NO. 92
Compliments of Atlantic Canadian publishers
atlantic books TODAY
NEW VOICES, BETTER WORLD HEALTHCARE CRISIS LEARNINGS
Publications Mail Agreement 40038836
JUSTICE, PEACE, EQUALITY, FREEDOM
BUILDING RESILIENT ECONOMIES
The longest road out is the shortest road home IFC Reconnect with a good book
photo: Pixabay
gooselane.com
Contents Number 92 | Fall 2020
Messages 4 Messages from the editor and CMO
Foreword
Rebuilding Halifax
6 Notable quotables
18 100 years later, frustrations are similar although the initial results look better
Q&A 8 A conversation with Carol Bruneau
Cover Features 10 Building back better
16 Learning from post-crisis response An edited excerpt from Barry Cahill’s
A letter to George Floyd pondering Atlantic Canadian books’ insights on building a better world by Evelyn C White
14 Books back better Sometimes a crisis presents an opportunity to
An excerpt from Ruth Holmes Whitehead’s Nova Scotia and the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1920
21 How to defend public education An excerpt from Grant Frost’s The Attack on Nova Scotia Schools
23 When Brian met Chris An excerpt from Gordon Pitts’ Unicorn in the Woods
rethink and become better by Chris Benjamin
Food 25 Cookbooking with Karl Cookbooks celebrating the new and old (with fresh ideas) by Karl Wells
Young Readers 29 Young readers’ reviews
Reviews 34 The Hush Sisters 35 Approaching Fire 36 The Spoon Stealer 37 Murmurations
Afterword ON THE COVER Britta B., poet’s “Fluke” (poetry and installation, photographed by Jason Hennessy), from Every. Now. Then. Reframing Nationhood (published by the Art Gallery of Ontario and distributed by Goose Lane Editions), appears courtesy of Britta B. She says of this work: “As a mixed-race Black Canadian woman in poetry, having role models that I can identify with and feel represented by, is invaluable. I hope this image re-affirms the value and urgency of making space for equity-seeking voices. I am especially interested in giving more opportunities to Black, Indigenous and racialized communities to see themselves empowered, cared for and celebrated.”
38 Teasers 41 Staff picks 45 Atlantic Canadian must-reads
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
3
Atlantic Books Today MESSAGES
Editor’s message It is bittersweet that even in tragedy, beauty blooms. During the global COVID pandemic, Black Lives Matter exploded into the mainstream. Yes, it took too damn long for white people to see, to acknowledge, to listen. To amplify. But it is happening now. I hope it continues. We—all of us— need to hear Black voices. And Indigenous voices. Women’s voices. LGBTQ voices. Disabled voices. The voices that have too long been ignored. And suppressed. We at Atlantic Books Today, being all about Atlantic books and authors, decided to theme this issue around the way books can inform change. Do the authors of these books write with a change-the-world mandate in mind? My guess is, usually no.
But as the eminent Africadian poet and playwright George Elliott Clarke said in our recent online video series, “If you’re a writer, you’re an intellectual!” The act of sitting, contemplating, then polishing thoughts, emotions and story arcs into words on a page, that is laying bare your philosophy of living. And so, in books we find the deepest, most carefully conceived ideas of what it means to survive and to live well. The ways our human societies get it so wrong, and occasional inspired examples of people doing it right. It’s all right there, in every season of new books. So read. And think. Read and think about the words of diverse authors, particularly those writing about Black Matters, as Afua Cooper does in her new collection. Read broadly, diversely, and your mind will broaden. Your understanding of the world, of what different people and communities endure, and celebrate and achieve, will deepen. And from that understanding, we build back better.
CMO’s message COVIDitunity. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Mine anyway, fairly regularly of late. I love a good mashup word. I’m blessed with a tendency to “lean in” to new challenges, particularly those caused by disruption. Maybe it’s just a coping mechanism. Well, it’s served me well so far. To be clear: I am very aware that the pandemic has brought many hardships and sorrows. But I think it’s fair to say it has presented some once-ina-lifetime opportunities. It was great to sit down with our Managing Editor, Chris Benjamin, to discuss how we, the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, and the book industry at large, are reacting to the current challenges. How we are seeking new ways to build our book-selling systems and approach back better. 4
Like many others, our industry has taken a massive gut punch from COVID. The cultural sector has always been a delicate balance of supply and demand. That balance has been heavily disrupted. However, there have been small wins. Our Time To #ReadAtlantic campaign—a one-of-a-kind digital means of getting local books into the hands of local readers— showed the increased importance that Atlantic Canadian consumers are placing on local products and supply chains. We know that the desire to read a local book is now higher than ever. That knowledge presents a unique opportunity to figure out how we can better connect readers to Atlantic books. And so, with surveys showing support from more than 85 percent of Atlantic Canadians, we are rolling out our Teal Lighthouse brand stamp as a tool to help readers find their next favourite local book. Please visit your local bookstore this fall and look for the Teal Lighthouse as you consider your holiday shopping list. Giving the gift of local books is a great way we can all help Build Back Better.
ab Publisher
Chief Marketing Officer Editor Graphic Designer Project Manager Administrative Assistant Marketing and Sales Assistant
Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association
YOUR FALL READING LIST.
Alex Liot Chris Benjamin Gwen North Chantelle Rideout Mallory Burnside-Holmes Anabella Bergmame-Smith
Atlantic Books Today is published by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association (www.atlanticpublishers.ca), which gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Canada Book Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Opinions expressed in articles in Atlantic Books Today do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Board of the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association.
A LONG JOURNEY:
Residential Schools in Labrador and Newfoundland
RESETTLEMENT:
by Andrea Procter
Uprooting and Rebuilding Communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and Beyond
528 PAGES • $29.95
by Isabelle Côté and Yolande Pottie-Sherman
SEPTEMBER 2020
284 PAGES • $25.95 SEPTEMBER 2020
Printed in Canada. This is issue number 92 Fall 20. Atlantic Books Today is published twice a year. All issues are numbered in sequence. Total Atlantic-wide circulation: 100,000. ISSN 1192-3652 One-year subscriptions to Atlantic Books Today are available for $15 ($17.25 including HST). For a special offer on a 2-year subscription with a bonus canvas tote bag for $25 ($28.75 including HST), visit atlanticbooks.ca/join and use code ABT92A. Please make cheques payable to the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association and mail to address below or contact admin@atlanticpublishers.ca for subscription inquiries. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40038836 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association Atlantic Books Today Suite 710, 1888 Brunswick Street Halifax, NS B3J 3J8 Phone: 902-420-0711 Fax: 902-423-4302 atlanticbookstoday.ca @abtmagazine facebook.com/AtlanticBooksToday @atlanticbooks.ca
VOICES OF INUIT LEADERSHIP AND SELF-DETERMINATION IN CANADA by David Lough 212 PAGES • $24.95 OCTOBER 2020
THE FORESTERS’ SCRIBE:
Remembring the NL Forestry Companies Through the First World War Letters of Quartermaster Sergeant John A. Barrett by Ursula A. Kelly 272 PAGES • $27.95 NOVEMBER 2020
Paperback and e-book available.
Find them where books are sold, or visit
www.hss.mun.ca/iserbooks/
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
5
Atlantic Books Today FOREWORD
Notable quotables “
In New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, nature paints with bold strokes: high mountains, long rivers, rushing tides, endless beaches. Underlying the landscape - shaping the land and its history - is solid bedrock. If you spend a bit of time exploring the rocks here, along with great scenery you’ll find dramatic stories of the geologic past.” —From Geology: New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island, by Martha Hickman Hild & Sandra M Barr (Boulder Books)
“The Lockheed Vega was still there. I laid my hands and forehead on its fuselage. There were so many reasons I longed to be a pilot—adventure, freedom, money for my family, and work I loved. My goal felt so much closer when I was actually touching a plane. I turned to Mabel and whispered, ‘This is where I belong.’” —From Under Amelia’s Wing by Heather Stemp (Nimbus Publishing)
“Better for me to die than Jacob and Jewel, I wanted to scream. It had already happened in my dreams. The house had been engulfed in flames. They called out to me and I did nothing. Worst of all, I watched it happen—calmly, as if it meant nothing at all.” —From Good Mothers Don’t by Laura Best (Nimbus Publishing)
“She had become an expert at staying afloat. Exhaling the mountain, the sky drained into pines. The woodstove names the tree more times than a tree. She was dreaming a long piece of lumber, standing in the sawdust of her grandmother. She couldn’t hear the pencil’s whisper.” —From Anthesis: A Memoir by Sue Goyette (Gaspereau Press)
“No one told us how to do this. We can’t think of the word for what sheers, slashes
the overcast. It’s not in our language,
this cascade, up-dazzle festival, jumpscatter. Sky a simmer of wishes, loud. We should have known it was larger than all of us. That we could break through.” —From Experiments of Distant Influence by Anne Simpson (Gaspereau Press)
“Their skill and professionalism saved countless other lives and helped bring the war to a successful conclusion in May 1945 … This short history strives to preserve some of the memory of 6
one of those oft-forgotten and little-appreciated units. The New Brunswick Rangers certainly lived up to their regimental motto. They were ‘Never Not Ready.’” —From The New Brunswick Rangers in the Second World War by Matthew Douglass (Goose Lane Editions)
“December 31 A Disgrace to the City — St. John’s, 1897 “A number of lads celebrated a little too hard on New Year’s Eve and were found drunk on Water Street. They were deemed a disgrace both to themselves and those who sold them the liquor, who should be punished if found out. The boys ranged in age from 12 to 16.” —From On This Day by Dale Jarvis (Flanker Press)
“…two dynamic entrepreneurs from my region—Terrilee Bulger and Heather Bryan—have guided Nimbus [Publishing]’s growth. There is an important message here. The book is about Arthur Irving, a Maritimer and one of Canada’s leading businessmen, written by a Maritimer, and published by a firm under the leadership of two energetic entrepreneurs from the Maritime region. We did it all from here.” —From “Thanks for the Business” by Donald J Savoie (Nimbus Publishing)
“Sometimes the sadness steals your breath Sometimes the pain seems endless, deep Sometimes you cannot find the sun Sometimes you wish you were asleep. When it hurts like this, my child When you are scared, suffering, confused Even if we are not together Together, let us cry. Remember there is still so much love. Because we love, we cry.” —From Because We Love, We Cry by Sheree Fitch (Nimbus Publishing)
“Donairs were not for the lucky-in-love, but the recourse of the degenerate. They were the butt of toilet humour, the scapegoat of indigestion. The ‘mystery meat’ with the ‘secret sauce’ was wrapped in urban legend. It was so commonplace that we took it for granted, no more significant than hamburgers or spaghetti. We didn’t realize that it was ours..” —From Book of Donair by Lindsay Wickstrom (MacIntyre Purcell Publishing)
50 delicious recipes, with 40 colour photos. Paperback. $16.95
The history of the Klan in Canada and its revival in extreme far right groups. Paperback. $24.95
The activities of the disaster agency and how it operated for nearly 60 years. Paperback. $27.95
Atlantic Books Today Q & A
Q&A
Carol Bruneau’s first nine books have all been critically acclaimed, and why not? Her sentences are meticulous, elegant constructions that pile on seemingly ordinary moments that repeatedly surprise with their profundity. Her seventh novel, Brighten the Corner Where You Are: A Novel Inspired by the Life of Maud Lewis, may be her best yet.
Atlantic Books Today: Right away I could hear her voice in my head. Was it her real voice, in terms of tone and affectation? I couldn’t say. But the voice on the page was so authentic I could actually hear it. Can you talk a bit about how you went about establishing the fictional voice of a real, and world famous, Nova Scotian? Carol Bruneau: It had to be in her voice. She was a very shy person. She never told anybody anything, so it was a bit of an arrogant proposition, but we do have the CBC interview of 1965. 8
She talks enough you get her inflections. Her responses to dumb questions are hilarious. I had fun with that. I tried to go back to the world she inhabited when she was young. Watching silent movies, Mary Pickford on YouTube, imagining this person who was all about colour watching these black and white movies. I wanted it to be authentic, not condescending, and I didn’t want her to come across as a hick. I wanted authenticity in the way rural
Photo by Bruce Erskine.
Its subject is extraordinary yet familiar: one of Nova Scotia’s most famous painters, Maud Lewis, whose bright little house stars in perpetuity at the provincial art gallery, and whose work has achieved a level of recognition beyond what she could have imagined in life—though she was famous even then. Despite any familiarity readers may have with the story, Bruneau’s commitment to fully developing an authentic character makes her novel far more than a faithful rehashing of known events. The author was generous enough to sit down to discuss fictionalizing a Nova Scotia icon whose real life covered a very small space, and lessons Maud might offer a 21st-century world.
Q & A Atlantic Books Today
Nova Scotians spoke, and with dignity for her as a character. Same with Everett, which was tricky in terms of language. ABT: Your Maud Lewis is so well developed and delightfully complex. There is so much to her, and much more than just her disability. But writing a disabled protagonist must have presented certain challenges for you. What did you learn about disability? CB: You don’t really know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. I had Jen Powley, a disability advocate, read a draft, and she was so generous with her time. She was great in pointing out things. Like Maud’s chin was tilted down, so she never saw things face on like in her paintings. It seems obvious but I needed it pointed out to me. So in the book, when she’s with tall men, she’s looking at a belt buckle or a badge in the case of a policeman. We all know about her disfigured hands, which stay in your head. And when we able-bodied people think about disabled people we might think, poor them. But that’s an able-bodied bias. Maud was able to create so tirelessly, which is remarkable. What I quickly came to learn is her art is a product of who she was, which is a disabled person. If she wasn’t disabled, she would have done more representational stuff, and probably never would have developed her singular style that made her famous. We need to remember as able-bodied people that a disabled person’s gifts are just different. I spoke with Beth Brooks, who has done a lot of research on Maud’s life, and feels Maud may have been on the [autism] spectrum, which gave her a singularity of focus, allowed her to survive all she did. I think it probably enabled her to focus on her work, sit in that little corner of her house and paint in ways others may not have been able. ABT: And the way society dealt with disability in Maud’s time compared to now? CB: Back then people who were different, physically or mentally, were shunned. We’ve come past the shunning but still have a bizarre fear of people seen as not normal. Hell, what’s normal? If anything, COVID has turned our ideas of how things should be on their head. ABT: Maud’s husband Everett Lewis is a fascinating character as well, in some ways a foil to Maud, the cynical to the naïve. You portray a real love, but also a very difficult one for Maud. How do you see Everett? CB: He wasn’t a nice guy, but he had a terrible life. You have to have empathy for him even though he was awful. I don’t think their relationship was anything like in the movie Maudie, but their arrangement probably worked for them. It’s not romantic, but there must have been love. How else would she have survived it? We like to think the world would sympathize with Everett today but probably not. Look how people end up in criminality. Yeah there’s more supports now, but there are still lots and lots of Everetts out there. We have better supports, that’s very true, but still not enough of them. ABT: Maud quotes her brother as saying, “Unless you have something nice to say, zip your lip.” This seems a common attitude in this part of the world. Is there something to gain by learning to boldly voice our displeasure?
