-
Big Town A Novel of Africville
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95Seventeen-year-old Early Okander lives with his father in a shack, a white family on the outskirts of the Halifax community of Africville. It is the early 1960s, and Early and his young friends, Toby and Chub, start to hear whispers that the city wants to move the residents of Africville out of their homes. As the three try to sort out what relocation might mean for the community, they also struggle to come to terms with their own problems: Early’s abuse at the hands of his father, Toby’s illness, Chub’s family breakdown.
Written from Early’s unique perspetive, Big Town is an unforgettable account of a community in crisis and the remarkable spirit that persists in the face of adversity.
-
Nova Scotia’s Curious Connections
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Previously published as 59 Stories, this new edition brings back into print Bruce Nunn’s collection of quirky stories. With his entertaining style and penchant for library and word-of-mouth research alike, Nunn introduces readers to the province’s claim on some world-famous stuff, including Moby Dick, mutton-chop sideburns, and the very first Donald Duck comic. The collection includes chapters on the interesting origins of words like “Bluenose” and “Acadian” and strange homegrown inventions like the telephone-flashlight. Nunn’s passion for history and the unusual make Nova Scotia’s Curious Connections a must-read for anyone looking to add a little quirk to their knowledge of Nova Scotia’s past.
-
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.
-
Hope for Wildlife
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95One day, a couple who had run over a skunk with their car brought it to the Dartmouth Veterinary Hospital. When the veterinarians couldn’t look after it, Hope Swinimer decided to take the helpless animal into her care, and that was the start of it all. Now, through her rehabilitation centre called Hope for Wildlife, Hope’s name is synonymous with wildlife rescue in Nova Scotia.Since 1997, hundreds of animals have been saved through the tireless efforts of the staff and volunteers at Hope for Wildlife. Some animals’ stories were so unique that they even garnered national attention-such as Hope’s battle with the department of natural resources over Gretel, a member of the endangered pine marten species. Each creature comes with its own challenges, either through a particularly difficult injury or a quirky personality-like Lucifer the inexplicably bald and ornery raccoon-but each patient leaves an indelible mark on the lives of those around them.Hope for Wildlife tells the stories of fourteen different wild animals from Nova Scotia that have passed through the centre. Colour photographs of the animals and the centre’s efforts supplement the text, and info boxes offer further information on the province’s wildlife. The stories in Hope for Wildlife are educational, heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking-but always filled with hope.
-
Shoot Me
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95A new smaller format of Lesley Crewe’s second novel, now with a reader’s guide and author interview.
The South End house where Elsie Brooks and her big, complicated family live is bursting with secrets. Elsie’s banished husband lives in the basement. Her lonely sister lives in the attic. Her twenty-something daughters come and go as they please. And when the renegade ninety-one-year-old archaeologist they all know as Aunt Hildy comes home to die, the poor old place becomes impossibly full-of hidden meanings and hidden treasure, of murder and mystery.
Shoot Me is a story about family, fortune, and figuring out who you are. Bestselling author Lesley Crewe has created a mixed-up, frantic, ultimately lovable East Coast family. But as Aunt Hildy would say, “Life is not something that needs to be tamed. It’s messy. Always was, always will be.”
-
Underground Nova Scotia
Editor: Jonathan FowlerPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Underground Nova Scotia provides an accessible introduction to the archaeologist work being done across Nova Scotia. Edited by St. Mary’s University anthropologists Paul Erickson and Jonathan Fowler, these fifteen essays cover early Acadian, Mi’kmaq, Black Loyalist, and Norse sites, as well as more recent settlements and industries. The collection includes details of new work at some of the province’s established historic sites, including Grand Pre, Fort Edward, and Fortress Louisbourg, as well as less familiar studies and technologies: tracing and ancient portage route through Southwest Nova Scotia, and the use of airborne lasers to chart eighteenth-century land disputes on the Isthmus of Chignecto.
From the lost Black Loyalist settlement of Birchtown to skeletons recently found at the Fortress of Louisbourg, these essays will fascinate history lovers.
-
Plants for Atlantic Gardens Handsome and Hard-working Shrubs, Trees, and Perennials
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95With all the special challenges associated with gardening in Atlantic Canada, in-depth information and genuine inspiration are even more important. Plants for Atlantic Gardens is your go-to resource for growing perennials, shrubs, and trees on the East Coast. Well-known gardening columnist Jodi DeLong profiles over 100 of the best species for planting in Atlantic Canadian gardens. Each plant description includes essential gardening information, such as growing requirements, hardiness, height, and bloom period. In an accessible, friendly writing style, Jodi also tells prospective gardeners about the plant’s natural history in the region and shares her own experiences-both good and bad!
