The Other Side of the Sun The True Story of One Refugee’s Journey
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95As one of the boat people refugees, Thien escaped war-torn Vietnam on a harrowing journey that landed him in a Malaysian refugee camp. Thien Tang had an ordinary childhood living in South Vietnam until it became a Communist state. His father feared persecution of his family and sent his fourteen-year-old son into hiding for over a year. Upon his return, Thien attended a local high school and found a classmate sweetheart. Life once again was good. But it wasn’t meant to last. Thien was forced to go back into hiding again with no hope of return. Like thousands of others, he fled Vietnam on a crowded boat in search of a new life. But first he had to cross the treacherous South China Sea to reach Malaysia.
Thien’s ship was attacked by pirates and shot at by police. On land, he and his fellow refuges were jailed, starved, and beaten, but survival only brought on tougher challenges. The soldiers forced them at gunpoint back into their damaged boat to be towed to sea. He sought asylum in the United States but found the refuge he was seeking in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where he lives today.
Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95It has been estimated that between fifteen to twenty thousand ships have meet their end along Canada’s eastern seaboard. Many of these wrecks happened between the 1800s to the mid-1900s when the season of bark, brig, brigantine and schooner came and went. This era left behind literally a vast volume – both recorded in print and preserved in local tales – of heroism and tragedy of mariners young and old.Prince Edward Island’s legacy of tales from the era of all-sail is great: from the wreck of the immigrant-laden Elizabeth at Cascumpec where the castaways were saved by a native; to the unique tale of PEI’s Jessy thrown onto St. Paul’s Island; to the strange tale of Rival caught in the “Yankee Gale” and the SS Quebec’s demise in the death-dealing tides of East Point, Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island, Volume I will fascinate and educate.Then again, island ships were involved with mystery, mayhem and wreck in practically all parts of the North Atlantic: gripped in sandbars of Sable Island, plundered on the rugged coasts of Newfoundland, drifting with no crew off Ireland, wrecked on Nova Scotia’s shores, stranded on the Magdalenes, and “Lost with Crew” in the vast Atlantic.Anything that could happen to a ship has happened to a Prince Edward Island hull and scores of tales within Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island present those weird and wonderful epics. Arranged chronologically, the stories are full of names of our seafaring ancestors, plus descriptions of the local ports that sheltered the ships.For over a hundred years the wooden sailing ship was an important and vital transportation link along the shores of Prince Edward Island. Its maritime records are full of stories in which local ships and their crews played an essential role. Self-sacrifice, daring, skill, wreck and rescue are all part of a fabric which makes up the history of the ships and the heritage of the villages that knew them. Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island has all this and more!
Imagining Anne L. M. Montgomery’s Island Scrapbooks
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$32.95Fall in love with Anne of Green Gables and the Island all over again through L. M. Montgomery’s scrapbooks, annotated by Montgomery scholar Elizabeth Epperly. Covering a period from 1893 to 1910, these full colour pages give the reader insight into the young author during the period when Anne Shirley came to life.
Anne of Green Gables : The Original Manuscript
Editor: Carolyn Strom CollinsPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95This fascinating book presents the original text of Montgomery’s most famous manuscript, including where the author scribbled notes, made additions and deletions, and other editorial details. L. M. Montgomery scholar Carolyn Strom Collins offers a rare look into Montgomery’s creative process, providing a never-before-published version of the worldwide phenomenon.
This book differs from previous versions of Anne in that it provides a transcription of the text and notes from Montgomery’s original manuscript, and shows how they were integrated to form the full novel. The culmination of years of research, Anne of Green Gables: the Original Manuscript is a necessary addition to any Montgomery lover’s collection. This volume features scans of the first page of each chapter from the original archived document (showing editorial notes in Montgomery’s handwriting) and an appendix of rare foreign-language covers.
Prince Edward Island Tastes
$22.95A new edition of the first title in Nimbus’s popular “Tastes” series, Prince Edward Island Tastes has been updated with fresh recipes celebrating the combination of homestyle dishes, fresh seafood, world cuisine, and desserts that made the first edition such a success.
Edited and with an introduction by Charlottetown-based writer Andrew Sprague, and with photos by Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay, the book includes sections from twenty-eight eateries spread across the province. It’s a portrait of an exciting culinary scene and a source of creativity for your own kitchen. Each recipe has been adapted with cooking instructions for the home chef, accompanied by vivid photos that will make you want to try each one. With a handy map and up-to-date restaurant listings, PEI Tastes is the perfect memento of your visit to the Island and its flavours.
Prince Edward Island Quiz Revised Edition
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.
