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An Ordinary Hero Story of David Goldberg, WWII Canadian Spitfire Pilot
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95Imagine you are a pilot, shot from the sky, alone in enemy territory where no one speaks your language. It is winter, and soon will be dark. You could freeze to death, starve or be captured by the Nazis. And you are a Jew. This is David Goldberg’s predicament on March 8, 1944. An Ordinary Hero is Goldberg’s account of how, assisted by the French Underground, he made his way through occupied France and Spain and evaded capture by the enemy. He returned to combat in ground support as a dive-bomber to become the decorated (Distinguished Flying Cross) commander of the only Canadian fighter squadron in Italy.
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The Gold of the Yukon Dawson City and the Klondike After the Gold Rush
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$21.95The Gold of the Yukon tells the story of the decline of Dawson City and the state of gold mining in the early 1960s; and The Moral Equivalent of War (The Working Centre) examines ways in which human energy is being directed to peaceful pursuits in development, highlighting the role of social and community entrepreneurs.
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Hangman’s Beach
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95A skilful blend of romance and historical fact woven about Halifax, Nova Scotia, while the Napoleonic Wars were shaking the world. A few miles away on Melville Island, a French prisoner daily faces the agonizing question: What would be his fate if the British discovered that he had shot and killed Lord Nelson at Trafalgar?
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Catching the Light
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The kids call her Lighthouse: no lights on up there. In a small town, everyone knows when you can’t read. But Cathy is just distracted by the light, lines, and artistry of everyday life. She is a talented artist growing up in tiny Mariners Cove and yearns for acceptance. She dreams of enrolling in art school, but getting there will be a struggle. Hutch Parsons is everything Cathy is not: charismatic, popular, smart. Overflowing with energy, he is confident in his plans for the future. But one icy evening his world is upended and those plans are swept away.
Dancing between points of view, Catching the Light explores the ordinary lives of two extraordinary people. With gorgeously lyrical language and a strong sense of place, this tender novel announces a bright new voice in Atlantic fiction. Winner of the 2014 Percy Janes First Novel Award for an unpublished manuscript.
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Last Lullaby
$21.95Set in the fictional town of Paddy’s Arm, Newfoundland, Alice Walsh’s debut mystery novel is at once harrowing and homey, equal parts police procedural and diner gossip. When Claire and Bram’s only child dies suddenly, it at first appears to be a case of crib death. But when the real cause of death indicates homicide and Claire is arrested as the number-one suspect, her friend, lawyer Lauren LaVallee, promises she’ll do everything she can to prove Claire’s innocence.
As Lauren combs Paddy’s Arm for suspects, amid department politics and small-town talk, leads abound. Why are professors Frances and Annabelle being so secretive about their adopted daughter? What’s behind a troubled student’s sudden disappearance? And who is the mysterious platinum blonde observed at the scene of the crime? Meanwhile, Lauren’s own secret—a case that almost cost her her career back in Montreal—and the sudden return of an ex-lover who wants back in her life, threaten to overwhelm the investigation altogether.
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A Distorted Revolution How Eric’s Trip Changed Music, Moncton, and Me
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95In this narrative history and memoir, journalist, musician, and Monctonian Jason Murray follows the rise of the band that put the Maritimes on the map.
Eric’s Trip was a band defined as much by its DIY ethos as its low-fi, discordant music. The four-piece formed in an early-’90s Moncton basement and in a few short years, went from recording themselves on a four-track and selling cassettes at local record stores to signing on Seattle’s Sub Pop records, opening for Sonic Youth, and touring internationally.
Twenty years after the band’s breakup (1996), A Distorted Revolution is the ultimate nostalgia trip. Through personal recollections, interviews with band members and others integral to the early 90s scene, this highly anticipated book offers a rare glimpse inside the band’s formation, success, and ultimate unravelling. Includes over 20 images.
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Mister Nightingale
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95When self-described mid-list Newfoundland author James Nightingale makes a brief sojourn to his St. John’s home for the re-release of his seminal novel, he’s forced to confront his failings, both familial and artistic. Imbued with the language of literature and the imagery of a Newfoundland in flux, Mister Nightingale is at once a fitful meditation on the writing life, and a keen and poignant exploration of one man’s coming to terms with la vie quotidienne.