CB: Not everyone is in a position to do so. In my book, Carmelita Twohig is a funny character, kind of a busybody, but her heart is in the right place. And her trying to speak out is rejected by the people who are in that mode of, ‘No, you don’t rock the boat,’ because the boat is uncomfortable but at least it’s afloat. Speaking out can be difficult in a place like this, where many of us have been here all our lives, and things work for most of us. It can be too easy to turn a blind eye to what’s going on. But this COVID situation has hit marginalized people particularly hard. Hopefully, it’s taught us to have more empathy for those who are struggling.
We need to remember as ablebodied people that a disabled person’s gifts are just different. ABT: The character of Maud in the novel also, despite everything she experiences, comes across as a naturally positive person. CB: I didn’t want to write a book that was really depressing. I tried to balance between hardship and optimism. Like when she’s with the man who fathers her child, it was sort of funny writing that, writing that naïve optimism she had, the faith she had in people. It was challenging to keep that tension, to keep the reader one step ahead of her, keeping that sense of “this isn’t going to turn out well.” ABT: What do you think Maud would think of our current situation? CB: I think she knew all about isolation, big time. I think she survived by just being in the moment. That idea of really treasuring the present, taking delight in small things. And she had an incredible sense of perseverance. ABT:Can we learn from Maud’s view of animals and nature? CB: Oh, for sure. We should be celebrating that creative spirit and someone’s joy in making art. And whether they’re trained or not is kind of baloney. Celebrate that simple joy Maud took in beautiful things, and how good things can be. It’s fleeting; enjoy the moment. And celebrate the local. Maud’s little life has become very large after death. She’s the ultimate in local. She would be amused and delighted to see her paintings displayed in galleries with Alex Colville and Kent Monkman. ABT: We get some sense of that in the novel because Maud narrates from the afterlife. It was fun getting her take on what lies beyond. CB: I needed to trust readers’ willful suspension of disbelief, while also critiquing Hallmark ideas about the afterlife and exploring what it might be like, with Maud hoping to find people she knew, knowing they’re there but everything’s a jumbled-up stew. ■
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
9
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
Building back better Evelyn C White’s letter to George Floyd, pondering Atlantic Canadian books’ insights on building a better world
Dear Mr. Floyd, Lawd today (as poet Langston Hughes was wont to say). The white folks have been apologizing and issuing solidarity statements and compiling “diversity reading lists,” and seeking out our voices, et cetera. On the real, all the newfound “reckoning” has struck many of us as (cue: Count Basie) “Sent For You Yesterday.” Because there were plenty of times when whites could have solicited our advice before you, already handcuffed and pleading for your mother, perished under the knee of a white Minnesota policeman. Imagine if the future prime minister of Canada had checked with one of us before blackening his face in an attempt to channel Harry Belafonte. Or “think” (as Aretha put it) how much deserved disgrace Wendy Mesley and other staffers at CBC might have avoided if they’d watched—before free-styling on the N-word— I Am Not Your Negro, the riveting 2016 documentary about writer James Baldwin. And the white judiciary in Nova Scotia could have “listened and learned” from Judge Corrine Sparks who, in 1993, acquitted a Black Halifax youth who’d been charged with “assaulting” a white constable with his bike. After hearing sworn testimony from
Nain schoolchildren with teaching assistant Rose Nukappiak Webb, ca. 1940s.
10
both sides, Judge Sparks, the first Black woman judge in Canada, ruled that she found credible the teenager who maintained he hadn’t attacked the officer. She also noted, George (if I may), that police have been known to overreact when dealing with nonwhite groups. Hmm… Alleging that Judge Sparks had exhibited racial bias in her verdict, the Crown appealed her ruling and, abetted by the province’s white legal establishment, conspired to ruin her career before it had barely started. Four years later, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Judge Sparks’ decision but the damage had been done and lingers still. Rather than build on its landmark achievement as the first province to appoint a Black woman to the bench, Nova Scotia, in its blatant disrespect for Judge Sparks, reinforced its reputation as a bastion of racism and repression. Progressive Nova Scotians tell me there’s a name for the province’s predilection for self-sabotage: “A culture of defeat.” In the soundtrack for the film Waiting to Exhale (I know, brother-man) Whitney Houston and CeCe Winans sing “Count on Me.” Set against the backdrop of their moving duet
Nain schoolchildren sleeping in the boarding school.
Nain photos courtesy of Them Days. Photo of Rebecca Thomas: Erica Penton.
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
(“When you are weak, I will be strong”), the Black Lives Matter Movement, and the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d like to chat with you about some recent books I’ve read. As a father, you’d have been both moved and maddened by A Long Journey: Residential Schools in Labrador and Newfoundland (2020) by anthropologist Andrea Procter. Based on accounts from former students, government records, and school archives, the volume chronicles the experiences of children in Labrador who were removed from their nurturing Inuit, NunatuKavut, and Innu communities and dispatched to church-run schools where they were indoctrinated in “Christian norms.” Here, a woman recounts her displacement, in the late 1940s: “I grew up for the first seven years … with my mom and dad. … Going to boarding school was … very sad. … It was thoughts between do our mother and father really want us? … And if we didn’t go, our Family Allowance would be taken away from us.” A 1970s-era Inuit student applauded his family for refusing to send him away. “By not going to that school, I got the opportunity to be raised … out on the land,” he told Procter. “I got to learn how to survive, how to use the stars, how to fish, learn the tides … I’m glad I did not go.” In addition to a formal apology, the Justin Trudeau government later paid $50 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that detailed, chapter and verse, the abuse that Indigenous students in Newfoundland and Labrador endured. I’m confident, George, that your daughter Gianna, now age 6, will never have to fret about school fees. Now let’s peep I Place You Into the Fire (2020), the debut poetry collection by Mi’kmaq writer Rebecca Thomas. “My haters,” she declares in her acknowledgements. “You have only added fuel to the fire.” The provocative parting salvo serves as the author’s rallying cry for Indigenous people across the ages, among them Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi, both slain, earlier this year, by police in New Brunswick. In “Matoax,” the poet honours an Aboriginal woman whose legacy has been distorted by white supremacy. “In your fairy tale I went … to baptism and Christianity all while my people continued to bleed,” writes Thomas, whose work proved pivotal in the 2017 removal of an Edward Cornwallis statue from a downtown Halifax park. “But behind your back, my jingle dress is jingling.” “You don’t even know my real name,” she continues. “You only know me as Pocahontas.” In “The Talk,” Thomas decries the systemic indignities that First Nations bear: “Think a minute about what it must be like to have never had tap water once in your life,” the author writes, referencing the multitudes of reserves today lacking running water and indoor plumbing. This, when frequent and rigorous hand washing has proven to stem the transmission of COVID-19. Lamenting the circle game of government apologies to Indigenous people, Thomas also declares: “You can’t just say you’re sorry and not take the time to listen.” Still, in another poem, “Creature Canada,” the author offers optimism (with a twist). “Canada … continues to feed off our spirits through neglect and hopelessness,” she writes. “But all is not lost. Because it is blind, it can be led to where we want to take it.”
The Fundy Rose
Leadership. Working with African Nova Scotian Maggie B O’Donnell, white writer Brenda J Thompson presents Finding Fortune (2019), a biography of an early Black entrepreneur. “As a child, I fantasized that I was the descendant of some important figure in history,” O’Donnell writes, in a preface to the engaging volume. Her ancestry confirmed by DNA tests, she now proudly claims Annapolis Royal legend Rose Fortune (1774-1864) as her great-great-great grandmother. Thompson notes that she relished writing about a person “who was not white, male, wealthy, or even middle class.” In the early 1780s, a youthful Fortune arrived in Nova Scotia from the US with her Black Loyalist parents. As an adult, Fortune bought a wheelbarrow and launched a business hauling luggage (and other goods) between ships docked at bustling Annapolis Royal wharves and nearby hotels. By the 1830s, Fortune had also gained prominence as an unofficial police officer who, equipped with a walking stick, kept “unruly lads” from loitering in town past curfew, Thompson writes. Although she was a stern taskmaster, it’s doubtful, George, that Fortune ever pinned anyone under her knee. In passages that affirm Thompson’s cultural sensitivity, she addresses the slights Fortune suffered for her “masculine” attire—a cap, overcoat and work boots. “The remarks … may be attributed to the obvious sexism and racism in reaction to a Black woman having the Rebecca Thomas audacity to NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
11
wear men’s clothing,” the author writes. “However … Rose was a labourer, pushing a wheelbarrow … mostly for white men. … Rose needed the practicality of clothing that allowed her to move, was of sturdy textile and kept her warm.” The volume also includes a photo of a ferry that runs between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and that, in 2015, was re-named The Fundy Rose, in tribute to Rose Fortune. I’d wager that many US public facilities will eventually bear the name George Floyd. Queer entertainer Big Freedia mourned you as a “true professional” who provided excellent security at her Minneapolis nightclub shows. “George was my buddy,” the New Orleans diva told reporters, noting your support of the LGBTQ movement. Teaching at the Top of the World (2020) documents the experiences of Odette Barr and YoAnne Beauchamp, a lesbian couple who lived, for nearly a decade, in the High Arctic region that in 1999 became Nunavut, the newest Canadian territory. “A sincere interest in learning about Inuit culture and Inuktitut language goes a long way in developing credibility and respect with … students and the community,” notes Barr, now a resident of New Brunswick. Fully committed, she and Beauchamp embraced their jobs as educators/administrators in isolated Inuit enclaves such as Grise Fiord (population 130). With an average yearly temperature of -16.5 C, the hamlet stands as one of the coldest inhabited places on Earth. About the couple’s sexual orientation, Barr writes: “We had been upfront about our relationship when we were interviewed. … We never had to worry at all.” Indeed, Barr and Beauchamp were warmly welcomed at community gatherings and traditional family meals that featured caribou, muskox and seal. The author delivers a memorable account of the roast polar bear feast that the couple once prepared for Thanksgiving. Hunted by a (female) Inuit teacher colleague, the bear was butchered on a dark beach, illuminated by “the headlights of parked snowmobiles,” Barr writes. “Generous portions were allotted to the Elders first, then the rest was shared with anyone who wanted to take some meat home.” She continues: “YoAnne and I lugged two heavy plastic Co-op bags stuffed with … bear meat up the stairs to our apartment. We were so excited by this rare opportunity we videotaped the unpacking of the bags.”
Readers hoping to bridge racial divides will find value in Barr’s thoughtful memoir. “I try to walk in another person’s kamiks [boots] every now and then so that I may begin to understand their personal point of view,” she writes. The author of several books including Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax, Jon Tattrie now comes with Peace By Chocolate: The Hadhad Family’s Remarkable Journey from Syria to Canada (2020). The inspiring release traces the history of a refugee family that rebuilt, from scratch, the thriving chocolate business that had been destroyed in their homeland. As a child, family patriarch Isam Hadhad became obsessed with chocolate after his first taste of the confection (imported from Europe) at a wedding celebration. “Chocolate fascinated him,” Tattrie writes. “He raced home. … He found a recipe for chocolate and tried to follow the instructions carefully. He failed. … He borrowed books that claimed to hold the secret to the perfect batch. … He realized he was an artist, and chocolate was his medium.” In 1986, Hadhad sidestepped the civil engineering career planned for him by his parents and instead opened a small chocolate shop near the Damascus airport. The business flourished and the Hadhad name soon became synonymous with artisanal chocolate, Tattrie writes. But in 2012, the company fell victim to Syria’s endless war violence when the chocolate factory was “bombed flat.” With only a few possessions and $800, the once prosperous Hadhad clan left for Lebanon where they lived, in a camp, until their December 2015 arrival in wintry Nova Scotia. “They’d been made to feel that most of the world didn’t want Middle Eastern Muslim refugees,” Tattrie writes. Grateful to land among friendly folk in Antigonish and spurred by the credo, Peace by Chocolate: One Peace Won’t Hurt, the Hadhad family determined to build a business “as big in Canada as Hadhad Chocolate had been in Syria,” Tattrie notes. The company garnered global attention when, during a 2016 speech at the United Nations, prime minister Trudeau gave a shout-out to Peace by Chocolate. CEO Tareq Hadhad (son of Isam) now travels the world to promote better immigration policies. “‘None of us is born to hate,’ he told a group of government officials at a 2019 meeting in Paris. ‘…We learn how to be bigots. It’s time to unlearn hate and bigotry.’”
(l-r): Getting ready for spring camp in front of the school, Odette Barr, the community of Grise Fiord.
12
Aerial photo of Grise Fiord and school: Odette Barr, photo of Odette: YoAnne Beauséjour Beauchamp.
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
Like the Hadhad family, Newfoundland writer Douglas Walbourne-Gough advocates for social justice in his debut poetry release Crow Gulch (2019). The title references a former settlement near Corner Brook where people of mixed French and Mi’kmaq ancestry (such as his father) were damned with the racial slur “jackatar” and denied basic human necessities. As with Africville in Halifax, municipal officials destroyed the tight-knit community and, in the 1970s, moved residents into public housing. In “Breaking Ground,” Walbourne-Gough honours the landscape of Crow Gulch. “You learn to take salt-blood as lover, as old god of giveth-and-taketh away,” he writes. “Bend like a tuckamore, lean against the wind, love it like a mother, let it shape you. … Life here was that simple.” “Trouting” explores Indigenous fishing rights: “Don’t feel shame, cruelty doesn’t enter this equation despite PETA posters or misled McCartney messages. … This is intimate knowledge of where your food comes from.” The author addresses the power and peril of a knife in “Fraught.” “Unfold the blade,” he writes. “Relish its click … Repeat until the motion is familiar as a kiss. … Tongue so sharp it screamed heads clean off in France.” While strolling through a small town in Germany with her daughter, Lamarana Cooper Diallo, and photographer Wilfried Raussert, Dalhousie University professor Afua Cooper encountered a mural of singer Nina Simone (1933-2003). Raussert captured the moment in a photo that prompted Cooper to write “Lami and Nina.” The poem is among those found in Black Matters, an uplifting collaboration between the Jamaican-born scholar (also a former poet laureate of Halifax) and the celebrated German multidisciplinary artist. “How my love for you at this moment is so sweet and sad,” Cooper writes. “… But I am proud of you and your womanly ways, your smartness and intelligence, your kindness and humility.” Raussert’s photograph of a Black child in the arms of his dad (“Father and Son”) finds a perfect companion in Cooper’s poem about a notable African-Canadian figure. “You speak the language of horse and cattle,” Cooper writes in “John Ware: Magician Cowboy.” “Part of the brotherhood of Black cowboys who have been erased from the history of the West.”