Which premier led PEI into Confederation? Which PEI town was probably named from the French word for mouse? Whether you think you know it all or want to learn more, this collectioin of trivia from Canada’s smallest province will get you thinking. With 500 questions from easy to difficult, there is something here for readers of all ages and knowledge levels.
Images of the Island
Photographer: Anne MacKay, Wayne BarrettPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$12.95Formerly known as Prince Edward Island Connections, Images of the Island is a repackage of the popular book of images by renowned island photographers Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay. Whether you are a first-time visitor or a long-time resident, Images of the Island is a memento filled with colourful and charming images of an island that conjures up memories and inspires dreams.
Charlottetown
Photographer: Anne MacKay, Wayne BarrettPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$27.95Wayne Barrett and Anne MacKay are a professional photographic team that have published numerous books including True Colors A Writer’s Garden, and the award winning Spirit of Place. They live in St. Catherines, Prince Edward Island.
Building the Bridge to PEI
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The popular story of the construction of the fixed link from the mainland to PEI. It includes the details of the design challenges and construction solutions for this monumental achievement.
Listening for the Dead Bells
Publisher: Island Studies Press$18.95Mysterious lights, howling dogs, ringing sounds in the ear: these omens of death are part of a treasury of supernatural beliefs transmitted through centuries and across the Atlantic Ocean. Part memoir, part oral history—the author reflects on stories about bad fairies, witch control, ghosts, second sight, divination, healing incantations, attitudes toward death, and other links between Prince Edward Island and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
A Light in the Field
Publisher: SSP Publications$16.95A Light in the Field features the historic architecture of lighthouses, fishery buildings, barns and mills on Prince Edward Island.
Historic Churches of PEI (2nd Ed)
Publisher: SSP Publications$16.95Originally published in 1986, Historic Churches of Prince Edward Island won the Award of Merit, from the PEI Heritage Foundation. The book includes photos, floor plans, and descriptions of pre-1914 churches, from simple rural structures to the splendor of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Charlottetown. Not intended as a history text or a manual of preservation, the author hopes that the book will prove useful in conserving the past.
Prince Edward Island Images of the Night Sky
Publisher: Acorn Press$29.95Prince Edward Island is celebrated the world over for its pristine beaches, charming villages, and scenic vistas. While many books have celebrated the Island’s beauty over the years, no book has focused solely on photographs of the Island at night.
For long-time residents and first-time visitors alike, these unforgettable images are an important celebration of the unparalleled charm of this Prince Edward Island.
Historic PEI : Vintage Postcards of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: Acorn Press$22.95Throughout Canada’s early days, Prince Edward Island was a thriving province with a strong tourist industry. Historic Prince Edward Island portrays the quaint lifestyle and the busy industry that Canada’s smallest province had to offer. With unique messages to friends and family, these early postcards paint a picture of history not available in history books.
Island at the Centre of the World The Geological Heritage of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95Prince Edward Island has a history. But its story begins far, far beyond the birth of the nation, the arrival of European settlers, the Mi’kmaq, or even the first humans. Its story is older than the Island itself, which was born of climate change and rising seas just 7,000 years ago.
The red cliffs of the Island have their origins in a world before the dinosaurs, in a time some 290 million years ago. Its red soils, and the sands and dunes of its shores, are reborn from the rocks of this primeval world. The rocks of the island province were deposited as rivers coursed their way through the tropical heart of Pangea, a giant landmass formed by moving continents. The part of the Earth that would one day become Prince Edward Island lay at the centre of this world, and felt the heat of the tropical sun, its intense monsoon rains and withering dry seasons. This was the beginning of the Age of Reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs, and the landscapes, dryland forests, and animal life of that time are all recorded here across Prince Edward Island, from Tignish through Malpeque Bay and Hillsborough Bay to Annandale. Consider too, that people—the L’Nu’k, or Mi’kmaq, witnessed the birth of this Island thousands of years ago. All of this has been our best kept secret. Until now.
Summer in the Land of Anne
Artist: CarolynPublisher: Acorn Press$22.95Six-year-old Elspeth’s mother has a surprise in store for her daughters. She’s taking Elspeth and her eleven-year-old sister on a surprise vacation. When she starts reading Anne of Green Gables aloud to the girls, they catch on–they’re going to Prince Edward Island!
Elspeth proudly dons her Anne hat on the ferry, ready to explore the Land of Anne. Although she knows she’s really visiting Lucy Maud Montgomery?s house, she feels like she recognizes everything from the books and is thoroughly enchanted. At first devastated that Montgomery’s first house was torn down by Montgomery’s uncle, Elspeth sees signs of life–chipmunks living in the old cellar.