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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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Duffy Stardom to Senate to Scandal
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Mike Duffy made his name as a political reporter, and in the process became one of Prince Edward Island’s most famous exports. He cast himself as the ultimate insider, Parliament Hill’s man in the know. It made him a household name and one of the Canada’s bestpaid journalists. But Duffy wanted to get even closer and lobbied his way into the Canadian Senate, with dire results. Veteran journalist Dan Leger tells the story of Duffy’s rise to the top in Canadian media, his entanglement with the Harper Conservatives, and the scandal that made him one of the most controversial figures in contemporary politics. This paperback edition includes a new chapter on the 2015 expenses trial, a foreword by CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, and an 8-page colour photo insert.
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dePictions Editorial Cartoons by Michael de Adder
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Award-winning editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder presents his favourite cartoons from the past six years. The over 100 colour cartoons included here run the gamut from national politics to regional affairs and international controversies. Includes a foreword from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald’s Bruce MacKinnon.
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Nova Scotia’s Historic Rivers The Waterways That Shaped the Province
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95While Nova Scotia may be known as “Canada’s Ocean Playground,” the tributaries and meandering streams that flow through the province have a significance that runs just as deeply. In Nova Scotia’s Historic Rivers, Joan Dawson takes us on an insightful expedition around the province. From the original portage routes of the Mi’kmaq, such as the Margaree and Shubenacadie Rivers; to shipbuilding, logging, and mill-based industries along the LaHave and Sackville Rivers; to the settlers and communities that flourished along their banks, Dawson demonstrates the myriad ways in which Nova Scotia’s rivers have always been imperative to the sustenance and survival of the province. Featuring over 50 archival and contemporary photographs and illustrations, Nova Scotia’s Historic Rivers is a fascinating glimpse into the settlement an development of the province, and the ever-evolving rivers that continue to shape its landscape and culture.
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Boldt Castle
Photographer: George FischerPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95When prominent New York City hotelier George Boldt demonstrated his love for his wife, Louise, by building a magnificent chateau in the beautiful Thousand Islands, no expense was too great and no idea too grand. But when Louise died suddenly, George immediately brought construction to a halt. Broken-hearted, he never set foot on the island again, and the lonely castle was abandoned to time and the elements for over 70 years.
In Boldt Castle: The Story of an Unfinished Dream, Anthony Mollica Jr. shares the fascinating details behind the crumbling castle that captured his imagination as a child, and describes the ambitious restoration project that has brought new life to the Boldts’ island estate. George Fischer’s stunning photographs capture the magnificence of Boldt Castle today, an enduring symbol of devotion that attracts thousands of visitors each year
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Historic Black Nova Scotia
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95The history of Nova Scotia’s black communities is a complex story of triumph and struggle, intertwined with the many stories of ancestors, destinies, and challenges. The knowledge and insight of veteran authors Bridglal Pachai and Henry Bishop provide welcome guidance to the mosaic of Nova Scotian black history in Historic Black Communities. Presented in the engaging format of an Images of Our Past book, this readable history book is interspersed with ample black and white photos, providing a visual link to the stories of the past.
Eleven chapters explore the African presence in Nova Scotia, and range from topics such as the influence of the church and the African United Baptist Association (AUBA); pioneers in publishing, law, politics and business; the legacy of Africville; heroes of sports, military, arts, and volunteer activism; Historic Black Communities provides a comprehensive, but always accessible entry into the many realms of black influence. Above all, the many photos and stories of this historic tribute salute the dignity and achievements of the resilient black community in Nova Scotia, and provide an unshakeable optimism for its promising future.
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Historic Digby
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95An exceptional collection of over 160 historical images from Digby and area reflecting the era from the late 19th century up to the Second World War.
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Phone Book: Essential Telephone Communication Skills
$21.95Since 2006 Mary Jane has embraced her alter ego, The Phone Lady, a North American company that focuses on excellent telephone communication skills. Mary Jane has worked with over 300 clients and her expertise has been recognized throughout North America and Europe by a wide-range of business media-radio, television and print-including the Wall Street Journal.
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Get More Power From Your Brain
$21.95Reading this book will stimulate you to nurture and challenge the power from your brain so that you can focus and concentrate at will, become action oriented, acquire learning skills easily, and retain more information as you read faster. You will be able to enhance your memory, turn your stress into interesting opportunities, improve your relationships, defeat procrastination, treat mistakes as good feedback, and live mindfully.