Wilfried Raussert’s photos of “Lami and Nina.”
She continues: “A white man named Stimson wanted you to take a thousand heads of longhorn to Canada …. In Calgary you showed them how to tame feral horses … put cattle to sleep with the vibration of your voice.” Resplendent with incantatory rhythms “What Do You Do With The Hurt?” serves as a poignant requiem for lives annihilated by racism and hate. Think of the multitudes of murdered and missing people of colour. Think Portapique. Cooper writes: What do you do with the hurt? Do you fold it neatly and tuck it in a dark corner of your closet … What do you do with the hurt? Swallow it? Force yourself to digest it? Pray to eliminate it? What do you do with the hurt? Breathe release let go? Moved by her offering, Langston (“I am the darker brother”) begins to moan. And with that, beloved George, your Minnesota homie, Prince, steps in: Why do we scream at each other? This is what it sounds like when doves cry. ■ EVELYN C WHITE is a journalist and author whose books include Chain, Chain, Change: For Black Women in Abusive Relationships (Seal Press, 1985) and the biography Alice Walker: A Life (W. W. Norton & Company, 2004). A former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, she lives in Halifax.
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
13
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
Books back better Sometimes a crisis presents an opportunity to rethink and become better by Chris Benjamin
N
aomi Klein argued in her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine, that free-market opportunists are handy at every disaster with market-liberalization policies to further their way of seeing the world. She said it’s high time the other side of the political spectrum make their own ideas more persuasively and forcefully available during times of crisis. It is when everything goes wrong that our minds open to new ways of seeing things. The left of the political spectrum is not really ignorant of this concept. Peter Beinart, writing for The Atlantic’s December 2018 issue, notes that economic crisis pushed President Roosevelt to the left: “What transformed Roosevelt’s agenda was pressure from populist movements making leftist economic demands.” “Populist movements” that were bolstered by starving Americans. Their pressure led to the New Deal, which lifted millions from poverty and built a social safety net. Crisis created the conditions to build a better society. Wherever your political leanings, you can’t look around your home (let alone the internet) without seeing signs of failure in our society: downtown vacancies or overcrowding, lines at food banks and employment offices, abandoned or crumbling houses, plasticlittered beaches (don’t dare look in the water), abuses of political or judicial or policing power, sick people without access to healthcare, overcrowded classrooms—the list is endless. COVID-19 didn’t create crisis in our world, it exacerbated and exposed it. Now here’s a chance to change things. But how? How do we make it better? Scroll any given Twitter feed and you’re likely to stumble away dazed and confused by the vitriol on all sides of any given political issue. Might I humbly suggest you find solace in books, where analysis runs hundreds of pages deeper? It is incredible, perusing any season’s catalogues from Atlantic Canadian publishers alone, how many of their books tackle these same issues the COVID-19 era has spotlighted. These books, many of them written by Black and Indigenous authors, based on meticulous, probing research as well as lived experiences, offer perhaps the sagest guidance on how the world can build back better from COVID. From them we can better understand our systems of healthcare, education, economics and justice. And we can surely build back better after COVID: stronger, more equitable, healthier and more sustainable.
14
How the Atlantic Canadian book industry is building back All of this raises the question of how the book industry, which has suffered major economic setbacks from COVID, can itself build back better. “What’s been reinforced by COVID, and amplified, is the power and importance of all things local,” says Alex Liot, chief marketing officer of Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, the professional association of Atlantic Canadian publishers (which publishes this magazine). “Buy local campaigns are not new, but they gained importance in a time when international supply chains were disrupted. “With books, we had the products, the expertise, the talent, everything we needed to keep producing great books locally.” Liot calls the global economic impact of COVID-19 a “frog in the pot” moment, meaning it is the time we gain awareness of problems that have long been escalating, but slowly—like a frog in a pot of slowly warming water. “Consider the loss of local bookstores over the years. It was significant, and it reduced the clear availability of local books in retail. Suddenly, when you couldn’t get anything anywhere, the demand for local books went back up.” But the desire for those books, he believes, already existed, it just wasn’t recognized. “People have a special relationship with local books; there’s a long tradition of revering local writers in this region. But we’ve learned that even traditional businesses need to be adaptive to change to survive.” The biggest single change the industry has made is to focus more on the digital side of the business, e-books as well as online marketing strategies, where some authors have found large audiences via social media. The APMA had already begun new online campaigns before COVID hit, working to better catalogue Atlantic publishers’ collections, taking advantage of unique local knowledge to gain an advantage over multinational publishers. The association’s efforts in this regard have ramped up since March. “The community brand has taken prominence,” Liot says. “It’s about Atlantic books.” The prime example is the Time To #ReadAtlantic campaign, which was a two-year plan that became compressed into an intensive two-month period. The atlanticbooks.ca Shopify website was to create 13 thematic mini-collections of new and recent books,
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
156 books in all, branded with a teal lighthouse logo. The APMA made a video advertisement and purchased space in various media to promote the site and its books. “We welcomed over 25,000 website visitors, sent thousands directly to bookstores and libraries, and made 7.5 million impressions of the #ReadAtlantic brand,” Liot says. The importance of partnerships between different players in the book world was also amplified. The APMA worked closely with library systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador to feature their collections. The level of publisher participation impressed Liot. “It makes for a great selection of books, with everything from boutique publishers in specific genre categories, poetry, French books, kids books, guidebooks, novels, et cetera. Guidebooks are selling off the shelves right now.” One of the most interesting new partnerships to develop was between the APMA and the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Foundation on the Bound for Good book gifting program, which resulted from an existing understanding of the value of Atlantic books for businesses to use as gifts and rewards. NSCC is the first corporate partner to participate. “We had just launched the program when the pandemic hit,” Liot says. “Local books became more valuable for partners as international supply chains weren’t active. As gifts, local books curated to thematic needs of the client, it beats imported swag any day.” NSCC’s participation came as the result of a chance encounter between Liot and Don Bureaux, the president of NSCC,
who both happened to be eating breakfast at Kempsters, a family restaurant in Halifax. “I gave him my business card and said I have a crazy project idea I wanted to tell him about.” Bureaux is a big supporter of local community, and a big reader. As Atlantic publishers develop their technological sophistication, it enhances their power to do good things for local communities. “We’re going from manually curated lists that involved hundreds of spreadsheets, to the point where they can be curated with a couple of clicks,” Liot says. This fall, the APMA ran its Voices campaign to amplify Black authors of Atlantic Canada. “That means more books of substance being exposed to more people, and that means better things happen. It’s part of an informal education process that I think can really improve the world.” The next phase of targeted, curated reading lists is The Gift of #ReadAtlantic, which will use online tech to help consumers locate the book they want, for sale at the nearest possible location. It’s also a great tool for authors when friends ask them, “Where should I buy your book?” Crisis creates opportunity. It can also force the hand of book-industry traditionalists. Suddenly online tools are essential. Well, they always were. Crisis simply exposed that necessity. ■ CHRIS BENJAMIN is the managing editor of Atlantic Books Today and the author of Boy With A Problem.
Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides Beautiful books to enthrall the child in us all
Footsteps in Bay de Verde
Barefoot Helen and the Giants
Mr. Beagle Goes to Rabbittown
The Wall and the Wind
Charis Cotter/Jenny Dwyer 978-1-927917282 $21.95
Andy Jones/Katie Brosnan 978-1-927917299 $14.95
Lori Doody 978-1-927917312 $11.95
Veselina Tomova 978-1-927917329 $12.95
runningthegoat.com
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
15
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
Learning from post-crisis response An edited excerpt from Barry Cahill’s Rebuilding Halifax
H
istorically, the most significant aspect of the Halifax Relief Commission, apart from its achievement, is its sheer uniqueness. Is there another instance of the federal government setting up a special operating agency in response to a catastrophic disaster, which the provincial government then incorporated with paramount powers rivalling, if not exceeding, those of the municipality where the disaster occurred? The commission’s evolution over nearly six decades had less and less to do with emergency management and more and more to do with its desire and capability to perpetuate itself. It did not want for resources, material or moral. The commission’s greatest achievement was recovery in all its problematic diversity—rehabilitation, reconstruction, victim compensation, rehousing, town planning, urban renewal. The commission recreated the “urban morphology” (Janice Miller’s term) of Halifax’s North End section that constituted the Devastated Area.1 The commission’s most obvious and On this subject generally see Paul A. Erickson, Historic North End Halifax (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing Ltd., 2004), 111–25. 1
16
best-known legacy is the so-called “Hydrostone District,” a visionary exercise in urban planning that helped modernize the city of Halifax. In other respects, too, the commission was ahead of its time. It developed and implemented a town-planning scheme long before the City of Halifax did; and, through its hiring of qualified professionals at the very outset, helped introduce scientific social work to Nova Scotia. Through its cooperation with, support of and, latterly, direct involvement in the work of the Halifax branch of the Massachusetts-Halifax Relief Committee (afterwards the Massachusetts-Halifax Health Commission), the commission also contributed significantly to the improvement of public health in Halifax. All these contributions however, were tied to the early and most productive years. On the other side of the ledger, the commission’s longevity is a black mark. After 1921, when recovery had effectively concluded, the commission magnified its residual tasks—property management and services to pensioners and other survivors—assuming an air of indispensability with a view
Photo courtesy of Formac Publishing.
This excerpt from Barry Cahill’s Rebuilding Halifax shows how a terrible disaster provided an opportunity to modernize a city and create sweeping policy to help its residents well beyond their hour of greatest needs. On the flipside, the relief commission that was formed ignored the old charitable adage of aiming to put itself out of business by achieving its mission and eliminating society’s need for its services. In doing so, Cahill argues, the agency—“a free agent with easy access to political leverage on the federal scene”—robbed provincial and municipal governments (and therefore citizens) of the opportunity to determine their own fates. Therein lie lessons of what to do and what not to do in the face of disaster, when trying to build back better.
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
The worst disaster in Canadian history was met by a unique intervention by the federal government in municipal affairs. to indefinite self-perpetuation. For its part, the federal government lost interest and largely forgot about the commission— except as a useful patronage plum for local Liberals—because, after 1919, it was no longer giving it money. The commission, left to its own devices, endeavoured to respond “creatively” to the ambiguous situation in which it found itself. By way of filling the vacuum, the commission not only adapted to its shrinking responsibilities but also skillfully deployed its finite financial resources, exploiting its statutory tax-free status as well as opportunities accruing from its being a large landholder and landlord. Investment income and astute divestment of real estate (much of it expropriated) sustained its revenue stream, enabled it to meet its obligations to survivors and occasionally to act as a community benefactor. For example, on the occasion of the disaster’s 46th anniversary—6 December 1963—Chairman Butler announced that the commission would contribute $100,000 towards the cost of building the Halifax North Memorial Library, to stand on a site near the former Devastated Area. Opened in October 1966, the library honours the memory of disaster victims. Though it made much of its relationship with the federal minister of finance to whom it informally reported, the commission was for all practical purposes a free agent with easy access to political leverage on the federal scene. Its David-and-Goliath contest with the City of Halifax, which poisoned civic politics for decades, was a very unequal one, from which the city did not emerge victorious. From the later 1940s onwards, when postwar retrenchment and accommodation made the commission’s continuing existence harder to justify, the City of Halifax became much more aggressive in its dealings with the commission. Despite attracting sensational press publicity, which it did not want and did not know how to effectively counter, the commission resisted all efforts to disband until it was ready to be disbanded; it even influenced how its sole remaining function— pension administration—would be carried on after its demise. The commission appreciated that its fate depended on how well it cultivated the powers in Ottawa; consequently, much of its energy was directed towards that goal. Its strategy of hiding behind the coattails of the minister of finance worked amazingly well. By the end of the Second World War, no one much cared about the commission except its pensioners and the cash-starved City of Halifax, which potentially stood to gain a great deal of money—depending on the final disposition of the commission’s residual assets. However, the city’s naive assumption that it would as a matter of course directly benefit from the commission’s “surplus” after its demise proved fatal to its case. That the commission was so successful for so long in resisting pressure from the city was due, at least in part, to its mastery of brinkmanship, knowledge born of long experience dealing with Ottawa. It can be inferred that Ottawa never took Halifax’s pretensions seriously, though it sometimes wanted to appear to be
REBUILDING HALIFAX
Barry Cahill Formac Publishing
doing so for the sake of politics. At the root of Ottawa’s disinterestedness was that successive ministers of finance did not wish to be seen to be involving the federal government in what amounted to a social war between the commission and the city—two big fish in a very small pond. Both parties were invited from time to time to state their case to Ottawa and both did so—with more seriousness than they were received. For the city of Halifax, however, the sense of injustice was real and present. In the end, no benefit would ever accrue to Halifax as a result of the commission’s dissolution, which it had been agitating for over the previous thirty years. A virtual second government where the Devastated Area was concerned, the commission in its early days constituted a powerful administrative tribunal at a time when the regulatory state had not yet emerged. The Second World War changed all that, and the commission benefitted from the new paradigm. A novelty when it was established, the commission survived, even flourished, long after the regulatory state had become mainstream. The worst disaster in Canadian history was met by a unique intervention by the federal government in municipal affairs. Were there—should there have been—constitutional implications? Though no lawyer served on the commission after 1940, one suspects the commission’s modus operandi was the legacy of its first and most influential chair—T.S. Rogers (1918–1928)—an exceedingly clever and resourceful corporate lawyer who endeavoured successfully to maximize the commission’s powers and freedom to act. If post-disaster Halifax was, as the title of one unidentified contemporaneous article proclaimed, “the town that was blown into progress,” then the commission was the mighty wind that blew it thither. It had the perspicacity to see that the Halifax Disaster, despite its unremitting horrors, was opportunity writ large—the means of bringing the former Devastated Area, and indeed the whole city, forward into the zeitgeist of the twentieth century. ■ BARRY CAHILL is an independent historian whose work focuses on Atlantic Canada. He is a former editor of the Nova Scotia Historical Review. NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
17
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
100 years later, frustrations are similar although the initial results look better An excerpt from Ruth Holmes Whitehead’s Nova Scotia and the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1920 Below is an edited excerpt from the conclusion of Ruth Holmes Whitehead’s Nova Scotia and the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1920, which details the severe impacts of the “Spanish” flu pandemic of the early 20th century, on individuals and communities. Here, the author looks specifically at strategies for containing the disease, the dangers of lifting quarantine (“re-opening” in today’s parlance) too early, and the difficulties of properly documenting and quantifying what was happening—challenges that are remarkably pertinent 100 years later in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. This section concludes with perfect advice for political leaders at times like these. In short, be very open, be very honest and be very proscriptive.