Elspeth’s imagination is ignited. No longer satisfied with pretending to be Anne, Elspeth is instead inspired to become more like Montgomery: famous writer Elspeth of Cavendish, writing about the world she loves.
Acadian Women of Prince Edward Island Three Centuries of Action
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95From the time of their arrival on Isle Saint-Jean in the early 1700s,Acadian women played a major role in the survival of the colony.Over the generations, they have been active in the home and in the community. They have nursed, taught, worked, sung, prayed, and served. Integrated into a well-documented text with numerous photographs, their testimonies provide a history of the Acadie of Prince Edward Island. This book relates how that history was lived by Acadian women and influenced by their action and determination.
You Know You’re an Islander When….
Publisher: Acorn Press$14.95<
You might be an Islander if…
- You cried when Stompin’ Tom died
- You still give directions based on the purple house on St. Peter’s Road
- You were born knowing how to break down a lobster
A book about the Island for Islanders.
“Prince Edward Island is far more than postcard vistas, bountiful food and literary heroines with red hair. This book is full to the scuppers with everything that makes it unique and colourful!” – Chef Michael Smith
“Brilliant!” – Brad Richards, 2 time Stanley Cup Champion and PEI’s best hockey player ever.
Door to the Past Abandoned Properties of Prince Edward Island
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95If you have ever gone for a drive around rural Prince Edward Island, you would have noticed that the rural landscape is littered with abandoned buildings. Tony Gallant began to get curious about these properties and started investigate them, looking for signs of thier past. He began to not only photograph the homes, buildings or barns that have been abandoned on P.E.I, but post what he found on his Facebook page. The result is a curious collection of images of the homes and what is left of the former inhabitants, leaving the reader to only imagine the stories they hold.
Prince Edward Island: Landscape and Light
Photographer: John SylvesterPublisher: Acorn Press$29.95In 2014, John Sylvester is celebrating his 30th year of photographing some of Canada’s most remarkable places. This book is a retrospective of his main inspiration — Prince Edward Island. It includes much new material, but also includes many beloved classic images that have graced the pages of his previous books. Prince Edward Island: Landscape and Light takes us on a journey showcasing John Sylvester’s approach to photography, not only making images at the edge of day and night, but also the nature of photographing on an Island, where both the landscape and the light inspires his spectacular work.
Charlottetown: Then and Now
Photographer: W.Blair MacDonaldPublisher: Acorn Press$19.95D. Scott MacDonald’s father, W. Blair MacDonald had a keen interest in the changing landscape of Charlottetown, and documented a number of these changes with his slide camera. Instilled with a keen sense of history at an early age, Scott and his family have always treasured the work that their father did to preserve Charlottetown’s history. So, over 50 years later, Scott has nowretraced his father’s steps to record how the city has changed over that time. Standing in the exact spot where his father stood, Scott has captured how the streets and buildings of Charlotttown have changed and remained the same. Scott has also researched the history of the buildings he protrays, both back to his father’s time and much earlier. The result is a fascinating glimpse into why and how even a small city can change so much.
All is Clam A Shores Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Press$22.95It’s Christmas at The Shores. There’s no snow yet, but there are so many outdoor lights that the tiny coastal village can be seen from space. Apart from Ian Simmons’ place, and he’s considered odd, there’s only one house in the village that isn’t lit up. It’s been dark for years. That’s about to change. Wild Rose Cottage is about to come to life, and death, once again. Meanwhile, the villagers wish for snow to complete the Christmas portrait. When it comes, it’s with the body of newcomer, Fitz Fitsimmons, a former acrobat turned bully and drunk. Mountie Jane Jamieson has seen murder here before, but none where she’d rather not catch the killer.
Elaine Harrison: I am an Island that Dreams I am an Island that Dreams
Publisher: Acorn Press$24.95Elaine Harrison was born in Petite-Rivere in Nova Scotia, but moved to Prince Edward Island to teach in 1938. There, she and her companion spent their summers at “Windswept,” the 200 year-old farmhouse on the cliffs near Seacow Head, where they lived a simple life, and for over fifty years were involved in the intellectual life of the Island and beyond, playing host to numerous summer visitors and corresponding with some of Canada’s top writers. In 1968, retirement gave Elaine the freedom to turn to her interests: her poetry, the campaigning for favoured causes, but above all her painting. Inspired by the Group of Seven, she found her subject matter in the cliffs and waves at Windswept, the sunflowers in her garden, the trees of the local hardwoods, and latterly her own cats and kitchen. In the early days she frequently gave her paintings away to anyone who appreciated them, but from the 1970s she began to get the recognition and financial returns they merited. She died in 2003, but her work is still much-loved by Islanders.