The book includes a hardiness map, Jodi’s list of preferred further reading, and short sidebars on useful topics like soil type, native plants, and pollinators. Over 200 colour photos provide readers a great opportunity to truly assess each plant’s suitability for their own gardens.
-
Halifax Warden of the North (Updated Edition)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95First published in 1948, Halifax Warden of the North has remained the best-known and most influential chronicle of Halifax since it first hit the shelves. In this updated version of the Governor General’s Award-winning history of Halifax, celebrated journalist Stephen Kimber picks up where Thomas Raddall left off, adding three new chapters that cover the city’s history from the mid-1960s to the present day, including the destruction of Africville, the arrival of the Buddhists in the 1970s and 80s, the amalgamation of HRM in the 1990s, and the storms of the most recent decade.
Already the definitive history of Halifax, this newly updated edition of Raddall’s fascinating historical portrait will be an essential addition to all local historians’ libraries.
-
Halifax and the Royal Canadian Navy
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95On May 4, 1910, the Liberal government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier passed the Naval Service Act, which created the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). Ever since, the RCN and the city of Halifax-a strategic Canadian port on the Atlantic-have been partners. During the Second World War’s Battle of the Atlantic, Halifax was a major centre of operations for the RCN, which was tasked with the crucial missions of escorting merchant ships and hunting German U-Boats not far off Halifax’s coast. But the relationship with the city of Halifax was not without turmoil: at the conclusion of the war the pent-up frustrations of sailors boiled over into the V-E Day riots.
Part of the popular Images of Our Past series, Halifax and the RCN marks the centennial of the Royal Canadian Navy’s founding in 1910. Author John Boileau’s superbly researched narrative is supplemented with over 150 historical photos of the sailors, ships, and shore establishments that defined the RCN. An accessible and lively photographic history, Halifax and the RCN is a worthy tribute to the Royal Canadian Navy and its home port.
-
South Shore Tastes
Photographer: Scott MunnPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95South Shore Tastes, the fourth installment in the popular Tastes pictorial cookbook series, celebrates the local harvest and culinary culture of Nova Scotia’s picturesque South Shore. In this attractive, easy-to-use cookbook, food critic and writer Liz Feltham collects recipes from twenty-four restaurants spanning the region, from the Sou’wester in Peggy’s Cove to Lane’s Privateer Inn in Liverpool to Chez Bruno’s Bistro in Yarmouth. Showcasing a diverse array of dishes that feature local ingredients and tastes, such as Ruisseau oysters with fresh tomato marinade, maple curry ravioli with roasted chicken, and blueberry grunt, South Shore Tastes is an ideal way to bring the flavours, sights, and traditions of the South Shore home with you.
Includes striking photos of both the dishes and the surrounding region by photographer Scott Munn, as well as a map and restaurant guide to help readers find their favourite eatery.
-
Underground Halifax (2nd edition)
Editor: Paul EricksonPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$26.95Across North America and beyond, urban archaeology is enjoying a widespread and growing popularity, as people are drawn by its sense of mystery and the alluring prospect of discovery. The individual authors of the narratives within Underground Halifax tell stories with a “human face,” bringing people and events-some ordinary, others famous-back to life, and doing so with objects as well as words. Each author in the volume employs an array of illustrations of what once lay hidden underground-map, photographs, and sketches-as well as drawings and photographs of unearthed structures and artifacts. Once you”ve been given a glimpse at what lies beneath the layers of Halifax, walking the city”s streets will never be the same again.
-
History of Port Royal/Annapolis Royal, 1605-1800
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Today, it’s a quiet community of approximately 600 people, but the town of Annapolis Royal was once the centre of early European settlement. It was the capital first of Acadia, then of Nova Sscotia, and an imperial battleground in the struggle for control of North America.
Backed by the Historical Association of Annapolis Roya, Brenda Dunn, former historian at the Fort Anne National Historic Site, has documented the long, dynamic, and unparalelled history of this fascinating place called Annapolis Royal.
-
Nova Scotia’s Lost Highways The Early Roads that Shaped the Province
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95At the turn of the nineteenth century, road travel in Nova Scotia was still in its infancy. Many Nova Scotians still preferred water routes, and those “roads” that did exist were often little more than blazed trails not fit for wheeled vehicles. But it wasn’t long before roads were established around the province to allow for a steady increase in traffic and sophistication of vehicles.
Author Joan Dawson has used nineteenth-century maps and surveys to not only trace the paths of these old roads, but to explore the residents and businesses that sprang up along them. She follows the roads out of Halifax to Windsor and Truro (the “Great Roads”) as well as the oldest post roads along the Annapolis Valley, the South Shore, northern and eastern Nova Scotia, and even Cape Breton. These earliest highways, now mostly forgotten or buried in wilderness, reminds us of the hard-working crews and surveyors who defied geographical difficulties to make travelling easier for Nova Scotia’s residents.