Initial Disease Vectors in Nova Scotia, 1918–20
News of the spread of the epidemic in the United States was waking Nova Scotians to the fact that something unusual, massively contagious, lightning-fast, and lethal was happening in the outside world. In September, things in Massachusetts got so bad that they begged other states for help. They even sent word to Halifax, asking for assistance in the form of doctors and nurses. Lieutenant-Governor McCallum Grant wrote Governor McCall a letter saying that Nova Scotia remembered the help Boston sent them in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion in 1917, that aid in the form of nurses had already been sent to Boston, and that other nurses and doctors would follow, “as you may require them.” A copy of this letter appeared in Halifax newspapers on September 30 and October 1. It included portions of a telegram by Massachusetts State Health Commissioner E.R. Kelley to Surgeon-General Blue of the US Public Health Service, underlining the state of emergency: Reports from 55 cities and towns outside Boston total 5,500 new cases of influenza [in 24 hours]. There are at least 75,000 cases of influenza in Massachusetts to-day, excluding the number in Cantonment [army camps]. Halifax Evening News, 1 October 1918, 7. 18
… Doctors McDougall, Thomas and Lessel told the mayor of Halifax, “We advise that with the first appearance of the disease, the utmost limit of preventive measures should be used—such measures as would be used in dealing with any of the dangerous epidemic diseases—and used at once.” …
The Necessity of Accurate Statistics in Fighting Epidemics
In 1918, Dr. J.T. MacAulay, city and district medical officer from Cape Breton County, spoke at the October 26 meeting of the Board of Health against lifting the quarantine in Sydney. He was particularly insistent that schools remain closed. The board, he said, lacked the data to be effective, and until they got it, strategies could not be created to contain it. He knew that without data, one cannot plan a campaign against an enemy—in this case, influenza. I include Dr. MacAulay’s statement of frustration, because our book still has the same problem, namely, lack of data on this most virulent epidemic. Even today, we still have no idea how to
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
Annapolis County had at least 56 confirmed deaths from the Great Influenza. At first, physicians were saying that this was a milder version of what was raging elsewhere. Then the first fatalities started appearing in the newspapers. By far, most were farmers or housewives. Other professions included carpenters, labourers, a manufacturer, a clerk, a foreman printer, a bridge builder, and a larrigan maker! There was only one fisherman—quite a change from deaths in counties on the Atlantic side of the province.
arrive at a figure for cases of influenza in Nova Scotia during the disease’s 1918–20 run, because no continuous coverage of patients exists, and no totally accurate counts from that time are available. We can only guess that the number of those infected with the virus at any one time or place was overwhelmingly greater than the number of deaths, a huge percentage greater. And while this is better than a disease that kills everybody, it does mean that for weeks and months, Nova Scotia society must have had to do without the skills, labour, and contribution of those who were ill. Small towns, villages, and rural areas must have at times been so stricken, that business and social life were at a standstill. It’s almost a surprise that any data at all was being sent in. So you will find less on that than I could wish. This project still needs your help! Dr. Marble’s lists have given this text a head start of at least twenty years of research. … The thing that I noticed all the way through this collection of oral histories, the thing that impressed me the most, was how people consistently helped family, neighbours, and total strangers. It is this quality of Nova Scotians, to rise to the occasion with compassion, I think, that contributed most to our low death levels here, as compared with many other places. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for example, had 759 deaths in one day (October 10, Source: HVS, Cape Breton County Death Register, 1918), whereas the city of Halifax, in the entire three years of the Great Influenza had 1918, Book 30, Page 47, Number 273. only 336. Halifax County, including the city deaths—the county with the highest total— had only 497 deaths in three years. Comparisons are odious, and there are too many factors to draw conclusions from this, I know, but compared to many cities, countries, even continents, Nova Scotia got off lightly. In Halifax, there were some strong individuals in local governance: the Provincial Health Officer, Dr. W. H. Hattie; the Mayor, Dr. Arthur C. Hawkins; the Chairman of the Board of Health and Quarantine Officer for the Port of Halifax, Dr. Norman E. McKay. These three doctors in key positions knew exactly what to do and had the power NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
19
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
Between 1928 and 1971, nearly one million immigrants landed in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During those years, it was one of the main ocean immigration facilities in Canada, including when it welcomed home nearly 400,000 Canadians after service overseas during the Second World War. In the immediate postwar period, Pier 21 became the busiest ocean port of entry in the country. Today, people across Canada still enjoy connections to Pier 21 through family history and stories of arrival at the site.
Pier 21
A History Steven Schwinghamer, Jan Raska 9780776631363 - 27,95$
Since 1998, researchers at the Pier 21 Interpretive Centre and now the Cana Canadian Museum of Immigration have been conducting interviews, reviewing archival materials, gathering written stories, and acquiring photographs, documents, and other objects reflecting the history of Pier 21. This book builds upon the resulting collection. It presents a history of this important Canadian ocean immigration facility during its years of operation and later emergence as a site of public commemoration. **Aussi disponible en français**
www.press.uOttawa.ca
A JAMBALYA THAT AMPLIFIES BLACK BEAUTY AND OFFERS AUDIBLE RESISTANCE
“Sometime we’ll understand.” William Mills’s stone, Fort Massey Cemetery, Halifax. William and his brother, natives of Shulie, both died of Influenza in 1918. The quote is from a popular hymn of the period. Photo: Doug Pezzack
to enforce it. Since Halifax had the largest population, and the largest port traffic, this counted for a lot. The city fielded a cast of medical personnel, both civilian and military who worked themselves ragged, and who sometimes gave their lives taking care of the sick. Sydney had a good medical health officer in Dr. J. F. MacAulay, but he struggled with city aldermen who were better at arguing than at taking action. Rural communities, on the other hand, often made do with only one, or even no medical personnel at all. In a number of places, when influenza took out the local doctors, the people were petitioning for others to be sent—for help of any sort. Sometimes this was possible, sometimes they were left to cope alone. The Great Influenza was a nightmare beyond our wildest imaginings, but Nova Scotia somehow survived. It survived because people helped each other—with common sense, with kindness, sometimes even by sheer bull-headed doggedness.
What the Future [Presently] Holds
Halifax’s Poet Laureate, Afua Cooper, and photographer Wilfried Raussert collaborate in this book of poems and photographs focused on everyday Black experiences.
ROSEWAY PUBLISHING 20
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, states that it is not a question whether this sort of influenza epidemic will occur again, but when. “Influenza viruses are unpredictable—we can never be certain of when or from where the next pandemic will arise. However, another influenza pandemic is inevitable. Mar 11, 2019.” John Barry’s opinion, as well as my own, is that the most important thing any government at any level can do in a situation like the Great Influenza epidemic is to tell people the absolute truth about what’s going on, what the dangers are, and what measures they will have to take. [Submitted to publisher January 2020] ■ RUTH HOLMES WHITEHEAD is a renowned historian and ethnologist. She has worked with the Nova Scotia Museum for more than 40 years. She is the author of several books including Six Mi’kmaq Stories and The Old Man Told Us.
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
How to defend public education This autumn, there are two books assessing our education system through two very different lenses and making two distinct arguments. One is written by teacher and union activist Grant Frost. You’ll find an excerpt from his book below. The other is by education consultant Paul Bennett. Check out our website for an edited excerpt from Bennett’s book, in which he argues for a complete rethinking of education systems in Canada centred on teachers as experts on education. Readers wanting to look beyond their own bubble (and isn’t everyone desperate to see outside their bubble right now?) can do so by reading both.
An excerpt from Grant Frost’s The Attack on Nova Scotia Schools In this excerpt, the author considers means of protecting public schools from political austerity and corporate-minded, neoliberal think tanks—meaning ones that prefer privatization, decreasingly democratic school systems and the reduction of public services in general. Frost makes the case that public schools should be championed—by parents, teachers, unions and especially governments— for their many successes, the way a private company champions sneakers or SUVs. Frost believes that making the merits of a public system clearer paves the way for a steady, collectivist approach to education, rather than constant reform. In this way, he argues, we can build a public-school system that endows children with the critical thinking skills necessary to build more resilient, sustainable and just societies.
A
uthors Maude Barlow and Heather-Jane Robertson reported that even in 1991 teachers were among the least likely groups to be quoted in stories about the education system, and little has changed since that time. Some of the responsibility for this missing voice must be laid at the feet of the union, which has often discouraged teachers from speaking directly to the media. The absence of teachers willing to speak on the subject of education should not, however, give a free pass to the press to arbitrarily assign expertise to consultants who work outside the system. Given the current state of the news media, journalists have a greater responsibility than ever to examine the source of their information. Although finding a spokesperson from AIMS [the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies] to weigh in on the subject of public education may prove expedient, doing so without exploring the motivation behind the views, or perhaps examining the accuracy of their claims, is irresponsible. There remains a certain authority in stories that come from mainstream media outlets in Canada. As a result, the capacity they have to do lasting damage by repeating poorly researched, and sometimes completely inaccurate, claims of school failure is considerable.
Finally, when it comes to the preservation of public education, the organization with the greatest capacity for impact is, by far, our government. Governments do not spend much time or money promoting the system they themselves have built. It would be easy to blame this silence on the fact that our current government is decidedly neoliberal. But successive governments in Nova Scotia have fallen victim to the same line of NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
21
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
New World Publishing 1-877-211-3334
www.newworldpublishing.com NEW: The Man Behind the Music: The Life of Donizetti by E. Elizabeth Cran, pp. 110; illust. ISBN 9781989564035 – $15.95 Limited Edition for lovers of classical, symphonic, chamber music, opera, or for those who just enjoy a gripping tale. The life of Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) reads like a 19th Century novel: born in poverty in northern Italy duringtheNapoleonicWars.At age 7 his great musical talents were discovered; by 1828 he was known throughout Italy; becoming so abroad; in love and about to marry a beautiful, accomplished woman. After 9 years of immense musical and personal successes, it all crashed. NEW : TOGO to the Rescue! - a Halifax Explosion story by Laura King; illustrated by Hannah Aubrecht. $14.95; e-book too! Quality children’s picture book: 8x10fullcolour;80 lb. silk ISBN9781989564219; e-book available. Mother and daughter team, both experieced HRM teachers, bring you this delightful story of TOGO, the grocery delivery horse and its owner, Uncle Arthur, real family members who lived through the actual explosion in the city’s north end. Their world is turned upside down by this shocking event, but they spring into action to save a young boy trapped in the rubble. Artfully illustrated adventure story well-suited for elementary children. 2020 Best-seller! Quarantine; What is Old is New (2nd Intl Ed) Ian A Cameron, MD © March, 2020 ISBN 9781895814453 – 216 pp, $22.50; + e-book Important reading for the world today! Covers quarantine practices and procedures throughout medical history, not unlike self-isolation today with COVID–19. Describes virulent diseases, quarantine centres, epidemic & pandemic diseases and impact on immigration, Deals with viral mutation, ‘shift’ and ‘drift’ in influenza, plus critical viral & bacterial infections and pandemics over 200 years in Canada – with world postcript on the worst 10 pandemics of the last 2000 years! Describes cornonaviruses/COVID-19 up to the time WHO declaried a pandemic in March, 2020. 2020 Best-seller! CapturingCrime -CarolTaylor; narrative by Greg Marquis, with Roselyn Rosenfeld andConnelSmith.Fullcolourcoffee-tablebookISBN 9781895814972-$24.95 NEW: LE HCEd.–$39.95 Law courts, judges, prosecutors, witnesses, defense teams, red evidence bags, all drawn from artist’s perspective– the ‘good’ guys, the ‘bad’ guys – 15 stories – half of them reported widely in the Canadian media: Alan Légère, Premier Hatfield, the Dennis Oland trials, Columbian smuggling cartel, BourqueRCMPmurders,child molestation, and more. Covers the last three decades, in one tidy package, with fascinating images and well-constructed verse from gifted writers explaining each trial. Carol’s courtroom sketches from over 30 plus years, are both factual and entertaining. 22
thinking. Even when the ruling party was not dominated by neoliberal discourse, there was little effort to promote or celebrate public education. If this were a private entity, they would be trumpeting this system to the skies. They would be celebrating their own innovations, positioning themselves as a mover and a shaker, singing the praises of their hard-working and innovative workforce. All this would be done with an eye to drawing consumers to the product. This could allow jurisdictions like ours to become veritable education destinations. Yet, from governments across the country, we hear crickets. Instead of looking at ways of promoting the system, politicians have, time and again, used education as a political tool, painting their all-too-familiar reforms as a way of repairing the perceived failures of previous governments. When the status quo is called into question, it is much easier to offer alternatives than to defend the current model. Unfortunately for public education, often the only alternative models readily available are those that are firmly rooted in neoliberal soil. Furthermore, addressing the underlying issues of a system such as education is not only more difficult, but more time consuming and expensive than offering an alternative to the status quo. If standardized tests results are not up to snuff, it is far easier for governments to, say, increase accountability measures for teachers than it is to address underlying issues such as child poverty or racial inequality. Although Nova Scotia is a relatively small province, when it comes to education, we punch well above our weight. It is here that our most valuable resource lies. Not in our oceans. Not in our forests. Not in our blueberry fields or in our apple orchards. It lies within our classrooms. We have the educational expertise and the infrastructure. It is high time we stopped being a model of educational reformism gone awry and time we started to recognize and promote ourselves as what we long have been: a model of educational excellence. I can’t help but wonder how much further ahead we would be as a province if twenty-five years ago we had committed
THE ATTACK ON NOVA SCOTIA SCHOOLS
Grant Frost Formac Publishing
to a collectivist vision of public education as opposed to pursuing the neoliberal one. If all the money and time spent on such endeavours as Horizons, the Action Plan and the Glaze report had gone into promoting and enhancing what we were doing well, as opposed to what the neoliberals wanted us to believe we were doing poorly, would we still be languishing as one of Canada’s “have-not” provinces? There is nothing but a lack of political will stopping us from becoming another Finland: a region with an education system that others, indeed entire countries, aspire to. But for that to happen, all of us, union, government, media and the public, both individually and collectively, must accept one single, solitary truth. Our schools are not underperforming. They are under attack. And unless we stop placidly accepting the messaging of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt being advanced by the neoliberals, control of one of the last, most fundamental public entities in our possession will slip, quietly and forever, away from our collective grasp. ■ GRANT FROST is a teacher, speaker and union activist who has written several articles on public education in Nova Scotia and beyond. He was the host of a local cable television show Education East until 2018. He is a contributing writer for The Chronicle Herald and blogs at frostededucation.com.