An Island Christmas Reader (Updated edition)
Artist: Dale McNevinPublisher: Acorn Press$17.95An Island Christmas Reader is a book about Christmas past and present on Prince Edward Island. In 22 stories and essays, David Weale combines reminiscences of Islanders with his own musings to rekindle the memory of Christmas, where imagination and magic work hand in hand to create the “unsullied wonder of childhood vision.”
Mind Over Mussels A Shores Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Press$22.95Nothing big ever happens in The Shores. Ceilidhs, yes. Killings, no.
That all changes when amateur sleuth, Hy McAllister trips over a body on the beach and tumbles head first into a murder case. Cottager Lance Lord, dressed like Jimi Hendrix, has had his head split open with an axe. As Hurricane Angus storms up the coast, Hy and Mountie Jane Jamieson vie against the elements to uncover the murderer in a village where almost everyone has something to hide.
The Little Book of Prince Edward Island
Photographer: John SylvesterPublisher: Acorn Press$19.95Award-winning photographer John Sylvester is back with a new book of stunning photography. Sylvester captures Prince Edward Island like no other photographer. With beautiful images of every corner of the Island in all seasons, The Little Book of Prince Edward Island is a charming and captivating look at the Island in all its colours. From the red dirt roads and green fields to the surrounding blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, John Sylvester’s imagery portrays the landscape that thousands of visitors from all over the world travel to see.
Prince Edward Island Seafood : Local Fare, Global Flavours
Publisher: Acorn Press$12.95Paul Lucas is the executive chef of a world-famous seafood restaurant on the Charlottetown waterfront. He draws on local, classical, and international flavours to inspire and create original true fusion cuisine that is truly his own. He lives in Stratford with wife Bethany and their two children.
Vet Behind the Years
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95Bud Ings was born in 1926 on Prince Edward Island and graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph, ON. He practised in rural King’s County, was a Liberal member of the legislative assembly, and served as agriculture and health ministers. A long-time member of the Queens County Fiddlers, Bud lives in Montague.
Revenge of the Lobster Lover A Shores Mystery
Publisher: Acorn Press$22.95It’s lobster season at The Shores, a fishing village isolated from The Island in a storm surge. Parker, a collector of antiquities, has moved there with his partner Guillaume, a chef just out of rehab. “Hy” McAllister, a website writer looking for lobster recipes for a client’s newsletter, also needs a speaker for her Women’s Institute meeting. Enter Camilla, founder of the Lobster Liberation Legion, spouting crustacean right-to-life rhetoric. The legion starts freeing lobsters from their traps, angering the villagers and the man who runs Parker’s fisheries empire. In the tragic events that follow, the hidden connection between Parker, Guillaume and Camilla reveals itself.
Afternoon Horses
Publisher: Acorn Press$16.95Deirdre Kessler teaches creative writing and children’s literature at the University of Prince Edward Island. Her poetry has appeared in a number of collections, including The New Poets of Prince Edward Island and Landmarks: An Anthology of New Atlantic Canadian Poetry of the Land, and in chapbook form: Subtracting by Seventeen. She is the author of five children’s novels, including the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Award-winning Brupp Rides Again, and six picture books, including perennial favourites Lobster in My Pocket, and Lena and the Whale.
Fixer-Upper
Publisher: Acorn Press$16.95Funnyman Lorne Elliott’s take on Island life. When Bruno MacIntyre decides to rent his ramshackle cottage to summer tourists, the wacky merriment begins. Lorne Elliott, comic master of mirth and mayhem, takes us to Savage Bay on the south shore of Prince Edward Island, where the hapless Bruno turns to his clever and caustic Aunt Tillie for help in securing tenants. First, the cottage, inherited with a bad reputation from Bruno’s ne’r-do-well father, must be renovated. Then, Bruno must duel with his aunt’s wry insults and sly plans, a sardonic would-be author, and two torrid tenants. Elliott’s celebrated gifts for sharp-witted repartee and vivid characterizations are in full force. So, too, are Elliott’s keen eye and ear for our fumbling aspirations, bittersweet banterings, self-deceptions, hard-won wisdom, surprising tenderness, and zany outcomes. The Fixer-Upper–the novella adaptation of his play, Tourist Trap–is classic Lorne Elliott, with a brash and cheeky Maritime flavour.
