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Halifax A Literary Portrait
Editor: John BellPublisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Halifax: A Literary Portrait is a lively anthology of thirty-one selected writings about this colourful Nova Scotian port city dating from the early eighteenth century to the present. Included are works by such varied writers as Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Joseph Howe, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, L.M. Montgomery, Hugh MacLennan, Thomas Raddall, Will R. Bird, Irving Layton, Earle Birney, bill bissett and Spider Robinson.
Halifax is captured in its many moods, and the selections, while not always complimentary, are sure to entertain and illuminate.
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Through Sunlight and Shadows
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Through Sunlight and Shadows is an autobiographical novel about a young boy set in the small New Brunswick town of Bannonbridge in the 1940s and 1950s. The story is told from the perspective of an older man, Walt Macbride, a character well known to readers of other Raymond Fraser novels.
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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.
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Jeopardy
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95Richard Lemm’s new poetry collection, Jeopardy, opens with visits to Tasmania and Egypt. He takes readers to the infamous penal colony on the Tasman Peninsula, then imagines an alternate history in which convicts were sent to Prince Edward Island. Lemm explores his pre- and post-Revolution experiences teaching Egyptian students and encountering a great civilization wrestling with cross-currents of modernity and tradition. His poetic gaze then turns to the struggle of a couple living the ordeal of severe anorexia and the quest for healing.
In “The Sacred and the Profane” poems, he conjures myths and journeys —ancient and modern—to illuminate how we choose to live in the present: a Jewish surgeon’s pilgrimage to Assisi; Adam and Eve’s reflections on their fateful Edenic choice; the poet’s grandfather trading farm clothes for an army uniform and war in the Philippines; a resurrected L. M. Montgomery in a gift shop, surrounded by Anne of Green Gables merchandise. In the final section, Lemm evokes, with wit and urgency, our ecological reality and environmental crises: “The future is forever / now, is headlines scrolling / at glacial melt and animated pixel / speed into amnesia. While the Darwins / of tomorrow and their painstaking facts / watch from the crow’s nests, swaying above / our faith in charts, invincible hulls.”
Other poets have written of Lemm’s “passionate engagement with human nature, including his own,” of how he “masterfully blends his narrative poetic style with lyrical sweeps across time and space,” and of his “wit, his spilling love of life and his poetic magnetism.”
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The Way We Hold On
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95The Way We Hold On is Abena Beloved Green’s debut book of poetry. Her poems address cultural, social, and environmental issues, relationships, and reflect on everyday life as a small-town raised, semi-nomadic, first-generation Canadian. Here are poems about holding on and letting go—of ideas, opinions, beliefs, people, places, and things.
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A Soldier’s Place
$19.95For two decades following the First World War, Nova Scotia-born Will R. Bird published war stories in magazines and periodicals, which have gone out of print and were never digitized, and the stories had long fallen into obscurity—until now.
Carefully curated by author and editor Thomas Hodd, A Soldier’s Place is an anthology of fifteen of Bird’s best combat stories, based on the experiences of himself and of others, covering all aspects of the war effort and following brave Canadian, American, and Australian soldiers.
An infantry soldier, Will R. Bird miraculously survived the First World War and became one of the most prolific Canadian authors on the subject, completing both fiction and non-fiction works.
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Put Your Hand In My Hand The Spiritual and Musical Connections of Catherine and Gene MacLellan
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Put Your Hand in My Hand is the personal, lyrical story of the relationship between one of Canada’s most beloved singer-songwriters and his daughter, a talented musical artist.
Gene MacLellan’s contribution to the Canadian songbook is legendary. He penned top-forty hits, including “Snowbird,” “Bidin’ My Time,” and “Put Your Hand in the Hand,” and his compositions vaulted the careers of international stars such as Anne Murray. In 2004, his daughter Catherine, a Juno award winner, three-time Canadian Folk Award Winner, and two-time ECMA winner, released her debut album to critical acclaim. As the story’s principal narrator, along with experienced biographer Harvey Sawler, this anticipated memoir paints an intimate portrait of a complex man whose words and melodies left us wanting more than he was able to give, before he took his life in 1995 at the age of fifty-six. Includes song lyrics and a colour insert of family photos.
