Fish out of Water
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$1.99John Payzant was born in Halifax in 1944. He graduated from Queen’s University in 1968 with a Bachelor of Commerce and quickly moved to Toronto to become an investment dealer and trainee bond trader. For the next twenty-nine years, he worked for various investments dealers, banks, and trust companies on Bay Street. After several years of summer vacations in the area, he moved from Toronto to Lunenburg in May 2004. He is a director of the Lunenburg Heritage Society and a member of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.
Nymph and the Lamp
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$18.95A Nova Scotia classic, The Nymph and the Lamp is the story of Isabel Jardin, a strong and sensitive woman, and the men in her life—the stoic Matthew Carney, a living legend, the passionate Gregory Skane, and the innocent but infatuated Jim Sargent. Set in the 1920s, the story unfolds against the wild desolation of Marina, a wind-swept island off the coast of Nova Scotia, as the characters come to terms with their personal contradictions and the demands of isolated island life.
Sidney Crosby: A Hockey Story
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$5.99Paul Arseneault has played and coached hockey, baseball and soccer. A huge fan of the game of hockey, Arsneault has been following Sidney Crosby’s career since he began to make national headlines in the early 1990s.
Keji
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95This guide to Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site contains the information needed by visitors planning to camp, hike, swim, paddle a canoe, picnic, fish, ski, snowshoe, do research, watch birds, take photographs, or commune with nature. The guide covers services available in the park, from daily programs offered by interpreters to rentals of canoes, kayaks and bicycles. It provides information on trails and portages, with directions and distances, and describes the front and backcountry sites that can be reserved by campers. It explains how to go about reserving a site and how to get the most out of a camping experience.
The guide also describes the natural world of Kejimkujik, a wilderness park encompassing some of the finest unspoiled beauty in south western Nova Scotia. Readers will find sections on the plants, birds, and animals that make Kejimkujik special. Included are descriptions of the cultural history of the park, plus information about the Mi’kmaw people, whose ancestors were the area’s early inhabitants. There is a section on the Seaside Adjunct, the coastal portion of Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, located on the South Shore. As well, the guide contains charts and maps that will help visitors plan their stay.
Halifax: Sights of the City
Photographer: Albert LeePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$14.95The attractions and charms of Halifax Regional Municipality are vividly depicted in this full-colour, photographic book. The book highlights greater Halifax’s scenery, historic sites, varied lifestyles, and well-known monuments. All photographs are accompanied by informative captions that place the sights and splendours of the capital region within a historical and cultural context. This delightful combination of beautiful photographs and fascinating historical and local details provides a wonderful keepsake for visitors and local residents alike.
Birding Sites of Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Nova Scotia is a birder’s paradise- the trick is knowing where to go to catch sight of the dainty piping plover, stately blue heron, or cheeky blue jay. This problem is solved within the pages of this invaluable guidebook, which divides Nova Scotia by county, pinpointing the best birding sites, how to reach them, and on-site orientation. Complete with maps and chockfull of useful information such as special birds to see, species of note, and key details for each site (i.e. amenities, points of interest, and habitats), this guidebook is sure to delight the bird fancier in your life, or be a welcome addition to your own feathered pursuits!
Guides of the North Woods
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Hunting, fishing and woodsmanship are inscribed in North American culture. Once the survival skills of the Mi’kmaq people, they became recreational pastimes for British officers arriving in Nova Scotia in the nineteenth century. The native people became wilderness guides for these ‘sports’, passing on their guiding skills to others. In this book, using their own words, Mike Parker resurrects how native and white men shared the call of the wilderness, traveling miles on foot or by canoe, hunting moose and deer or fishing trout and salmon. The hair-raising incidents of danger, the funny anecdotes, the skills necessary to succeed, and the personality of these men are collected here with respect and admiration.
Nova Scotia Moments
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Clary Croft has gathered intriguing historical moments of Nova Scotian history into a readable and informative look at the province. These inspiring vignettes bring together many of the historical events, accomplishments, and unusual details that make up the more interesting aspects of Nova Scotia’s long history. Over four hundred profiles of inventors, radicals, and rogues make this collection the absolutely best volume of popular and fascinating facts and events covering over five hundred years in the region’s history. From Captain Kidd to Prohibition; from the origin of the Nova Scotian Tartan to the first automobile and the origins of our famous lobster suppers, Clary Croft writes with enthusiasm and genuine affection about his native province.