COVER FEATURE Atlantic Books Today
When Brian met Chris In this excerpt from Unicorn in the Woods, acclaimed business journalist Gordon Pitts shares the story of how a billion dollars of value (USD) was created after a chance encounter between an entrepreneur and a tech innovator. Pitts’ book shows that economies outside major urban centres can develop and grow in a new economy, without relying exclusively on old-world, and increasingly unsustainable, resource extraction.
Photo courtesy of David Smith.
C
hris Newton didn’t really expect much from the meeting. He would have been content to spend the day coding software in his tiny office along a dark corridor of the University of New Brunswick’s computer science building in Fredericton. But officials of the university—who, after all, were his employers—had insisted he go along to a gathering of alumni and potential investors in the hope of turning his little software idea into something commercial, something that might actually be sold. He didn’t think he had a “product,” just a way of dealing with the denial-of-service attacks from mischief-makers that were wreaking havoc on the university’s ill-prepared computer networks in these early days of the internet and the wired university. Massive quantities of data would slam into the UNB network and shut it down, inciting a chorus of complaints. It created urgent calls for a cybersecurity tool that could give a real-time snapshot of the health and frailties of the system. And that was what Newton was working on—this program he called Symon (short for System Monitor)—mostly at home at night as he wrote computer code well into the wee small hours. But on that warm fall day in 2000, wearing shorts, sandals and a T-shirt, the 28-year-old part-time student and full-time UNB employee lugged his laptop up the hillside from his tiny office, through the cluster of UNB’s signature red brick buildings, toward the modernist Wu Conference Centre at the top of the hill. Below him lay the sleepy provincial capital with its 19th-century legislature, its sprawling frame mansions and the broad Saint John River as it curled downriver from its source in northern Maine. A crowd of interested types—some local, some from as far away as Halifax—had gathered in a meeting room, creating the impression of a pilot for the future hit TV show Dragons’ Den. At his appointed time Newton flipped open his laptop screen and a chart appeared—a colour guide to the maze of computer networks that coursed through the university, where the emails went, where the downloads landed, where the trouble points were flaring up. There was a silence, and then a large dark-haired man moved closer to the front and fixed his attention on the screen, then started peppering Newton with a torrent of questions. What was this? Could it be sold? Who owned it? Can we talk? Chris Newton was polite—he was the compactly built, babyfaced son of a police chief in the Miramichi, the rugged northeast New Brunswick region of salmon, forests and old mill sites. The only presenter under the age of 40, and the only non-academic, he projected boyish innocence and showed proper respect to people. He found the whole thing both unsettling and intriguing.
Chris Newton poses for a Globe and Mail photo shoot in 2011.
Newton finally managed to tear himself away and scrambled back down the hill to his office in the comfortable corridors of the UNB Computing Centre. But the big intensely energetic man would show up later, talking on about forming a company, creating a product and becoming an entrepreneur. Chris Newton didn’t know what an entrepreneur was—or a start-up or a business model or venture capital (VC). He just liked fixing stuff, figuring things out, solving problems for the people who employed him. But his relentless pursuer was obsessed with all those entrepreneurial things. With the rangy build of an athlete, Brian Flood towered over Chris Newton. He was more than a decade older and 100 times more experienced in the ways of the world. Flood was like a man possessed, having spent the past four years preparing for this moment, when he could seize the chance for funding a technology breakthrough in his beleaguered home province. He didn’t seem like a natural tech founder. He had been running a sports bar/restaurant down the road in Moncton, and later added another one in his hometown of Saint John—both cities about an hour or two’s drive from Fredericton. Then he got NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
23
Atlantic Books Today COVER FEATURE
UNICORN IN THE WOODS
Gordon Pitts Goose Lane Editions
hooked on reading about this hot new thing called the internet. He embarked on a personal crash course to learn about this new pot of technology gold that had entranced everyone from tech titans Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to callow kids such as Mark Zuckerberg, still a student at a New England private school but about to burst on the world as a social-networking Harvard undergrad. Flood was just back from one of his fact-finding expeditions to California’s
������� ����������� � ������ ������ ������������
�������
������������ ���������� ���� �������� ������� � ���������������� ��������������� ���
24
Silicon Valley when he was invited to this showcase event by the sponsors at UNB. He had first met Newton in the “rubber room,” a session where the presenters were prepped for the show. Chris Newton seemed like the answer to his dreams—a whiff of game-changing innovation in the middle of his home province. As he chased Newton around the hillside university, he acted like a suddenly smitten suitor pursuing the reluctant target of his affections. He was not going to let this slip away. In the words of one friend, Brian Flood is the “weirdest, wackiest, hardest working, most tenacious son of a bitch.” At one point in the courtship, Flood asked, almost as a throwaway line, what would IBM pay for this? Chris Newton pondered the thought: maybe the computer behemoth might cough up $25 a month for using the software or even as much as $500. Neither of them imagined that, a decade later, IBM would pay $600 million US for Chris’s little product and the company that grew out of it. And that by that time, Newton would have already gone on to cofound another company that he and his colleagues would have sold for about $330 million US. The bashful kid from the Miramichi would be New Brunswick’s billion-dollar man in value creation, putting him in the same rarified air as the Irvings, McCains, Olands, Sobeys and the other established business families whose names were synonymous with wealth, power and achievement on Canada’s East Coast. ■ Excerpted from Unicorn in the Woods: How East Coast Geeks and Dreamers Are Changing the Game copyright ©2020 by Gordon Pitts. Reprinted by permission of Goose Lane Editions. GORDON PITTS is a former senior writer for the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business. He is the author of several books, including The Codfathers: Lessons from the Atlantic Business Elite and Stampede: The Rise of the West and Canada’s New Power Elite, winner of a National Business Book Award.
Cookbooking with Karl
by Karl Wells
Coffee Rubbed Steak Tacos
Cookbooks celebrating the new and old (with fresh ideas)
N
ever underestimate the power of a cookbook. You may think it nothing more than a bound volume of recipes. A guidebook designed to help you create food that you’ll (hopefully) enjoy eating. It is that, of course; but it’s also a kind of curative. As I felt and examined the covers of Flavours of New Brunswick, Some Good Sweet Treats, Out of New Nova Scotia Kitchens and Grandma’s Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Sweets, and as I slowly turned each page of appealing photos and appetizing recipes, my sombre mood changed. I felt reassured, optimistic. Who would have thought that staring at a fiddlehead salad or reading the ingredients for hotpot could make such a difference? It made me want to try some of the recipes. Consequently, I engaged in my personal, never-fail relaxation therapy: cooking. A recipe for Coffee Rubbed Steak Tacos caught my eye as I leafed through Flavours of New Brunswick from Tom Mason and Heidi Jirotka. The recipe was created by Chef Gene Cormier of the outdoor restaurant, Euston Park Social, in Moncton. I love coffee. I love steak. Wrapping those flavours in a taco with punchy spices and accents sounded appetizing. If you follow the instructions, you’ll be making this recipe often, because the amount of coffee rub you’ll end up with is far more than you’ll need for 16 ounces of beef tenderloin. I opted to cook my steak on a pan instead of the grill. Be prepared for steak with a blackened surface. Don’t panic. As long as you’ve cooked it four minutes per side (and no longer) it will taste great.
The rub imparts deep, rich flavour to the meat. If you’re using soft tacos and decide to warm them in the oven, do so on very low heat and for only a short time. I left mine in too long and they became brittle and broke when I started noshing. With a filling that also calls for salsa, shredded lettuce and grated cheese these tacos are a two-napkins two-hands dining experience. Tagliatelle d ’Amalfi does not sound like a recipe you’d find in a book called Flavours of New Brunswick, but this book isn’t about traditional dishes. It’s about today’s popular “flavours of New Brunswick.” Tagliatelle d ’Amalfi is basically tagliatelle pasta (fettuccine works too) with nut sauce. The recipe comes from Chef Michelle Hooton of Italian by Night in Saint John. Once you’ve gathered up the wide variety of nuts called for (pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, cashews and macadamia nuts), it’s just a matter of giving them a quick roast in the oven. Then the nuts and remaining ingredients of garlic, salt, lemon thyme, parsley and olive oil get turned into a coarse nut butter in the food processor. Next, the mixture is tossed in a large bowl with steaming hot tagliatelle. It took longer to thoroughly mix these ingredients than, say, spaghetti and tomato sauce, but adding some water from the pasta pot helped. The garnish of parmesan and cherry tomatoes looked attractive and added to the flavour. Speaking of flavour, I found the raw garlic to be too strong for my taste. Next time, I’ll roast the garlic (unpeeled or it will burn) along with the nuts. Roasting mellows out the flavour of garlic.
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
25
flour, coconut oil, more honey and cinnamon. I left it in the oven at 350F for the recommended 45 minutes. It wasn’t bubbling as the recipe said it should be, but it appeared to be done; except the topping had not browned. The broiler took care of the pale top. I jacked up the heat to high and left it under the element for about 30 seconds. Broilers are tricky. If you try this, make sure you watch the crumble constantly, or you’ll end up with a charred mess. Remove it at the first sign of browning. My crumble was quite juicy. Lots of dark cherry-blueberry juice pooled up in the bottom of the dish. Perhaps if I’d patiently allowed the crumble to bake on and bubble like crazy, I’d have had a less soupy crumble. I really didn’t care. That’s why spoons were invented.
Tagliatelle d ’Amalfi
•••
A few other notes: if lemon thyme is hard to come by, just use thyme; also, this is a very filling dish. Tagliatelle d ‘Amalfi is not a light lunch. It’s dinner. You may not be left with room for dessert. ••• Making Avocado Chocolate Pudding from Some Good Sweet Treats by Jessica Mitton wasn’t much more complicated than putting ingredients in a food processor (or good blender) and switching it on. The wonderful thing about avocado is its texture. It’s creamy smooth, like butter; but only when it’s properly ripe. I guessed that the few avocados I bought at the market were ripe. I guessed wrong. They were too firm. I found that after I’d processed the chopped avocado, cocoa powder, honey and almond milk, the resulting pudding was grainy. Still, it tasted good, if less sweet than I’d expected. I added more honey to make it sweeter and it was fine. Later, eyeing avocados at the market, that I was assured were sufficiently ripe, I decided to make the dessert again. It was delicious and had the kind of texture I’d expected in my first attempt. Considering the handful of ingredients and the simple goodness of them, this is probably the most guilt-free dessert I’ve ever made. Gently baked fruit is sublime. Crumbles are an easy and popular way to enjoy baked fruit and wild berries. Mitton’s recipe for Berry Crumble delivered an enjoyable dessert, or sweet snack with tea or coffee. The recipe called for a mixture of frozen berries. I used up the only frozen berries I had, blueberries; and to qualify as a “mixture” I added some frozen, dark cherries. The filling also called for honey and almond flour (to help thicken the mixture). When the fruit was placed in the baking dish, I sprinkled the topping on. It featured rolled oats, almond 26
Oatcakes are popular. The ones sold in most coffee shops look like chocolate-coated manhole covers, able to feed an entire family for several days. Small and dainty is not how I’d describe them. The oatcakes recipe in Grandma’s Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Sweets, updated by Alice Burdick, did yield small, dainty and light oatcakes. I’ve been told that traditional oatcakes are quite dainty. The recipe was very easy to follow. I was surprised when I read that the recipe yielded five dozen oatcakes. Yes, that’s right, 60 oatcakes. I guess all grandmas don’t make oatcakes the same way. The recipe called for the dough to be rolled out to ¼-inch thickness. The cakes were to be cut in squares. After doing this I realized there was no way this amount of dough would supply 60 oatcakes, unless the cakes were Lilliputian. I was willing to go communion wafer small, but no smaller. My only option, if I wanted to achieve five dozen oatcakes, was to roll out the dough thinner than ¼ inch. If I had gone with that thickness, the yield would have been about 40 oatcakes. Just over three dozen. Curiosity got the better of me. I had to see what kind of oatcake I’d get with a thinner layer of dough. Maybe they rose high, I thought. (Not so much.) In the end, I put 64 in the oven, just over five dozen. The recipe called for 15 minutes at 350ºF or until golden. They didn’t show any gold at 15 so I left them for another Jessica Mitton
FOOD Atlantic Books Today
G REAT NEW REA DS F RO M F L A NK E R P RES S
Dundee Cake
five minutes. Still no gold. I didn’t dare leave them longer. If I were to try this recipe again, I’d ignore the yield of five dozen and make them larger and a little thicker. I liked the taste. They were the opposite of stodgy. Quite light and sweet with plenty of oat flavour. Perhaps a little dry but my coffee took care of that. Oh yeah, I gave some to my mother-in-law, a grandma, and she loved them. Fortnum and Mason is a famous UK department store. It’s best known for its food hall, expensive food hampers and other gift items. Fortnum’s popular Dundee Cake was often enjoyed by the British upper class with an afternoon cup of Darjeeling. Sir Winston Churchill enjoyed a piece of the traditional Scottish cake every day at about four. I’d never made or tasted one, but I was keen to give the recipe in Grandma’s Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Sweets a go. Personally, I liked that it called for a cup of raisins and a cup of currants and only a quarter cup of mixed candied fruit. After mixing the wet ingredients, made quite soupy by five large eggs, I mixed all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and stirred them into the wet ingredients. It took quite a bit of physical energy to make an effective job of this. The blended ingredients kept getting denser and thicker each time I added more of the dry ingredients. What I ended up with wasn’t exactly something I could pour into my greased cake pan. The recipe generously called it batter. It was a very close cousin to dough. I had to spoon it into the pan and fight with the spoon each time to release its contents. I was concerned about the ultimate result and kept retracing the steps I’d taken in following the well-written recipe. As far as I could tell, I’d done as instructed. After putting the filled pan in the oven, I hoped for the best.
phone 709-739-4477 toll-free 1-866-739-4420 w w w. f l a n k e r p r e s s . c o m
check us out on
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
27
Atlantic Books Today FOOD
I needn’t have worried. The baked cake was delectable. It was bright, with evenly distributed fruit and surprisingly light tasting. Perfect with a cup of Darjeeling. Hip, hip. ••• I first dined at Craig Flinn’s Halifax restaurant, Chives, many years ago—in 2012. In fact, I reviewed it. It was a positive review. Out of New Nova Scotia Kitchens is Craig Flinn’s latest collection of recipes, and the good taste he’s always shown is very much present in this book. Your cupboard may not contain every ingredient listed (some ingredients can be substituted or omitted), but you won’t be wasting your time or money by picking up whichever ingredient it is that you don’t have. I smiled when I saw Corrie Hotpot in the winter recipes section. As any fan of the UK soap, Coronation Street, knows, Corrie refers to Betty’s Hotpot, which has been on the menu of The Rover’s Return since barmaid Betty Turpin first made and served it. Essentially, it’s lamb stew (not watery) also known as Lancashire Hotpot in the north of England. There’s some peeling, slicing and dicing involved at the outset.