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Christmas in Atlantic Canada Stories True and False, Past and Present
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Some of the most comforting and enjoyable parts of Christmas are the heartwarming traditions we celebrate year after year. But do you ever wonder where those traditions came from? Who started them, and how did they become so ingrained? From dragging trees indoors to decorate them to bundling up to take in a Santa Claus parade, prolific folklorist David Goss traces the history of the holiday in our region from its earliest celebration—possibly 1604—to modern times.
Using historical records, diaries, and old newspapers, as well as a few fictional short stories, he documents the fascinating narrative of how Christmas in Atlantic Canada has been marked, both religiously and secularly.
Includes 50 images. Features a foreword by Gerry Bowler, author of Santa Claus, A Biography and The World Encyclopedia of Christmas.
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Cape Breton’s Christmas, Book 5 A Treasury of Stories and Memories
Editor: Ronald CaplanPublisher: Breton Books$19.95Now an annual holiday tradition, this fifth collection of Cape Breton’s Christmas delivers a batch of memories and rich holiday stories rooted in a beloved island. Here are the moments that take you back, the stories that encourage us to be all we can be. From family gatherings to loneliness to the joy of getting home in time—from parents who give even when they seem to have nothing—this is a generous book that will last.
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The Cove Journal
Publisher: Island Studies Press$19.95In eight years of writing her monthly column for PEI’s entertainment newspaper, the Buzz, artist JoDee Samuelson continues to capture the soft edges of rural life on the peaceful south shore of Prince Edward Island. The passing of the seasons, the growing of gardens, the friendship of neighbours, and the earthly pleasures of life are all presented with the enduring backdrop of “the shore.” JoDee’s expressive illustrations are the perfect touch.
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The Peddlers The Fuller Brush Man, the Lords of Liniment and Door to Door Heroes in Nova Scotia and Beyond
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95The Peddlers is the story of the leading roles some Nova Scotians played in the North American door-to-door sales profession in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It starts with the life of Nova Scotia-born Alfred C. Fuller, the Fuller Brush Man, whose humble upbringing in the Annapolis Valley laid the foundation for what became one of the biggest businesses of its type in the world.
It also follows the career of Yarmouth County’s Frank Stanley Beveridge, who co-founded the highly successful Stanley Home Products company. From the tough times of the 1920s and 1930s, the story showcases the Lebanese immigrant backpack peddler Herman Rofihe who established a quality men’s wear store that served three generations.
The Peddlers takes you on a door-to-door tour of the origins of household brands like Minard’s and Sloan’s Liniment, JR Watkins and Rawleigh Products, Fraser’s Liniment, Gates Little Gem Pills, Buckley Cough Syrups, Muskol, and other medicinal enterprises founded by peddlers, many of them Nova Scotians. It also chronicles a century-old Hants County murder case involving two young peddlers — one the victim, the other the perpetrator.
Filled with these fascinating stories of Nova Scotia’s history in the door-to-door trade, The Peddlers is a tribute to the men and women of a bygone era in merchandising, the likes of which will never be seen again.
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Elapultiek (We Are Looking Towards) A Play
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95Set in contemporary times, a young Mi’kmaw drum singer and a Euro-Nova Scotian biologist meet at dusk each day to count a population of endangered Chimney Swifts (kaktukopnji’jk). They quickly struggle with their differing views of the world. Through humour and story, the characters must come to terms with their own gifts and challenges as they dedicate efforts to the birds. Each “count night” reveals a deeper complexity of connection to land and history on a personal level.
Inspired by real-life species at risk work, shalan joudry originally wrote this story for an outdoor performance.
Elapultiek calls on all of us to take a step back from our routine lives and question how we may get to understand our past and work better together. The ideal of weaving between Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds involves taking turns to speak and to listen, even through the most painful of stories, in order for us all to heal. We are in a time when sharing cultural, ecological, and personal stories is vital in working towards a peaceful shared territory, co-existing between peoples and nature.
“It’s a crucial time to have these conversations,” offers joudry. “The power of story can engage audience and readers in ways that moves them to ask more questions about the past and future.”
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The Legend of Gladee’s Canteen Down Home on a Nova Scotia Beach
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95“Everyone remembers the famous food at Gladee’s Canteen, especially Gladee’s fish and chips and her coconut cream pie.” — Calvin Trillin
Gladee’s Canteen, several times voted as one of the ten best restaurants in Canada, was a special example of co-operative and communal spirit. At the centre of the operation were Gladee and her sister Flossie, supported by the extended Hirtle family. They offered a warm welcome and a memorable menu, in a setting brashly open to the forces of nature.
