The Nova Scotia Book of Fathers

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“Alistair MacLeod was the most deeply satisfied person I ever met,” writes Alexander MacLeod of his father, “and every day I miss his quiet presence in my life, his unhurried walk, his slow breathing, his certainty.” Anne Murray says this of her father who was a doctor in Springhill: “He was there to save lives and that’s what he did.” Carol Bruneau confesses that her father would “throttle” her for writing an essay about him because “he hated sentimentality.”

In this poignant, often funny, and heartfelt collection, Nova Scotia authors and artists put to the page their thoughts and emotions about their fathers, who raised, inspired, loved, and taught them — and occasionally drove them crazy. As well as MacLeod, Bruneau, and Murray, The Nova Scotia Book of Fathers includes stories by Harry Thurston, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Frank Cameron, Joan Baxter, Jon Tattrie, Bruce Graham, Lesley Choyce, Lenore Zann, David Mossman, Janice Landry, Lindsay Ruck, Ian Colford, Julia Swan, Craig Flinn, and Daniel Paul.

Here are fathers of all kinds: quiet, thoughtful, wise men; stubborn and headstrong men; and men whose careers and circumstances called forth public bravery and heroism. Included too are fathers whose mark on the world is more private but just as compelling, just as fearless, just as noteworthy. They embody the strength everyone needs to weather the storms of life, the humour that helps us to laugh at crucial moments, and the stalwart vision it takes to raise daughters and sons and send them out into the world.

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