Historic LaHave River Valley
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95Sheila Chambers, Joan Dawson and Edith Wolter are historians and writers with a special interest in the LaHave area of Nova Scotia.
Paddling the Tobeatic
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$32.95The rivers of southwestern Nova Scotia flow in and around what is known locally as the Tobeatic which refers to the Maritimes Provinces’ largest expanse of wilderness, all of which lies in southwestern Nova Scotia. Whether you are interested in involved, week-long wilderness excursions or in fair-weather day-trips, you’ll derive much satisfaction from exploring the rivers of southwestern Nova Scotia.
Blending wit with rugged pragmatism and interspersing fasc inating tidbits of local and natural history, paddler and back-country explorer Andrew Smith has created the definitive guide to canoe routes of the Tobeatic. Packed with a wealth of information, including route maps and diagrams of rapids and other difficult river sections, this invaluable guide speaks to both the seasoned canoeist and the casual outdoor enthusiast. Like the best guidebooks, Paddling the Tobeatic inspires its readers to get out and experience Nova Scotia’s natural treasures first-hand.
Historic Wolfville
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95The stately university town of Wolfville has a rich architectural elegance and a spectacular natural presence amid the Annapolis Valley’s rolling farmlands and the regal shores of the Minas Basin. Originally known as Mud Creek, Wolfville was once settled by Acadians and the dykes they built in the 1600s are still visible near the town’s historic waterfront.
Resettled by New England Planters in the 1760s, the small community grew into a regional farming and educational centre during the late 1800s. Home to Acadia University, the town flourished during the early 20th century. The historic images in this book are selected from a wide range of institutional and personal collections. They reveal Wolfville and the surrounding countryside from Grand Pré to Port Williams in stunning detail and with a fond affection.
The historic photos date from the time of the earliest photography – late 1800s – to the 1940s when Wolfville’s streetscape changed drastically, in keeping with the move to modernize the Valley. While the university now dominates the town, these historic photos reveal that agriculture was once central to Wolfville’s existence. Many of the photos were taken from the collections at Randall House Museum and the Nova Scotia Public Archives, but other photos were selected from private collections throughout Kings County.
Historic Kentville
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The largest community in the Annapolis Valley is also one of the most historic. At the end of the 18th century, Kentville became Shire Town of Kings County and, being at the junction of seven roads, grew into an important commercial centre, serving agricultural villages throughout the Annapolis Valley. The community began to thrive when the Windsor to Annapolis railway (later known as DAR) established its headquarters in 1868 and began shipping Annapolis Valley apples overseas. As the shire town of Kings County, the modern town of Kentville grew into a bustling railroad centre. The town has also been host to the traditional industries such as coal, timber, dairies, food processors and fruit retailers. Manufacturing industries began to bloom after the surge of the industrial revolution of the late 19th century. Kentville also became known for the production of the first automobile in Nova Scotia.
Kentville native Louis Comeau has selected from his own personal collection of hometown images to show Kentville from the early years of the birth of photography to World War II. Comeau annotates this fascinating collection of Valley photographs with absorbing and entertaining details that explain people and places and provide a charming historic portrait of an important Valley town.
Passion for Survival
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Marie Anne and Louis Payzant had high hopes for a new future as they left a comfortable life on the island of Jersey and sailed with their children across the Atlantic to a new settlement on the shores of Nova Scotia in June 1753. Both had already fled religious persecution in their native France. In this fascinating and true account of Louis & Marie Anne Payzant, author Linda Layton has pieced together the couple’s heartbreaking sense of loss, their struggles and deaths set against the backdrop of one of the most chaotic times in the history of Europe and North America.
The author is the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Marie Anne and Louis. She has spent years researching and traveling in a quest for facts about her ancestors The book will appeal to enthusiasts of early Canadian history of Nova Scotia, Quebec and Acadia as well as readers who love a great adventure story as it focuses on one woman caught in the religious struggle between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, and the colonial struggle between our two founding cultures.
Magical Christmas Light of Old Nova Scotia
Artist: Yolanda PoplawskaPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Nova Scotia native Bruce Nunn is a popular storyteller on CBC Radio and Television and the author of a number of best-selling books including History With a Twist, More History With a Twist, 59 Stories, The Magical Christmas Light of Old Nova Scotia, and Buddy the Bluenose Reindeer. Yolanda Poplawska is an illustrator and graphic designer living in Halifax.