The Legend of Gladee’s Canteen tells the story of a popular Nova Scotia beach and a pioneer family who, against the odds, constructed a simple canteen at Hirtle’s Beach in1951 and ran it for forty years. The book draws on the author’s family associations, personal memory, and the outlying stockpile of collective recollections — a tapestry of events woven through the evolutionary fabric of a small, relatively isolated Maritime coastal community.
The era of Gladee’s Canteen is remarkable story that takes place in a small coastal Nova Scotia community blessed with a spectacularly dynamic living beach. In its time, the Hirtle family and its sparkling enterprise thrived in spite of relative isolation, uncertain funding, and domestic demons. As a Nova Scotia epic, the success story of Gladee’s Canteen mirrors the recent history of Hirtle’s Beach, exemplifying the twists and turns locked up in legend.
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In Two Voices A Patient and a Neurosurgeon Tell their Story
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95For a decade, Linda Clarke and Dr. Michael Cusimano had offices across from one another at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. She worked in Clinical Ethics and he was a staff neurosurgeon. They knew one another to say hello, to nod as they passed one another on the stairs, to wish each other a Merry Christmas. Michael’s patients sat in the chairs along that shared hallway, waiting for their appointment with him. For ten years, Linda heard their talk outside her door, smiled at them as she passed by, tried to give them their privacy. She was always impressed by the things people endured.
Ten years into her work, Linda got sick; she left her job and, weeks later, she sat in one of those hallway chairs, waiting for her appointment with Dr. Cusimano. In the blink of an eye, she was a neurosurgery patient and he was her surgeon.
Linda and Michael wrote In Two Voices together: it is the intimate account of Linda’s surgery with Michael as her surgeon. The story builds a piece at a time as Linda and Michael tell each other their experience and then respond to one another’s writing. As the relationship shifts from one of patient and surgeon to one of Linda and Michael as colleagues and friends, they encounter surprises as their trust and mutual understanding develop. Here is an unprecedented view into the experiences of illness, care, and compassion, an intimate picture of the experiences, challenges, skills, and commitment of a surgeon. The worlds of both surgeon and patient are framed by a most critical and delicate surgical procedure.
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It’s Our Time Honouring the African Nova Scotian Communities of East Preston, North Preston, Lake Loon/Cherry Brook
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The Black Loyalists were the first large group of people of African ancestry to settle in Halifax, in 1782. In 1796 the Jamaican Maroons arrived. Then in 1813, Black refugees fleeing the United States came. These Loyalists, Maroons, and refugees settled in the Preston area, and although some subsequently left for Sierra Leone, many stayed and established the largest community of African Nova Scotians in the province. Since then, the Preston township—comprising North Preston, East Preston, and Lake Loon/Cherry Brook—has become a web of vibrant neighbourhoods with a rich and complex history.
With care and precision, award-winning writer Wanda Lauren Taylor delves into the history and development of this area, the organizations and churches that helped bolster the population, and the struggles, successes, and personal stories of several Preston-area residents. Through interviews and archival documents, Taylor shows how a resilient group of marginalized people built a thriving community that generations of African Nova Scotians can be proud of. Contains seventy-five images, both contemporary and archival, of the people and places around Preston.
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Use Your Imagination!
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95A woman becomes obsessed with a story about her family from 1890—when a naked, mute girl stumbled onto their property—and whether or not it really happened. A self-help guru and his chief strategist take their most affluent and unstable clients on a harrowing nature hike that destroys their company. A young convict in a prison creative writing class chronicles the rise and fall of his cellblock’s resident peacemaker. A rural neighbourhood becomes obsessed by the coming of a strange and powerful new homeowner who is in the middle of reinventing herself.
The stories of Use Your Imagination! are about stories, about the way we define and give shape to ourselves through all kinds of narratives, true or not. In seven long stories, Kris Bertin examines the complex labyrinth of lies, delusions, compromise, and fabrication that makes up our personal history and mythology. Sometimes funny, strange, or frightening, these stories represent Bertin’s follow-up to his critically acclaimed, award-winning debut, Bad Things Happen.