All root vegetables. Once that’s taken care of, you dredge pieces of stewing lamb in flour and brown them in a hot pan. The lamb is added to a mixing bowl along with less than half a cup of red wine and a variety of herbs and seasonings. Don’t forget the good old English mustard. It makes a difference. When you’ve thoroughly mixed everything, tip all into a Dutch oven. Then add bay leaves, sliced onions and top it all with a layer of very thinly sliced potato. Once covered, it cooks in a low, slow oven. It’ll be at least three hours before you can eat, but it will be fantastic. I had a frozen chicken that needed to be cooked; I decided to try Craig Flinn’s recipe for BBQ Whole Chicken. Gathering all of the spices, flavourings and herbs, measuring them out and mixing them was the most taxing part of the preparation. Key ingredients included: garlic powder, onion powder, salt, paprika, cumin and thyme. Don’t omit any because it won’t taste as good. Once you’ve rubbed this pungent dry mix on the skin of the chicken (which has been flattened out after removing the bird’s backbone) it’s also important to let the chicken sit in the fridge for many hours. This will help the skin absorb the rub’s flavours. Before letting the chicken cook on a covered grill, I put it on direct heat to achieve a golden hue and grill marks. Watch it very carefully. The recipe suggests too much time for this procedure, at least for my grill. If I’d followed instructions, the grill marks would have been beyond black. After browning, the chicken is placed away from direct heat and allowed to cook covered on indirect heat for about 40 minutes. About 10 minutes before removing from the grill, the chicken is brushed with a combination of lemon juice, zest, honey and butter. There should be plenty left over to brush more on just before serving. The result was a succulent chicken made beautifully fragrant and flavourful by the rub and basting sauce. A thoroughly successful combination. By the way, please check the internal temperature of the chicken’s thigh before carving. If it’s at least 170ºF you can safely tuck in—with a large glass of pinot noir, of course! ■ KARL WELLS is an award-winning food writer in St. John’s, a television producer and a restaurant panellist with enRoute magazine.
28
YOUNG READERS Atlantic Books Today
Young readers’ reviews by Jo-Anne Elder and Lisa Doucet
UN MONSTRE DANS MA CUISINE / RECIPE FOR A MONSTER
Marie-France Comeau and Isabelle Léger Bouton d’or Acadie (Ages 4-8)
Sheree Fitch brought us giggly rhymes about the monkeys in her kitchen; now Marie-France Comeau shows us a monster in the kitchen that a young child learns to tame. When a little boy gets up in the morning, his grandmother is baking bread. Set on the counter to rise, the dough gets bigger and stranger by the minute. The child’s worry turns to curiosity as Grandma Rosi teaches him how to mix and knead the dough. They play cards while they wait for it to rise and then bake. Grandma Rosi is Rosi Jory, a colourful and lively writer and long-time German teacher—one of UNB Saint John’s first fulltime faculty members—who died in 2017 and to whom Comeau dedicates the story.
MR. BEAGLE GOES TO RABBITTOWN
Lori Doody Running the Goat Books & Broadsides (Ages 3-5)
When Mr. Beagle decides to set up shop in Rabbittown, business at his convenience store is not exactly brisk. The bunnies of Rabbittown, a likeable and friendly bunch generally speaking, are not entirely sure what to make of their new neighbour. But when mittens start mysteriously disappearing, Mr. Beagle has plenty of time on his hands and “a good nose for sniffing out trouble.” As he scours the town for clues, his investigative efforts lead to another recent newcomer, Tom Cat, who had disguised himself as a bunny in order to fit in. With the mystery solved, and the citizens of Rabbittown happy to help Tom Cat in his ongoing quest for mittens (for his three little kittens, of course), Mr. Beagle and the Cat clan find themselves warmly welcomed into their new home at last. Lori Doody’s latest picture-book offering provides all the warmth and whimsy that fans of her work have come to expect and cherish. The story is spare and simply told but not too subtle
With the added charm of puns and Isabelle Léger’s bright pictures of the flour-and-yeast monster that turns into a delicious loaf of bread, this book invites children to experiment with kitchen chemistry. The story connects baking to the old-fashioned pleasure of adults and children spending time together at home. It seems particularly appropriate that this book will appear during the COVID-19 outbreak, when children may have joined in the bread-baking rituals with their parents or grandparents. This book is intended for francophone children aged 4 to 8 or up to Grade 5 French Immersion. Of course, children of any age would have lots of fun if a teacher or parent baked bread with them. The book includes the recipe and pictures of the instructions. Marie-France Comeau has written several delightful books including the much-loved Diego l’Escargot and À dos d’amour for young children and Le Départ de Julie, a book for all ages about the Acadian Deportation. JO-ANNE ELDER has translated more than 20 works of poetry, theatre, film, fiction and non-fiction from French to English and has been shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award for translation three times.
to convey vital messages about acceptance, being yourself and the importance of community. True to form, the illustrations tell their own story with bold, bright colours and delicate, dark outlines. Each page is precise and detailed (including the delightful endpapers), featuring a flat perspective that lends itself well to the understated tone of the tale. Together, words and images radiate a cheerful energy and optimism that will delight children and adults alike in this playful, quirky tale. Without feeling didactic or heavy handed, the residents of Rabbittown learn a valuable lesson about inclusion, which leads to a deeply satisfying ending whereby Rabbittown had become “a neighbourhood where any bunny, dog, cat, mouse, squirrel or fox could find new friends and warm mittens.” Who wouldn’t want to live there? NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
29
Atlantic Books Today YOUNG READERS
SWIFT FOX ALL ALONG
Rebecca Thomas, illustrated by Maya McKibbon Annick Press (Ages 4-7)
Today is a special
day for Swift Fox: she is going to meet
her dad’s family for the first time and be introduced to her Mi’kmaq heritage. Filled with apprehension, her belly feels full of butterflies. When she and her dad arrive, she is greeted by a flurry of new faces. Her father tries to reassure her that Mi’kmaq is “who you are,” but Swift Fox isn’t so sure and when her fear and uncertainty overwhelm her, she runs out of the house in tears. It takes the familiar smell of her father’s fry bread—along with the arrival of another new cousin who shares her worries and her belly full of butterflies—to give Swift Fox the courage to go back inside, and open herself up to her family and this part of herself that she is just discovering. Earnest and heartfelt, this story will strike a chord with children of all ages and backgrounds while inevitably having special resonance for Indigenous children who may also have grown up off-reserve and/ or apart from their heritage. Swift Fox’s fears are realistically depicted as she struggles to understand what it means to be Mi’kmaq. Her frustration when she doesn’t know how to smudge and cries out, “If it’s inside me, why can’t I find it?” is poignant. Rebecca Thomas beautifully portrays this boisterous, loving family but also astutely captures Swift Fox’s and cousin Sully’s feelings as newcomers to this family and their traditions. Maya McKibbon’s illustrations are animated and energetic, perfectly rendering the full range of emotions that Swift Fox experiences. McKibbon also cleverly incorporates Thomas’ butterfly motif throughout the illustrations, visually interpreting the nervousness that both Swift Fox and Sully experience. A touching story of family and identity, all children will empathize with feeling out of place and wanting to belong. However, for many young readers it will also be a powerful introduction to the unique challenges faced by Indigenous children. A GREAT BIG NIGHT
Kate Inglis, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon Nimbus Publishing (Ages 4-8)
Clickity-clackity-clickity-clack. The woodland denizens of the great green forest know exactly what this sound means: the 30
music train has arrived, with its marvellous melange of music-making instruments! Three tidyfaced and bicycle-riding frogs make up this travelling band and they waste no time in putting their tin whistles and mandolin, their bodhran and matchbox bass, their tom-tom drum and hundred-year-old golden guitar to work, to the tremendous delight of all the animals. All except Grouse, who scoffs at the “foolish racket” being made by the “lollygaggers, time-wasters.” When a terrible storm rolls through the forest, it brings the festivities to an abrupt end and sends everyone in search of shelter. Alas, it also destroys Grouse’s home. To Grouse’s chagrin, the three tidy-faced frogs pull out their instruments once again. This time, they play a lively tune to call all the forest friends together to help build Grouse a new home while “the happy beat of busy-time songs filled the air.” Maybe, just maybe, there is more to this ruckus than Grouse originally thought. In this joyful, exuberant romp, Kate Inglis delights young readers with a timeless tale that highlights the power of music to not only brighten our lives but to also bring people (and animals) together when times are tough. Inglis deftly revels in the musicality of her words, creating a jaunty, playful story that begs to be read aloud. The brightly coloured, vibrant illustrations from widely acclaimed illustrator Josée Bisaillon bring these spirited antics to life. Layered and richly textured with subtle sketches of leaves and flowers scattered throughout, they are bursting with energy and filled with whimsy and captivating detail. A charming celebration of community and collaboration, this book has a valuable message to share as it enchants little listeners and readers. THE LITTLE RED SHED
Adam & Jennifer Young, illustrated by Adam Young Breakwater Books (Ages 3-7)
When a young little shed suddenly discovers that she is no longer white like all of the other sheds she soon faces hostility and rejection from her friends. Now that she is red, the others won’t include her in their activities. She feels sad and lonely, ashamed of being so distinctive. In despair, she boards a boat and sails away. In the middle of the ocean she meets a humpback whale who sees things very differently. Unlike her friends back home, he thinks the Little Red Shed
YOUNG READERS Atlantic Books Today
is beautiful and wisely points out that “nothing would be beautiful if we all looked the same.” Buoyed by this new perspective, the Little Red Shed heads for home, where her burgeoning confidence in herself inspires her friends to be open to change themselves. This brightly hued and beautifully illustrated celebration of individuality offers a heartfelt look at diversity for young audiences. The bold and exuberant illustrations adroitly depict the Little Red Shed’s despondency and how deeply she is affected by the rejection of her peers. Even though she believes that she is the same inside, the other sheds refuse to see beyond her external appearance, and she feels forced to accept their take on things as the truth. When she makes a new friend, who sees her as beautiful, that is just what she needs to accept herself regardless of what the others think. This cheery, simple story imparts many important and powerful messages about self-acceptance, the importance of kindness and recognizing beauty in others and how believing in yourself can inspire others. Simply told in sprightly rhyming text with vibrant, folk-art style illustrations, it is a timely and very relevant reminder of the need to embrace differences. LIGHT IN THE FOREST
Holly Carr Rubicon Publishing (Ages 4-12)
Nova Scotian artist Holly Carr’s stunning new picture book begins with jet black pages and glowing amber eyes peering ominously off the page. Then, one by one, Carr introduces the animals of the forest. At first, each creature is howling or lurking or screeching, and the accompanying illustration is dark and eerie and sombre, showing a close-up of that particular beast looking sinister and fearsome. Yet, the narrator still tells readers in bold white letters: “Do not be afraid.”
Sure enough, each turn of the page reveals the same menacing-looking animal from the previous page but now depicted in a glorious, light-infused woodland setting looking serene and amiable, cradling their young or sleeping peacefully amidst the foliage. Alongside each of these lush and luminous illustrations, the words “I am not afraid” boldly, joyfully leap off the page, inviting young readers to chant this empowering refrain themselves. Created in conjunction with a multimedia stage production and an interactive installation of her world-renowned silk paintings, this book magnificently captures both Carr’s visually arresting artwork and her simple, powerful message. Her distinctive style brings the forest setting vividly to life with illustrations that are both intricately elegant and utterly fanciful. With thin black outlines, the loose-lined images are bold, strikingly detailed and lavishly textured. The dark scenes feature expressive faces that generally dominate the page. The alternating images are bursting with vibrant, sun-dappled and colour-soaked life. The repeated refrain of “Do not be afraid/I am not afraid” provides a rhythmic, soothing quality as well as reinforcing the idea that when we are overcome by fear, we need to look again, to see things differently, to see beyond the darkness. Endorsed by the Canadian Mental Health Association, Nova Scotia Division, this is a timely and vital message, a beautiful reminder to readers of all ages that even in times of darkness, there is light and hope, for “you are not alone.” BAREFOOT HELEN AND THE GIANTS
Andy Jones, illustrated by Katie Brosnan Running the Goat Books & Broadsides (Ages 7-12)
An old couple finds a wild girl in the woods one day. She follows them home and becomes the child they had always longed for. They call her Helen, and while Helen eventually learns to talk and eat with utensils and even to sleep inside, she cannot be persuaded to wear shoes. When the man and woman decide to move to the city, Helen knows it is time for her to return to the wilderness. That is when her adventures truly begin as she encounters three murderous giants. Using her slingshot, her cunning and her courage, Helen takes on the frightful giant Bulleybummus and then returns to her beloved home in the woods. But will the story of her brave deeds get her into more trouble? Or will it mark the beginning of the next exciting chapter in Helen’s eventful life? NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
31
Atlantic Books Today YOUNG READERS
Although the author drew inspiration from numerous folktales from Newfoundland and all over the world, this delightful offering is uniquely his own. With its capable and clever heroine, it is a rollicking romp that offers many elements of traditional stories along with smart and unexpected variations. Finely told with a folksy lilt, Jones’ telling of the tale is a thrill, as is the humour and freshness of Helen’s exploits. Helen is not the only resourceful female protagonist herein. The princess proves equally shrewd as she devises her own plan to find the giant slayer. UK illustrator Katie Brosnan’s lively and energetic illustrations are the perfect complement to this tale. Her playful style, featuring loose lines and roughly textured, heavy outlines, enhances the fairy-tale quality of the narrative. Monochromatic panels alternate with vibrantly coloured spreads to striking effect. Chock full of feisty heroines, drama and adventure and a truly satisfying ending, this is a highly entertaining offering that would also be a delight to read aloud. FINDING AVALON
Pamela MacDonald with Valerie Sherrard Chocolate River Publishing (Ages 12+)
When Avalon is hired on the spot at Party Portal things seem to be looking up, especially when she meets Pip, her charismatic (and extremely handsome!) co-worker. But her excitement is overshadowed by anger when she gets home and finds a letter from her mother. It’s been three long years since Avalon has heard from her mother, who has been in prison for trying to stab Avalon’s teacher. She reads the letter with hurt and resentment. As their correspondence continues, Avalon’s mother opens up to her about her own painful past and the events that led her to this point in her life. Avalon in turn gets to express her own mixed feelings and misgivings about allowing her mother back into her life. As she tries to juggle this new development, along with a possible new romance with Pip, a former schoolmate reveals Avalon’s painful secret (the truth about her mother) and she must also now face the disappointment of the friends that she has been lying to all this time. New Brunswick native Pamela MacDonald explores the myriad of complex emotions that arise in families that grapple with addiction and the devastation it can cause. Avalon comes to understand her mother’s struggles, but also learns much about herself and how her inability to trust others creates its own problems. 32
Her intense feelings are both believable and realistically depicted, but her voice occasionally comes across as more didactic than authentic. Avalon’s father is a strong secondary character. Their relationship is a highlight of this story, as is the ending, which is hopeful but does not tie everything up too neatly. Readers may long to know more about the betrayal that Avalon experienced at her old school but will be gratified by the support that she receives from her new friends. A thought-provoking exploration of family, friendship and forgiveness. I HOPE YOU’RE LISTENING
Tom Ryan Albert Whitman & Co. (Ages 13+)
When little Layla Gerrard goes missing in the small town of Redfields, everyone is deeply shaken. For Dee Skinner, it is especially traumatic, given the fact that Layla’s disappearance is linked to the abduction of Sibby Carmichael ten years earlier. Sibby had been Dee’s best friend. The two girls had been playing together in the woods when Sibby was taken. Dee was bound and gagged and left behind. For 10 years, Dee has wrestled with guilt and wondered what happened to Sibby. She has also become the creator and anonymous voice of Radio Silent, a podcast dedicated to sharing information about missing persons cases and rallying her online followers to help solve them. This latest disappearance, with its connection to Sibby, compels Dee to start digging into the past herself and following up on new leads that might just lead her to the truth, help find Layla Gerrard and maybe even bring Sibby home at last. A noteworthy follow-up to his highly acclaimed Keep This to Yourself, Tom Ryan’s latest YA thriller is another propulsive and riveting read. Featuring two potentially connected mysteries, the author skillfully juggles these multiple elements, along with Dee’s podcast and her determination to keep her identity as its host a secret. Dee is a complex character who is not always likeable but is fully believable, especially in terms of her unshakeable feelings of guilt. While her relationships with her best friend, Burke, and her new love interest, Sarah, are not fully explored, the author adeptly weaves the story of Sibby’s abduction with the present-day mystery to create a nuanced and absorbing tale. Although readers will enjoy following Dee as she pieces together clues about what happened to Sibby, her epiphany about Layla’s disappearance is less clear and somewhat abrupt. This multi-layered mystery will appeal to fans of this genre and create new fans as well.