Featuring 40 maps and illustrations, Nova Scotia’s Lost Highways is a fascinating history of early travel in the province.
-
Atlantic Seafood
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Drawing from over 20 years of experience as a professional chef in Chicago, Staten Island, Boston, and the Bahamas, Nova Scotia native and chef Michael Howell brings delicious twists to Atlantic seafood in this new cookbook. The book is organized by seafood type, so finding the right recipe is a breeze, and it also means home chefs will be able to select meals based on what’s available in their area. An additional section on sustainable and ethical food choices helps readers make the right choices when it comes to buying Atlantic fish and shellfish. A must-have for any seafood enthusiast!
Includes 40 colour photographs as well as special instructions for sauces and stocks. Types of seafood include: char, clams, crab, haddock, halibut, lobster, mackerel, monkfish, mussels, oysters, salmon, salt cod, scallops, shrimp, smoked seafood, sole, squid, sturgeon, swordfish, and tuna. -
Halifax Street Railway 1866-1949
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95The Halifax Street Railway is a photographic history of Halifax’s oft-forgotten transportation system. The book features over one hundred historical photographs documenting technological changes to the street railway system over its eighty-three-year history. The Halifax Street Railway will appeal to history buffs and all those who remember the city’s early transit systems.
-
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. -
Nova Scotia Quiz Revised Ed.
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$7.95This fully revised and updated edition of the popular provincial quiz book is a must-have for teachers and libraries and trivia buffs.
Who founded the city of Halifax? Which island off Nova Scotia is home to wild horses? Who is the Nova Scotian giantess that toured with P. T. Barnum? You can find the answers to these questions and more inside.
Each quiz offers a variety of topics and difficulty levels, so it’s perfect for teachers, students, parents, researchers, tourists, or anyone looking for a bit of information and entertainment.
-
Historic Bridgewater
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95The history of Bridgewater is firmly connected to the beautiful LaHave River because of its importance in terms of geography, commerce, and recreation.Homes and buildings; the railway and the highway; the Davison Lumber Mill; the business life of Bridgewater; and people, events, and daily life are all examined through careful research and selected images to give a complete view of the history of Bridgewater.
-
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. -
Fossil Cliffs of Joggins
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Joggins has been a popular location for fossil buffs and novices alike for two reasons. It is always possible to find interesting fossils there and it always offers something new. As the Fundy tides continually erode the cliffs new fossils emerge each season. Joggins is also of great interest to the scientific community. Dr. Laing Ferguson has introduced thousands of people to the world-famous fossil cliffs at Joggins. He wrote this book in 1988 to help visitors understand the significance of the fossils they may see in the Cliffs and now it’s back in print with a new cover for another generation of budding geologists and visitors.
-
Out of Nova Scotia Gardens Delicious, Nutritious, Vegetable Recipes
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Bestselling author and newspaper columnist Marie Nightingale has compiled this delightful book on choosing, storing, and cooking delicious local produce. From the lowly cabbage to the more glamorous asparagus and Brussels sprouts, freshly grown vegetables from Nova Scotia are unsurpassed in taste and texture. Offering over 160 delicious recipes, from Leek & Tomato Quiche to Stuffed Onions to Rhubarb & Ginger Jam, Out of Nova Scotia Gardens is organized by vegetable and includes a recipe for everything you can grow in your backyard. It also includes a Chef’s Corner, featuring recipes from famous Nova Scotia chefs.
-
Wild Plants of Eastern Canada
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Wild Plants of Eastern Canada is a comprehensive guide to the region’s plants, including their culinary, medicinal, folk, and ecological uses. The book also explores the cultural history of wild plant use among Aboriginal-Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy-and non-Aboriginal-Black, Acadian, and Celtic-peoples. Bridging the academic and the popular, the book includes easy-to-read profiles of sixty plant species, each identified with an actual size leaf-print specimen as well as a realistic reproduction for identification. Nearly sixty recipes are included for use in contemporary cuisine. The book does not include cultivated plants, seaweeds, or trees. Includes safety tips for identifying and avoiding poisonous plants.
-
Captains, Mansions and Millionaires
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$20.95Today is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the prosperity that Maitland enjoyed as a shipbuilding and trading centre during the late 1800s. Fortunes were made in the timber trade, in mining gypsum, and selling Maitland ships. In one summer, nineteen ships were built for a revenue of nearly one million dollars. A thousand men worked in the shipyards of this town on the shores of Cobequid Bay, requiring hotels, boarding houses, taverns, clothing stores, hardware stores and a bank.