Discover Nova Scotia Sportfishing
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95In this inspirational and informative book, Don MacLean guides anglers to where they will find the best of Nova Scotia’s sportfishing opportunities in any season of the year. The book will appeal to both residents and tourists as it outlines the sportfish species that are found in the province, how to fish them and where to find them through the seasons.
There are tales of Nova Scotia’s glorious fishing past, including celebrated ‘fly tyers’ and guides, tales of the rich and famous who have also fished our waters and tips on tackle and technique for fishing in lake, river, and sea. And as a fisheries biologist, MacLean also provides detailed information on the ecology and life history of the major fish species of the province.
Seashores of the Maritimes
Artist: Twila Robar-DeCostePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95This book is designed to help the reader identify the many common plants & animals of the Atlantic coastline. Over 400 species are included with tips and notes about finding & identifying the creatures.
Historic Cumberland County South
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Southern Cumberland County, with Chignecto Bay on one side and Minas Basin on the other, has been identified by its geography: great cliffs, eroded Appalachian mountains, lush inland valleys, and the sea. Over a century ago, the area was a veritable “land of plenty” busy with the activity of settlement and work. Extensive coal fields fed a successful coal mining industry, while the fertile valleys sustained farms and lumber mills, and the Parrsborough Shore supported a busy shipbuilding industry.
Historic Cumberland County South revisits the various communities that have grown out of theis rich past tapping into an equally rich photographic heritage. Cumberland County comes alive through stories of its communities and the events, activities, and industries that shaped their development. Although many of the industries have gone into decline, the spectacular beauty of the region and its rich fossil deposits continue to make it “a land of promise.”
Celebrate!
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Celebrate: The History and Folklore of Holidays in Nova Scotia offers just the inspiration we need to keep is celebrating day after day, month after month. Although most of the holidays described in this book are relevant to Canadians in general, and most originated elsewhere, they have become overlaid with local customs and traditions that give them new forms and flavours. This entertaining and lively account of festivals, holidays and celebrations is a treasure-chest of lore that includes unusual facts, vignetter, and off-beat customs from the old-time celebrations and folk traditions of Nova Scotians. It is a link between our past and present sensibilities, proving once again out indebtedness to our forebears and our ingenuity for adaptation.
Historic Queens County
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The region around Liverpool and Queens County itself is one of the most historic areas of Nova Scotia. Its wide harbours, fisheries, abundant timber and waterways attracted the attention of the early European fishermen and fur traders as well as the American settlers from New England who, in 1759 settled Liverpool. By 1766, the enterprising residents had constructed three water-powered sawmills and established trade links back to New England, as well as to Halifax, the West Indies and Europe. A few infamous Privateers fitted out in Liverpool were the Wolverine, Shannon, and the most successful of all, and best known, the Liverpool Packet. The author compiled this collection from a large number of old photographs from the 1880s until World War Two and provides a vivid portrait of Queens County’s past. An unrivalled visual history of Liverpool.
Historic Amherst
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95It is hard to ignore the past in a town like Amherst in northern Nova Scotia. The setting fir the Leon Trotsky’s internment in one of Canada’s largest World War One prisoner-of-war camps and for Henry George Ketchum’s unusual plans to build a ship railway, Amherst has witnessed the rise-and sometimes fall- of personal fortunes and revolutionary dreams. Once the battleground for the historic struggle between the English and the French, it has been called home by notable figures of all kinds, including four fathers of Confederation and renowned artist Alex Colville.
Historic Amherst looks at the fascinating evolution of the small community of “Morse’s Corner” into “Busy Amherst,” an Industrial centre for the production of steel, iron and automobiles at its peak in the early 1900s. Supported by priceless photographs that testify to Amherst’s early prosperity as well as to its social, sporting, recreational and agrarian past, this illustrated history promises to inform and delight as it traces the significant moment in this once-bustling bordertown.
Talk About the Valley
Editor: Hilary SircomPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$17.95Talk about the Valley is the second book of charming essays by Norman Creighton, whose name is a household word in the Annapolis Vally of Nova Scotia. Norman lived on Avon Street in Hansport, where his keen insight into Valley life, his wry sense of humour, and his obvious love of the natural world provided ample material for his weekly CBC radio broadcasts during the 1960s and 70s.