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The North Atlantic Right Whale Past, Present, and Future
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The North Atlantic right whale, also called the “urban” whale for its proximity to industrialized regions of North America’s east coast, is one of the largest whales in the world. Averaging 14 metres, and weighing about 40,000 kilograms, it is known for its graceful tail, callosities, lack of dorsal fins, and strong bond with its young. But historically, it was known as the “right” whale to kill, and has been commercially hunted for its abundant blubber and oil since the tenth century.
Considered nearly extinct by the 1950s, the population slowly began to recover due to conservation efforts in the late twentieth-century. But commercial fishing-related deaths in recent years, including the loss of at least seventeen right whales (2% of the population) in the summer of 2017, put the species at a level of critical endangerment. The next few decades will determine whether it survives.
Offering background on the whale’s history, unique biology and behaviour, information on what is killing them and how readers can help, The North Atlantic Right Whale is an important, accessible book that will spark action and increased awareness of the plight of this majestic creature.
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Prophet of the Wilderness Abraham Gesner
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Shipwreck and arrest were common setbacks in the early nineteenth century, but neither slowed the rise of scientist and inventor Abraham Gesner (1797–1864). He possessed a curious mind and a dynamic speaking style, enlivened by his many fact-finding travels throughout the Maritime provinces and beyond. Of his innovative experiments, the most famous led to a refining method for a new fuel named kerosene, an invention that would change the world.
This biography depicts a man far ahead of his time, as interested in social problems—such as lighting cities at night and establishing decent immigrant settlements—as he was in advancing science and industry. A fascinating and meticulously research account of a man too often not given the credit he deserved.
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Fear of Drowning
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95Award-winning author, Susan White’s new book Fear of Drowning is an epic family saga set against the backdrop of two world wars, earthquakes, epidemics, prejudice, social injustice, greed and ambition. In the summer of 1917 circumstances and societal expectations put in motion a plan which causes a legacy of silence and deceit to filter down through five generations of women. One of the perpetrators of that deception, Lillianne McDonough is reaching the end of her life and feels compelled to lift the dark shadows from the past. Gradually secrets and lies are revealed, forgiveness and atonement are sought after and a sense of hope and freedom is passed to the next generation.
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A Boy From Acadie Roméo Leblanc’s Journey to Rideau Hall
Artist: Maurice CormierPublisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$19.95Young Roméo LeBlanc, from Cormier Cove, New Brunswick, did not expect that one day, thanks to his family and sisters, he would have the chance to go to high school and university, become a history teacher, then a journalist, and finally a politician, climbing up the ladder to the highest position! Nevertheless, he stayed modest and kept his great sense of humour all his life.
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Un Gamin Acadien L’odyssée de Roméo Leblanc vers Rideau Hall
Publisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$19.95Né sur une ferme dans le village de l’Anse-des-Cormier, au Nouveau-Brunswick, le jeune Roméo LeBlanc ne se doutait pas que, grâce à l’amour de sa famille et à l’aide inattendue de ses soeurs, il aurait un jour la chance de faire des études secondaires et universitaires, de devenir enseignant d’histoire puis journaliste, et de gravir les échelons politiques jusqu’au plus haut sommet! Malgré tout, Roméo LeBlanc conservera toute sa vie une grande modestie et un grand sens de l’humour.
Découvrez l’odyssée d’un gamin acadien jusqu’à Rideau Hall, la résidence officielle du gouverneur général à Ottawa.
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My Nova Scotia Home Nova Scotia’s best writers riff on the place they call home
Editor: Vernon OicklePublisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$19.95In this no-holds barred look at the province, writers captivate and capture the true essence of Nova Scotia. From these personal accounts of life here, the writers reveal the great joys and small pleasures but also the schisms, foibles, and missed opportunities of a life made in Nova Scotia. By revealing themselves, they make the province larger, more welcoming, more interesting, and certainly more colourful. This book is proof positive that life really is a search for home.