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Great Cape Breton Storytelling
Editor: Ronald CaplanPublisher: Breton Books$21.95From a lifetime of collecting, Ron Caplan offers tales from the rare complex of Cape Breton Island. From a grim sealing trek to a mother’s courage in a windstorm, to memories of drunken hens, to a shark attack. Mackerel fishermen bag a huge tuna, and an itinerant butcher chases a wild cow. The book includes fables from the island’s Czech, Pakistani, and Lebanese heritage in among stories from the Gaelic, French and Mi’kmaq traditions. Good solid reading in one lasting collection!
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God’s Country Cape Breton Stories, Classic and Rare
Editor: Ron CaplanPublisher: Breton Books$21.95Cape Breton Island continues to earn its place at the table of Canadian literature. God’s Country offers an essential collection of classic stories that helped build that award-winning reputation, as well as several rare and harder-to-find stories that maintain the growing respect while pointing toward future literary achievements. This is a lasting book that works for both bedside reading and the high school and university classroom. In God’s Country you’ll find stories by Alistair MacLeod, Joan Clark, Lynn Coady, D.R. MacDonald, Silver Donald Cameron, D.C. Troicuk, Sheldon Currie and many more — gathered under one rich and attractive roof. And these classic writers are only some of the authors this new volume has to share.
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The Golden Boy A Doctor’s Journey with Addiction
Publisher: Acorn Press$21.95Before opioids destroyed Grant Matheson’s career, he was a pillar of his community. Respected physician, loving husband, devoted father, and trusted friend. Grant was a straight-laced kid who grew up to be a clean-living adult. No drinking, no smoking, and certainly no drugs. It took everyone by surprise, most of all himself, when he became addicted to narcotics in his 30s. His story hit local press when he was found guilty of professional misconduct related to his addiction, including over-prescribing painkillers to patients so he could buy them back–an infraction that caused his physician license to be suspended.
Matheson’s memoir is a gritty account of his narcotic addiction and all that it cost him: various relationships, his career, and almost his life. The Golden Boy takes the reader from the very first day of Matheson’s drug addiction to that moment when he decided to rebuild his life through rehab and recovery.
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Finding Forgiveness
Publisher: Acorn Press$21.95Adrian Smith was raised in what seemed to be a very traditional, Roman Catholic upbringing. His father, Adrian Smith Sr, was very religious. He had studied to be a priest and left the seminary only 6 months before his ordination. After he left the seminary, Adrian Sr then worked for 30 years as a child psychologist for PEI’s Department of Education. He died at the age of 58 from a brain tumor. A week later after his death, Adrian Jr discovered that his father had been living a lie and that he was homosexual; he had kept it hidden his whole life.
Adrian kept his father’s sexuality a secret until his mother died. At that time, he decided to make a conscious effort to face his and his father’s story. He ended up having travel away from PEI to get counselling to help him get over the lies of his past. He was finally making progress when allegations of sexual abuse against my father surfaced.
The book details a son’s experience with coming to terms with the secrecy and betrayal. But it is also a story of redemption as after years of hard work Smith could finally find forgiveness.
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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!
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Short History of Fredericton
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Sitting along the scenic St. John River and tucked into the surrounding wilderness, Fredericton bristles with history as New Brunswick’s capital. With Maliseet, French, and British origins, this colonial garrison town quickly became the political centre for the area as it grew with the efforts of Loyalist settlers and others in the 1780s. In an engaging narrative style, author Dan Soucoup traces Fredericton’s development through the contributions of leading citizens and the significant events that saw commercial growth and the first Canadian literary movement.
Through the social and political tensions of the 1960s and 70s up to the present, A Short History of Fredericton records the entire history of the city in a highly accessible manner. This book is ideal for tourists seeking a concise historical overview of Fredericton, as well as for citizens wanting to know how their city came to be. Includes 30 black and white photos.
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History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects History of Nova Scotia Through Museum Artifacts
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Have you ever been to the LaHave Islands Marine Museum on Bell Island? How about the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique, or the Africville Museum in Halifax? Joan Dawson has. Armed with a spirit of adventure, curiosity, and the belief that “treasures can be found in unlikely places,” the author-historian has scoured Nova Scotia’s National Heritage Sites and community museums for the fifty objects that best “embody the history and culture” of the province.
Casting a wide net, from a pair of good-luck Nantucket Whaler shoes to a Mi-Carême seven-beast mask, Dawson unearths the many arcane and overlooked items whose stories collectively form Nova Scotia’s historical fabric. Entries are arranged in chronological order, from prehistory to present-day, and each one includes a photograph, description, and contextual history of the object. Written in an engaging, narrative style, A History of Nova Scotia in 50 Objects is both a fabulously unique approach to the province’s history and an interactive treasure hunt.