This engaging collection-selected from some 600 talks aired on CBC’s “A.M. Chronicle”, “Maritime Magazine” and “Radio Noon”-are the places in the Valley, the people who have lived there, and their way of life. It is beautifully illustrated by Normkan’s older brother Alan, himself a poet, writer and accomplished artist.
Great Nova Scotia Cookbook
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95The definitive cookbook of Nova Scotia combining traditional foods with trends in today’s cooking, and the best techniques. This is a must have cookbook for all who value good cooking.
Destination Nova Scotia
Photographer: Albert LeePublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95As Nova Scotia enters the next millennium it is more culturally rich and diverse than could ever have been imagined. It is now the destination for thousands of visitors from around the world who look to its diverse geography and cultural groupings to enrich their travel experience. Destination Nova Scotia details the history and culture of the province and showcases its scenic landscapes.
Butterbox Survivors
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Since the 1992 publication of Butterbox Babies, the Ideal Maternity Home in Chester, Nova Scotia, has become synonymous with illegal adoptions and suspicious baby deaths. Much attention has been giving neglect of infants at the Home, the exorbitant fee paid by adoptive parents and the secretive nature of transactions.
But what became of the children who were adopted? What effect did their shaky beginnings have on their lives? Were they loved and cherished, or mistreated and ignored? Did they feel like “family”? did they always wonder who they were?
In this comprehensive book, author and Survivor Robert Hartlen has compiled the personal stories of thirty-six of the adult adoptees who survived the Ideal Maternity Home. Here we share in their most private memories and experiences: the painful struggles to come to terms with being adopted, the epic searches to find birth families, and the heartening sense of a surrogate family many adoptees found in many fellow Survivors. Also included are stories of some of the birth mothers who gave up their children, and some of he adopted mothers who claimed the babies as their own.
Underlying all the stories is the terrifying realization that except for an act of fate, or of grace, these Survivors might have shared an unmarked grave with their innocent fellow infants known and remembered as the “Butterbox Babies.”
At once uplifting and disquieting, these stories not only force us to confront a painful chapter in Nova Scotia’s history, but also challenge us to reconsider the whole notion of “family.”
Roland’s Flora of Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$75.00Roland’s Flora of Nova Scotia is the most comprehensive book ever published on the province’s plants. It is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in what grows where in Nova Scotia.With easy-to-read descriptions, foolproof keys and complete, illustrated glossary, readers can quickly find the information they need. Each plant description outlines the features most helpful in identifying that plant, and includes interesting facts about it’s folklore, herbal applications, toxicity, and edibility. The many distribution maps and illustrations also support accurate and simple plant identification. Volume one of two.
Discover Nova Scotia Guide to Wildlife Viewing Sites
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$1.99A full colour guide to viewing wildlife in Nova Scotia, organized by travel routes with information about habitat and safety for viewers and animals.
Somebody’s Daughter
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95First released in 1996, Somebody’s Daughter takes us inside the lives of real players in Canada’s prostitution game. This book is about what we don’t know about prostitution and perhaps what we don’t want to know; what goes on inside that violent underworld know as The Game, and who the girls in the tight skirts really are. Author and reporter Phonse Jessome traces the short careers of several young girls actively recruited by pimps and describes the anti-pimping efforts of law enforcers who work to get teenage girls out the The Games and off the streets.
Walk Historic Halifax
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Use this convenient guide book to find all the interesting historic buildings and facts about the historic old port city.
Eastern Coyote
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Biologist Gerry Parker has studied this versatile and successful coyote and tracked the animal’s origins and population patterns. A fascinating animal, and a comprehensive book.
Spring Wildflowers
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Spring Wildflower is a handy field guide that will help you identify most flowers that bloom in the spring. It is well organized, easy to follow and features fine pen and ink drawings of almost 250 flowering plants.
Peggy’s Cove
Artist: Sherman HinesPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$10.95A truly unique place, here is Peggy’s Cove in all its glory: sea, surf, lighthouse, birds, and fishing boats.
Six Crucial Decades
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95An insightful account of Maritime history. By isolating and examining specific events that occurred during six decades, the author shows how the course of history in this region was altered and examines the social and economic consequences that followed.