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Kiss the Joy as it Flies
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95With all the wisdom, humour, and joy we’ve come to expect from Sheree Fitch, Kiss the Joy As It Flies marks the well-loved author’s move from children’s literature to adult fiction. Set in the fictional Maritime town of Odell, with a cast of exasperating but lovable characters, Kiss the Joy As It Flies promises to be a remarkable debut and a reader’s favourite.Panic-stricken by the news that she needs exploratory surgery, forty-eight-year-old Mercy Beth Fanjoy drafts a monumental “to do” list and sets about putting her messy life in order. Among other things (hide the vibrator!), she’s determined to finally uncover the identity of her secret admirer; reconnect with a lost friend and rival Teen Gaudet; and, most importantly, get her hands on the note her father left her before committing suicide all those years ago.But tidying up the edges of her life means the past comes rushing back to haunt her and the present keeps throwing up more to do’s. Between fits of weeping and laughter, ranting and bliss, Mercy must contemplate the meaning of life in the face of her own death. In a week filled with the riot of an entire life, nothing turns out the way she’d expected.
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Ava Comes Home
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95From the author of Relative Happiness and Shoot Me comes a riveting story about one terrible secret-a secret kept in shame, buried deep for self-preservation, and exposed in a moment that changes forever the lives of everyone involved.
Ava Harris is a famous actress living the life of the rich and fabulous in L.A. when a family crisis calls her home. It’s been ten years since she’s set foot in Glace Bay, Cape Breton- back when she was plain old Libby MacKinnon. Why she ran away, no one knows. Returning home, she must face her family, her friends, and her first love, Seamus O’Reilly, whose heart broke the day she left.
Ava is a good little actress, determined that no one will know what happened. She will keep the truth buried at all costs-even if she has to run again. But secrets have a way of surfacing, especially in a small town, and love has a way of blasting through the toughest barriers. While Ava can never go home again, perhaps Libby finally can. -
Music is for Everyone
Artist: Sydney SmithPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Music is for Everyone is sure to get you excited about making music! Singer-songwriter Jill Barber takes her young readers through many different kinds of music—hip hop, jazz, classical, folk—and instruments in an energetic, rhyming tour. Sydney Smith’s gleeful illustrations capture all the joy that comes from making music—in all its forms!
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A Change of Heart
Artist: Erin Bennett BanksPublisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95The remarkable story of honourary Newfoundlander Lanier Phillips, who survived a shipwreck during the Second World War and went on to become a civil rights activist, is told for children in this heartwarming, vibrantly illustrated picture book.
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B pour bayou Un abecedaire cadien
Artist: Réjean RoyPublisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$19.95B pour bayou [B for bayou] is a cajun ABC in which Richard Guidry (AKA «Le gros Cadien» or «the Big Cajun») and his friends offer up a Gombo-soaked delicacy of words, while illustrator Réjean Roy takes us aboard his Esquif, down the Mississippi. After Ah! pour Atlantique, we leave the Acadie of the Maritimes for the Cajun Acadia of Louisiana!
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A Dark House & Other Stories
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$19.95Snap decisions, risky alliances and comical wrong-headedness bring the stories in award-winning author Ian Colford’s latest collection to life. Colford weaves wit and nuance into portrayals of characters facing questions of fortune, fate and self-preservation. Awkward and dangerous situations arise as Colford, dryly yet empathetically, illustrates what happens when people do what they think is best for all.
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Alerte à Richibouctou
Publisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$19.95It’s the Second World War and John and his uncle Fred are going smelt fishing when they see a military plane crash, and a parachute fly down… In the middle of the night, as a storm is raging, they get captured by captain Otto Von Muller, who orders them to lead him to Richibouctou’s lighthouse. But his radio message to a German submarine will be intercepted by a Canadian corvette…
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Un géant dans la tête
Publisher: Bouton d'or Acadie$19.95Matis is 16 year old, and he’s a haemophiliac. Two years ago, he lost his mom in a car accident and his father lost his joy. But Matis is resilient, and he’ll prove that he’s got courage for the two of them.
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Guru in Your Golf Swing A golf pro, a monk and the magical Kingdom of Bhutan
Publisher: SSP Publications$19.95PGA pro Hanczaryk’s high-flying, cross-cultural adventure is about teaching golf in a very remote place; but it is really about self-discovery, rooted in an ancient meditation practice.
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You Might Be From Minnesota If…
Publisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.$19.95You Might Be From Minnesota If… is a delightful, illustrated romp through the State of Minnesota. From one of the most celebrated cartoonists in the US, Kirk Anderson delivers his unique take on America’s most unique state, tickling the funny bone on every page. As Anderson proves, Minnesota is proud of who it is and likes nothing better than a good laugh.