Maitland sea captains like W.D Lawrence sailed the globe in huge schooners. A railway was built; there was a telegraph, professional photographer, and eventually a six-car ferry. There were tennis courts, and glorious mansions furnished with the finest articles money can buy.
And then it ended. The golden age of wooden ships and iron men was over, and the economic engine that generated such wealth faltered. The halcyon days of Maitland disappeared but its heritage not forgotten. Much of the town, including its great homes, still stands as it did in the glory days. Maitland has been declared a heritage conservation site, to be preserved for future generations.
-
Historic Eastern Passage
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Drawing upon powerful images and stories of the past, John Boileau takes readers on a journey through the Eastern Passage region, including Imperoyal, Shearwater, South East Passage, Cow Bay, McNab’s Island, Lawlor’s Island, and Devil’s Island. From fortifications and quarantine sites to aviation bases and even to Bill Lynch’s amusement rides and buried treasure, Historic Eastern Passage illuminates the history of the region to the end of the Second World War.
Follow Helen Creighton on her search to record folk music and stories, or learn how the air base played a role in the first flight across the Atlantic. With attention to both the special and everyday events, a full picture of what life was once like in Eastern Passage is vividly depicted.
-
Historic Bedford
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Bedford, Nova Scotia, was traditionally a resting place for travellers-from Mi’kmaq heading down the Sackville River by canoe to weary stagecoach and railway passengers seeking hot meals and warm beds while heading to or from Halifax. Bedford grew around the wayside houses and businesses that provided services for those passing through, and alongside industries, including lumber mills and shipbuilding yards. The town’s natural beauty made it the ideal setting for outdoor pursuits and legendary celebrations.
Historic Bedford pairs fascinating photographs with careful research and insight. On every page is captured the town’s enduring character as it transforms from temporary stopping place into charming town.
-
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.
-
Birds and Their Ways
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$13.95True life anecdotes, shedding light on the behavior of Eastern Canadian birds form the basis of this local classic by the renowned writer and naturalist, Robie W. Tufts. Sound answers are given to unusual queries, ranging from the sleeping habits of hummingbirds to a speculation on harmfulness of crows. Topics of interest include: birds of prey, bird intelligence, nesting and feeding habits, identification of birds, and protective legislation for rare species. The text is accompanied by illustrations by John H. Dick.
-
Green Shutters Cookbook
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95The Green Shutters Cookbook, with its hearty, simple, downhome recipes, has been a Nova Scotia favourite for over 50 years. Featuring recipes from Hilda Zinck’s Green Shutters Inn, now closed, the book includes timeless favourites like hot cross buns, fish chowder, meatloaf and banana bread.
-
Blueberry Connection
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95An Adventure in indigo, summer sapphires, dewy downy bunches of black and blue –what else but BLUEBERRIES! And what goes best with blueberries? Memories! Memories of berry pickin’ time and the delectable delights that follow –pies, jams, jellies, cakes, cookies, puddings, drinks, salads, and, of course, blueberry muffins. The Blueberry Connection has them all. And tucked between the hand-lettered recipes are bits of fact, fluff, and folklore –absolutely anything that you can imagine about blueberries. Over 200 recipes! A Companion volume to The Blueberry Connection is The Cranberry Connection, another bog adventure which, says the Washington D.C. Star, “includes recipes for such gourmet delights as cranberry shrimp dip, cranberry ham glaze, cranberry mincemeat, and four-fruit chutney.” The Register of Des Moines, Iowa, calls it “a treasure,” and Canadian Living says, “it’s more than a cookbook, it also celebrates [Beatrice Ross Buszek’s Rediscovery of her Maritime roots.”
-
Historic South End Halifax
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The South End of Halifax is well known as the wealthy part of the peninsula. While it does hold private schools, country clubs, and some million-dollar houses, the area is much more diverse than its reputation. The history of the district- from its humble beginnings in 1749 as the “South Suburb” to its present popularity and illustrious image- is extensive. For instance, did you know that the South End was once known as Irishtown? Or that the famous author Oscar Wilde visited the South End?
Historic South End Halifax will undoubtedly expand your knowledge about this historically significant part of Halifax. It is divided into sections that highlight the many transformations of this district. The various incarnations of the industrial and military sectors of the South End are explored, demonstrating the importance of the port status of the city to the area’s development. Also, the roles of hospitals and universities in the South End’s story are detailed. Peter McGuigan also recounts the history of Point Pleasant and Francklyn parks and live theatre. Historic South End Halifax contains everything that you’ve ever wanted to know about the South End.