Stief’s story, told as never before. -
Helen Creighton Canada’s First Lady of Folklore
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Helen Creighton was born at the turn of the nineteenth century and until her death in 1989, she made a remarkable contribution towards retrieving the stories, songs, and legends that have shaped the culture and the people of the Maritimes. Written by her protégé and fellow folklorist, Clary Croft, this intimate biography offers both an intriguing portrait of a woman whose life was destined to become woven into the fabric of Canadian folklore, and a fascinating glimpse into the social mores of her time.
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The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis
Photographer: Bob BrooksPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$35.95Maud Lewis (1903-1970) was recognized and revered in her own lifetime. She offered her endearing images to the passing world through her roadside sign, “Paintings for Sale,” and was rewarded by the enthusiastic response she received from both the community and tourists as well as from art collectors.
The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis is an invitation to share once again with the world the perceptions of this celebrated Nova Scotia folk artist in prose, photographs, and reproductions of her works.
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Woman of Labrador
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95Originally published in 1973, Woman of Labrador is Elizabeth Goudie’s enduring and candid story of her pioneering life as a trapper’s wife in the early 1900s. She was left alone much of the year to rear eight children while her husband worked the traplines, providing furs for their meagre income. Independent and resourceful, Elizabeth filled multiple roles as homemaker, doctor, cook, hunter, shoemaker, and seamstress for her growing family.
In the span of eighty years, she witnessed radical changes to Labrador, such as the construction of an airport at Goose Bay during the Second World War. Where once there had been pride and contentment in a harmonious relationship with the land, there came displacement and despair as the wilderness was overtaken by military and industrial projects. One of Elizabeth Goudie’s greatest triumphs was her steady pride in Labrador, her “country,” and her ideal of peace among neighbours. Her memoir is not about bitterness and defeat but courage and love, recounted with pride and humour.
In 1975, Elizabeth was awarded an honorary degree from Memorial University. She died in Happy Valley, Labrador, in 1982.