YOUNG READERS Atlantic Books Today
UNDER AMELIA’S WING
Heather Stemp Nimbus Publishing (Ages 11-16)
Having finally convinced her mother that a career as a pilot is a viable option for a young woman, Ginny has now taken the next step in pursuing her dream. Leaving her home and family far behind in the small town of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, Ginny arrives at Indiana’s Purdue University to get her degree in mechanical engineering and ultimately her pilot’s license. Ginny soon makes some loyal and dear friends, but must also contend with a professor who adamantly opposes her acceptance in the program, firmly believing that a woman doesn’t belong in engineering. Facing his antagonism as well as the scorn of many of her classmates, Ginny struggles to prove herself. She gratefully accepts the support of her new friends at Purdue, as well as the encouragement of Amelia Earhart, her friend and mentor who is also a career counsellor and advisor at the university. But after Ginny endures numerous hardships, the unthinkable happens: Amelia’s plane is lost. Ginny is devastated and must find a new batch of courage to continue on the path she has chosen. This second story about Ginny Ross is rich with historical detail, authentically rendered relationships and an endearing protagonist. It is a compelling exploration of what numerous women who chose non-traditional roles endured while also depicting many of the more typical aspects of university life. While Ginny’s relationship with Amelia Earhart is not the focus of the story, it adds an interesting element to the plot as Ginny and her roommate Mabel, along with the other girls, eagerly follow Amelia’s journey around the world. Ginny’s friendship with Mabel is well developed and the strain on their friendship when Mabel’s beloved Uncle Malcolm turns out to be the professor who is determined to get rid of Ginny is convincing and adds an extra layer of tension. This is a successful standalone novel that will also leave readers anxious for the next volume. ■
“If you want to be well dressed, you have to learn by reading good books, reading poetry. It’s when you put nice things into your soul that you understand how to [do anything] well.” F R E N C H FAS H I O N C O LU M N I S T S O P H I E F O NTAN E L
PEDLARPRESS.COM
Poetry, essays, novels, for young adults and adults.
LISA DOUCET is the co-manager of Woozles Children’s Bookstore in Halifax. She shares her passion for children’s and young-adult books as our young readers editor and book reviewer. French: 978-2-89750-200-3 English: 978-2-89750-255-3 $ 14,95
978-2-89750-176-1 $ 12,95
978-2-89750-197-6 $ 29,95
978-2-89750-239-3 $ 9,95
www.boutondoracadie.com NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
33
Reviews
THIS BOOK WAS REVIEWED FROM ADVANCED GALLEYS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Allison Lawlor reviews contemporary urban gothic story set in St. John’s
G
othic fiction conjures images of medieval castles and dark, supernatural forces at play, but Gerard Collins sets his creepy novel about two middle-aged sisters, who must decide what to do with the old house they’ve inherited, in modern-day St. John’s. The strange manor house, at 333 Forest Road on the edge of the city’s downtown, with “pock-marked siding, cracked basement concrete, and flapping shingles” is more than just a building that needs to be sold or a decaying façade—it is a place filled with ghosts that holds dark secrets of death and cruelty inflicted on the Hush family who lived there. By weaving psychological suspense and violent memories with elements of the fantastic, Collins has written a contemporary urban gothic story that will literally have you gripping the book. The suspenseful plot is unsettling. Something sinister will happen, but you don’t know what and must read on until you find out what abuse the sisters endured, and if they make their way out of the trauma they suffered to a more hopeful future—far away from the haunted house where they spent their childhood. Collins draws readers in with his tight, controlled writing. “The fog often fell upon St. John’s harbour like a wolf that preyed upon a lamb—stealthy, sudden, and inescapable,” he writes. A forewarning of what is to come. The Hush Sisters opens with sisters Sissy and Ava Hush reuniting at 333 Forest Road after a long absence. Ava, an outgoing television producer, has returned to St. John’s from Toronto after losing her job. Claiming she is there to help her sister—a quiet recluse, who still lives in the house years after her mother and father died—Ava returns with her strong opinions and volatile emotions, which often leave Sissy feeling as though she has been overwhelmed by “Hurricane Ava.” Both women live alone. Both feel terribly lonely. They love and need each other but the twisted cruelty inflicted on them by their father, a once successful businessman, has left them deeply wounded and so far, unable to find lasting love. Neither can change or cede to the other’s wishes until they voice their disturbing secrets, face the ghosts of their past selves and confront the sinister forces at play. The sisters realize they must tackle these forces together if they want to save their relationship. Now that their parents are dead, Ava wants to sell the house quickly, rid herself of its darkness and take off with the money. Sissy is tethered to the place. The house is Sissy’s anchor; she is scared to leave it, even though it has brought unhappiness and loss. Her mother died in
34
the garden behind the house, her husband left her there and her father tortured her, right until his dying days, hurling abuse at her as she cleaned his bedpan. Despite all this, she doesn’t leave “… the Hush house—where everything that came wanted to leave and everything that wanted to leave, stayed.” Ava learns that her sister hasn’t been living alone in the house. There are spectres—a young woman in a white dress who appears at the window, a man in a black nightshirt and the girl who moves freely throughout the house. “She’d named the ghost girl ‘Clair,’ and she thought of her as something like a guardian angel, the kind her mother often had told her about. These apparitions often left Sissy confused about what was solid, what was imaginary, but, more and more, she was getting used to not knowing everything,” writes Collins, who was born in Newfoundland, but now lives in New Brunswick. A writer of both books and short stories, his first novel, Finton Moon, was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and won the Percy Janes First Novel Award. The horror and darkness in The Hush Sisters is intermixed with hope, which comes to the sisters through their deepening honesty and understanding of each other, and their relationships with Britney, a kind yoga teacher who lives next door, and her cousin Angus, a pensive musician visiting from Ireland and playing at bars around the city. I didn’t want to think about The Hush Sisters after I read the last page, but I had no choice. Its startling secrets haunt me. ■ ALLISON LAWLOR is the author of six books of nonfiction including Broken Pieces, which was nominated for a 2019 Silver Birch Award by the Ontario Library Association and a 2019-2020 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award.
THE HUSH SISTERS
Gerard Collins Breakwater Books
REVIEWS Atlantic Books Today
THIS BOOK WAS REVIEWED FROM ADVANCED GALLEYS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Patty Musgrave-Quinn reviews Michelle Porter’s “river of stories”
M
ichelle Porter is likely one of the most magnificent writers I have ever had the pleasure of reviewing; her mighty and metaphorical work compares the dignity and heartbreak of generations of Metis in the core of her identity, to the wildfires in her homelands and inside herself. Porter proves adept at “braiding a river of stories” in a beautiful way, by accepting the traumas that are part of the fabric of her spirit, beaded into the soul of her from her Red River ancestors to the Atlantic Ocean. There are flammable elements that make up all of our lives. Porter’s prose, while sitting quietly, moves needle, thread and glass through the flames, to produce the petals of the Metis flowers, symbolic of the ways the homelands are reborn after the fires have raged. Approaching Fire will surely provide the reader with the opportunity to grasp the struggles of identity that emanate from hundreds of years of racism, and the parallels with seething fires that rip across the lands and destroy tangible keepsakes. Michelle Porter’s family story tells of hidden treasure, their identity in a time when colonial rule swept through her homelands like the fires, to eliminate the Nation. The word Metis, itself a European word adopted by the Nation to describe itself, a word best not used if Porter’s great-grandfather wanted people to listen to his music and dance and revel in the very thing that screamed his identity. But his identity, like that of so many who came after, remained hidden, “caught between who you wanted to be and who you had to be.” So many are now unravelling the family history, in a time when discrimination is still here and still tangible, when brown skin is still considered a threat, when perceptions are still swirling around family dinner tables and workplaces, when entire nations are stuffed like sardines in a can into reserves or “land reserved for Indians,” when the word “Metis” in the author’s new homeland is a dirty word and consistently met with judgment, as it was back then, when the term “Indian,” “Aboriginal,” “Indigenous” can be a source of pride or a family thesis best left hidden. Porter’s great grandfather moved his family from the Red River to the woods of British Columbia, where he was unknown; they were all unknown. She writes about cellular memory, how the women carried the cellular memory in their very beings and how the author herself carries the music that was her great-grandfather’s legacy to them all, to the family tree. Trees pressed inside bound books of paper, words that sang out her story; trees in the woods of British Columbia that burned ruthlessly as they are doing today in the Okanogan.
APPROACHING FIRE
Michelle Porter Breakwater Books
This is the cellular memory carried by the Metis that shares the common knowledge of the nation’s boundaries as social rather than geographical. Similar to how it is here, in Mi’kmaq Territory. Social boundaries, boundaries that have been pushed and pushed until the people alive and breathing in those lands were stuffed into the lands reserved for Indians. From her great-grandfather’s 1930s musical life to his hidden and secluded life in the BC woods, Porter has devoured the tree within the pages. She breathes in the smoke and ash from the tree of her life—her history, her story. She steps out onto the burned ground among the fireweed, its beauty and majesty, growing up and up and flashing lush pink flowers, containing medicines that will cure the headaches, the sniffling, the wounds. Fireweed, the wound healer. Michelle Porter, in telling her family story, has so beautifully compared herself to the fireweed, the beautiful growth after the burning lands. The healer, carrying the stories for her ancestors and the ones that will come after her, who then will hear the fiddles and feel the ground thump from the feet of the step dancers who shared the freedom of Bob Goulet’s fiddle. Share the dignity of a lineage from a “half-breed” man—a Metis man, Indigenous and European blood, Red River blood. The fireweed winds itself around us all and heals our wounds after the flames of history have left their burns and scars, yet still transfuses the bloodlines of the brown skin or the paler skinned ones, and the truth settles into the heart and the cellular memory. Always. ■ PATTY MUSGRAVE-QUINN is the Indigenous Affairs Coordinator at Mount Allison University. NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
35
Atlantic Books Today REVIEWS
THIS BOOK WAS REVIEWED FROM ADVANCED GALLEYS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Gemma Marr Reviews Lesley Crewe’s bingeworthy and charming new novel
L
esley Crewe’s latest novel, The Spoon Stealer, offers a rumination on the unpredictability of life. The novel follows Emmeline Darling, a woman born and raised in rural Nova Scotia who relocates to a small community in England. Emmeline is confident, self-aware, funny and kind. She is a self-described “big lady with a large rump and a full bosom” who wears sensible shoes, round glasses and “more tweed than Sherlock Holmes” (at least according to her grouchy neighbour). Single, retired and living with a “charmingly bowlegged” and scrappy white dog named Vera, Emmeline’s life appears tranquil. Early on, however, readers get the sense that Emmeline is a troublemaker. In her memoir-writing class, she gives quite a bit of sass to the ornery woman in charge and gets caught stealing a spoon from the library kitchen. This is not her only spoon theft—the habit allows her to make a handful of dear friends (and enemies). Like the spoons, the memoir class acts as a central thread as the plot moves through time and space, following Emmeline from the early 1900s into the 1960s. Her present-day encounters are interspersed with the memories she recounts to her friends and to readers. Her work on the Darling farm and difficult relationships with family, her time as an aid and companion and her intrepid sense of adventure rest alongside the mundanity of doctors’ appointments, trips to the chip shop and long talks with new friends. In some ways, The Spoon Stealer is a quirky novel about the difficulty of sharing your truth. As a meta-reflection on writing, it seems clear that Crewe took pleasure in depicting the nuances of the creative process through Emmeline’s internal struggles and joys. As Emmeline shares her memoir, she notes that it’s like reading “a fairy story.” She oscillates between a sense of disconnect with her past and the intensity of some memories that feel omnipresent. Sifting through her experiences in a public forum offers a meditation on the power and discomfort of storytelling. There are certainly some aspects of her story that defy belief or that remain just beyond the reader’s grasp. The novel navigates multiple timeframes and follows Emmeline and her family between Nova Scotia and England, so there is a lot of ground to cover and many characters to keep track of. Thankfully, those familiar with Crewe’s previous novels will recognize her charm and wit—descriptions of sandwiches are gut busting, stories about chauvinistic husbands and over-thetop divas generate many chuckles and the relationship between Emmeline and Vera is as humorous as it is heartwarming.