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Pier 21 Gateway that Changed Canada (new)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95From 1928 to 1971, Pier 21 in Halifax served as the front door to Canada, the entryway through which more than 1.5 million people passed. A legion of volunteers, medical staff, and immigration personnel kept vigil at the pier from one decade to the next, greeting and directing the human tide that flowed and ebbed through its doors. The work helped shape who they were, and gave rise to stories that they and those who passed through collected in tattered notebooks or in corners of their minds.
Beginning with the first wave of European settlers and the early problems with the first wave of European settlers and the early problems of quarantine, Pier 21: The Gateway that Changed Canada is a moving account of the human drama that unfolded at this historic site. This new edition updates the Pier 21 story to the present day, including its confirmation as Canada’s national museum of immigration in 2011.
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Memoirs of a Lightkeeper’s Son 2nd edition
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95William (Billy) G. Budge was born in 1948 in the small fishing village of Neil’s Harbour on the northern tip of Cape Breton. In 1955 his father accepted the position of lighthouse keeper on St. Paul Island, a rugged and forlorn mountain in the sea. Positioned at the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, this island is subject to violent gales, snowstorms and is often shrouded in fog. Early seafarers called it the “Graveyard of the Gulf” due to the vast numbers of ships and countless lives that were lost along its shores.
Billy moved to St. Paul Island with his parents and younger sister in September of 1955. For the next five years they lived at the southwest light station in almost total isolation. His family quickly learned to cope in a world without neighbours, electricity, schools, or any sports activities. They lived off the land – hunting ducks along the coast, berry picking, and jigging cod on the sea. Almost daily there were hardships to overcome and problems to be resolved. Life on the island was one of both tragedy and triumph. Billy tells his story of survival on that lonely rock. Sense the lush green of the island in summer in the midst of a crystal blue sea and feel the harshness of winter while buried under snow and surrounded by drift ice.
Share with Billy the excitement of unexpected guests, the arrival of a supply ship as well as the sadness of sickness and loss. Experience the many technical problems such as a fire in the lighthouse and learn how the entire family worked together to restore service.
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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.
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Historic Baddeck
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Historic Baddeck takes us on the town’s journey of early discovery and later growth, from the first few houses set among Atlantic aboriginal wigwams to what Baddeck is today–a magnificent summer escape and thriving lakeside village. Author Joceyln Bethune has paired some of the town’s most captivating historical images and presented them with compact and interesting vignettes of the region’s past.
Part of the Images of Our Past series.
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Lost Canoe
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95A contemporary account of tracking a historical explorer across Labrador.
In the mode of Leonidas Hubbard and William Cabot, Hesketh Prichard set out with a group of adventurers in the early 1900s, determined to cross Labrador. Disregarding local advice, his expedition headed up a box canyon and climbed five-hundred-metre cliffs all with a canoe in tow- a gruesome portage. The canoe was later abandoned.
The Lost Canoe is the account of the contemporary search for Prichard’s lost canoe. Over three summers Larry Coady coaxed friends and strangers into searching for Prichard’s
canoe, retracing Prichard’s route, verifying landforms and campsites, and mapping the entire trail. Only hard-nosed hikers immune to blackflies and mosquitoes were enticed to participate. Prichard’s original 1910 photographs and accounts of his journey, published in Through Trackless Labrador, are paired with Coady’s own photographs and writings. The narrative that results reveals a struggle against the elements to cross the ancient landscape of northern Labrador, a subarctic mix of boreal forest and open tundra. The book will appeal to a broad audience, from historians and geographers to adventurers and hikers. -
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.
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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.
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Historic Grand Manan
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95Grand Manan Island is part of an archipelago of islands at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. Basaltic cliffs and underwater ledges contributed to the area around the island becoming famous for its shipwrecks, but there is much more to the island’s story. Historic Grand Manan catalogues with historic images and detailed captions the island’s geology and geography, lighthouses and landmarks, fishing industry, transportation, schools, churches, businesses and homes, people and community life, and the smaller Wood Island. From the first visits of Norse explorers around 1000 ad, to the early 1950s when the island’s roads were being paved for the first time, Grand Manan’s history is perfectly captured here.
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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.