36
There are also beautiful snippets of wisdom. We are reminded that loss is a part of life, and that it serves no purpose to “be afraid of what people think of you.” Emmeline’s outlook on the porous boundaries of family is similarly astute: “What happens to one member of a family sends ripples through the nervous systems of the others. You are not one individual. You are linked to each other.” Though she is speaking here to her great-nephew, many of Emmeline’s close relationships push past connections bound in blood or family name. In these moments, we are reminded of our power to choose who we love and hold close. Emmeline’s friend, Mrs. Tucker, describes the novel best when she declares, “I’ve been waiting all week for this episode!” She’s referring to the next chapter of Emmeline’s memoir, but the phrasing of an episode struck me as an apt description for the experience of reading The Spoon Stealer. There is a binge-worthy quality to the novel as Emmeline gets “carried away with memories and legacies and romantic hogwash.” Her constellation of wild experiences offer a reprieve from the uncertainty of our contemporary moment. At one point, Emmeline looks out at the clothesline on the farm and watches the towels blowing in the wind. She thinks, “It was rather like life. One minute you’re going in one direction, and the next, you’re completely turned around, looking the other way. And sometimes that was the path you should’ve been on all along.” In the face of doubt and loss, Emmeline’s story responds with hope, humour and different forms of kindness. Readers looking for an escape will certainly find one in this charming novel. ■ GEMMA MARR grew up in rural New Brunswick, but now she lives in Ottawa. She has a BA in Atlantic Canada Studies from Saint Mary’s University, an MA in English Literature from the University of Ottawa, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Carleton University.
THE SPOON STEALER
Lesley Crewe Nimbus Publishing
REVIEWS Atlantic Books Today
THIS BOOK WAS REVIEWED FROM ADVANCED GALLEYS PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Afua Cooper reviews Annick MacAskill’s words that are grateful to be alive Murmurations, a book of poetry by Annick MacAskill, is about the flora and fauna of love, and the geographies of the heart. The poems conjure up roaring rivers, ecstatic waterfalls, the pounding waves of Nova Scotia’s Atlantic, the frozen lake of Ontario, the cry of the she-wolf lost in the Rockies and formations of birds high above Monet’s bridges. The natural world stands in for human lovers who are lost and then found again. The poet is mistress of word economy. She deftly throws away lazy and sluggish words, and those that remain are lean, crisp and clean. So, each word, grateful to be alive, takes up the task of creation and becomes a universe in itself—layered, exacting and wondrous, and a world where opposites meet in joyous union. MacAskill is a trickster. When we think she is talking about magpies, we realize she’s conversing more so about her love, her emptiness, her fear. In “Water Hunger,” the humble magpie is elevated to cosmic seer. And who cannot fall in love with a poem like “Banff” with a mountain carved personally by the hand of God? “Ninth Floor” shows the poet at her trickiest and playful best. I smiled from ear to ear as I read this poem. “Ornithologists” teaches us the alphabet and vocabulary of birds. It is menacing, seductive and tentative at the same time. Birds, with the exception of doves, are everywhere—hawks, herons, ravens and ducks. They are ravenous and craven, brave and brazen, shy and unshaven. In fact, the poet is bird obsessed. We are told that birds are messengers of the soul. If this is so, then MacAskill writes these poems as soul messages to bring us back to love. And by calling on the denizens of the sky, she shows us how to fall in love again and again. Winter is also everywhere. Her love stories take place in winter: the beginning, middle and end, and in various topographies. Lake Ontario, Queen St. the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian Prairies. Sometimes winter’s snow is pristine and playful, other times moody and brooding, sometimes cold, hungry and insolent. But through it all, there is always love: fierce, bold, demanding and in perfect surrender. In the poems Eros narrates to us the beauty and joy of sex. Love and passion invoke prayers, as incanted in “Vespers.”
The diverse Canadian landscape is a central motif in this collection. Yet the poems conjure up other temporal periods and geographic spaces. I read about falcons and I go to ancient Egypt, to the mythic story of Horus, the bravest and strongest of all falcons, but with the tender heart of a dove; the turbulent rivers, lakes and oceans sound a verse from the Psalms in my head: “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me”; and chattering birds presents themselves as the Hoopoe bird, the most sageful bird in history, special messenger to King Solomon. The wisdom of the Hoopoe bird is chronicled in the Quran through the love story of the bird-wise King Solomon and the original Queen of Gold Arms, Sheba. Though MacAskill is kindred to Sue Goyette, Gwendolyn McEwen and Rosario Castellanos, she is her own woman poet. And she has found her voice. What a voice it is—tender, compassionate, inspiring, wise, warrior-strong and brilliant. This voice sings to us wedding songs worthy of the Shulamite’s love. Murmurations is a joy to read and hear! ■ DR. AFUA COOPER is a multi-disciplinary scholar and artist. Her 12 books range across such genres as history, poetry, fiction and children’s literature. Her latest book of poems and photographs by Wilfried Raussert is called Black Matters and is published by Roseway Publishing. Dr. Cooper served as Poet Laureate of Halifax Regional Municipality for the term 2018-2020.
MURMURATIONS
Annick MacAskill Gaspereau Press
You are my midnight prayer, that dark-room hymn, Know this: I’ve waited long enough to make certain demand— Collapse the sky and run your body through my veins, Taste what can be made of us,
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
37
Atlantic Books Today AFTERWORD
Teasers O
ne thing is certain: at night, by the campfire under the stars, our families would tell each other stories. Stories about who we were, where we came from, and all the lessons we needed to learn about life. Those stories passed on our traditions, songs, language, and the culture of our people. Here we present to you just a couple of those stories that were passed down from generation to generation. Storytelling is how we pass down our traditional knowledge, our history, our language, our customs, and who we are as a people. The only written part of our culture would be the pictographs left many years ago in Kejimkujik National Park. Those are pictures on rock that represent a whole story, and many of those picture stories have been lost over time. What we do have, and what we share with pride, is our stories. Each story is based on a teaching: believe in yourself, be good to others, look after the world and nature, and so many more. There are a lot of reasons we share our stories. One reason would be if we need to teach a child a lesson, and as a culture that believes in non-interference, we would not tell a child what they can or cannot do— instead we tell them a story to explain to them why they should do what we suggest. Hear our stories, learn from them, and experience them, but most of all we hope you enjoy them! Wela’lioq—Thank you —Excerpted from Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island by Julie Pellissier-Lush. © by Julie Pellissier-Lush. Published by Acorn Press. acornpresscanada.com
I
t was in 2013 that Phillip Boudreau was dropped—allegedly—to the bottom of the sea, but his neighbours would not be entirely surprised if he walked out of the ocean tomorrow, coated in seaweed and dripping with brine, smiling. After all, Phillip had often vanished for long periods during his forty-three years, and he always came back to where he’d grown up—Alderney Point, at the edge of the Acadian village of Petit de Grat on Isle Madame, Nova Scotia. Afterwards it would turn out that he had been in prison, or out West, or hiding in the woods. Perhaps the police had been looking for him and he’d have tucked himself away in other people’s boats or trailers, or curled up and gone to sleep in the bushes of the moorland near his family’s home, his face coated with droplets of fog. He and his dog often slept in a rickety shed outside his parents’ home, where the narrow dirt road ends at the rocky shore of Chedabucto Bay. He’d even been known to hollow out a snowbank and shelter himself from the bitter night in the cold white cavern he’d created. … Some people loved Phillip. He could be funny, helpful, kind. He was generous to old people, good with animals, gentle with children. Other people hated and feared him, though they tended to conceal their feelings. If you crossed him he might threaten to sink your boat, shoot you, burn down your house. He could make you fearful for the safety of your daughter. Would he actually do anything violent? Hard to say. —Excerpted from Blood in the Water by Silver Donald Cameron. © by Paper Tiger Enterprises Ltd. Published by Penguin Random House Canada. penguinrandomhouse.ca
Pro: Allan is stealthy like a le Carré character. That’s hot. Mom affects him too though. He’s quieter about it, sure, but he grinds his teeth and shortens his syllables, blunting the consonants for maximum impact. But for her presence he wouldn’t be shushing Kenny, who wants to listen to the baseball broadcast. Allan barks at our seven-year-old boy and Kenny barks back, and Muffler actually barks and the three of them glare at one another like drunks in a bar while Mom looks on approvingly because Allan is being strict and she thinks that is good parenting. Whatever they’re barking it’s monosyllabic and of the three, Muffler’s voice is the clearest, least slurred. 38
AFTERWORD
Atlantic Books Today
“Enough!” I stare them down, daring them to defy me. From the top of my sightline I catch a glimpse of the red-faced woman in the car behind. Is she still yelling at me? I think she must have seen me yelling at the boys and assumed it was for her and yelled back. She’s opening her car door. “Fuck me.” “Grace!” “Sorry, Mom.” “Apologize to your children.” “Jacob’s not here,” Kenny reminds her. “We should call George,” Allan says. “His phone is off, Allan. By the way that woman is coming here to punch my face.” “He must have turned it on when he realized we were stuck behind the train. What woman?” “He doesn’t even know how to turn his phone on. Also, the woman behind us – beside us – is going to punch me.” —Excerpted from Boy With A Problem, “Stay Loose,” by Chris Benjamin. © by Chris Benjamin. Published by Pottersfield Press. pottersfieldpress.com
W
arner was the backbone of a team that made it all the way to three national championship games. After his third year at SMU, the Montreal Canadiens didn’t come calling. But another Original Six team did: he got an offer to attend Toronto Maple Leafs camp. Johnny Bower, whom Warner had met a few times over the years, invited him to try out for the Leafs. Warner politely declined. Following his fourth and final season, the future SMU Hall of Famer got another call from the Leafs. It was Bower again. Warner had fully planned on pursuing a career in teaching. He was 24 years old. The possibility of playing in the NHL wasn’t on his radar, despite the call from Bower the year before. “My wife answered. She said, ‘Johnny Bower’s on the phone.’ I said, ‘Yeah, so is Mickey Mouse.’ She insisted. So, I get on the phone. I said, ‘Hello, Mr. Bower.’ He said, ‘Hi, Bob. It’s John.’” Warner’s wife wasn’t kidding. The Hall of Famer, a Leafs scout, was calling again. “I can honestly tell you I think my toes, everything, started to shake. I didn’t know what was going to happen. The next thing Johnny said was congratulations on this, this, and this. And then he said, ‘We’d like to sign you to an amateur tryout, if that’s okay?’ I said, ‘Of course it’s okay!’”-—Excerpted from One to Remember: Stories from 39 Members of the NHL’s One Goal Club by Ken Reid. © by Ken Reid. Published by ECW Press Ltd. ecwpress.com
I
t didn’t take long before the door on the other side of the confessional opened and someone came in. Father Cooke slid back the cover to the small screened window as the unknown parishioner knelt and blessed himself. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been months, maybe years, since my last confession.” “Very well, my son. Carry on.” Father Cooke leaned in closer to the mesh window that hid their faces from each other. “Father, I did it again. I didn’t mean to, but I did.” “What did you do?” Father Cooke urged him on. “Father, I touched another boy. You can’t tell the cops, right?” “I can’t reveal to anyone what I’ve learned during confession.” “That’s good, Father, ’cause I can’t help it.” The man sniffed and put a tissue to his nose. The red dots of his own blood stained the white material. Father Cooke slammed his hand against the dividing wall separating the two men. “You must stop this. It is a sin against God.” “They say God’s gettin’ His revenge, Father. The nosebleeds won’t stop. I can’t even describe the pain.” NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
39
Atlantic Books Today AFTERWORD
“Then stop it. Stop doing it.” Father Cooke’s hand dragged down the wall, leaving a trail of sweat. “Ask your victims for forgiveness.” “The heart wants what the heart wants, Father.” He chuckled. “What’s my penance?” “You must go to the police and turn yourself in this very day.” The sound of laughter from the other side infuriated Father Cooke. —Excerpted from Operation Wormwood: The Reckoning by Helen C Escott. © by Helen C Escott. Published by Flanker Press. flankerpress.com
T
he house Katie was standing in front of was the Haunted Mansion. That’s what she called it. Everyone else knew it as the Pigeon Lady’s house. It was a dilapidated Second Empire place, once royal blue, now faded grey, and set back from the sidewalk by a circular driveway. The property was dark and noisome. Dozens of pigeons gathered here, roosted here, flapped and waddled here. Neighbourhood groups often moved to expel the flock, citing civic ordinances and health concerns, and these initiatives would work for a while, but a few birds were always present. This old house, with its slumping roofs, peeling shingles, with its rotting, sodden steps and rose bushes tangled wild through a ruined gazebo—and all of it splodgy with pigeon droppings—seemed to represent everything that was deranged and broken in the adult world and when passing by, even in the company of my older sisters, I crossed the street to avoid its creepy, decrepit energy. But Katie, I saw, was standing on its very front steps, gazing curious at a pigeon on a sagging eaves-trough. This was an intricate creature who with scarlet eyes was blinking Katie into abstraction. Katie, even on a good day, was prone to little absence seizures. “Churrs” my sister Carolyn called them—she and I had variations on these chills-and-shivers too—and I can explain them by saying they were a complex of response that mixed a sense of sound-and-colour with an internal emotional moment which anticipated a time in the future when you’d be remembering this selfsame multi-part experience. I didn’t like them because they seemed a very imperfect form of premonition. I don’t know what Katie thought of them—she gave herself over to seventeen other ways of thinking anyway—which might have been why she saw fit to carelessly push open the front door and advance into the darkness of the Pigeon Lady’s house. —Excerpted from Aubrey Mckee by Alex Pugsley. © by Alex Pugsley. Published by Biblioasis. biblioasis.com
T
his body of work is a human story, one that follows the Ayaawx (the Ts’msyen word for ancestral law), which has, at its centre, respect. Respect not as an obligation or a duty, but as a spiritual energy that clears the way, purifies, and restores balance after conflict. This book, though some may categorize it as a memoir, is more accurately an inquiry, one that brings human conflict into the transformational presence and energy of the supernatural and nature. I present three distinct threads. One: my story, which includes silence, the experiential interweaving of past and present, and the layering of natural and supernatural and inner and outer dimensions. Two: paintings and poems that express the essence of experience that cannot be defined. And three: my philosophical reflections on Krishnamurti’s writings on inquiry, which influenced my insights. This web of threads is my adaptation of a delivery style used by many wisdom speakers in the Feast Hall and in ceremony, one that can open the listener to profound learning, transformative learning. In Feast Hall style, the speakers do not provide bridges between thoughts; instead, they leave space for the listener to make the connections from one concept to the next. It is my intention in using this writing style to invite you into the gift of the Ayaawx; into the power of our Feast Halls; and into relationship with yourself, with others, and with the supernatural. —Excerpted from Singing to the Darkness by Patricia June Vickers. © by Patricia June Vickers. Published by HARP Publishing The People’s Press. harppublishing.ca
40
AFTERWORD Atlantic Books Today
Staff picks FICTION
TWO FOR THE TABLELANDS
MELT
Kevin Major Breakwater Books
Two women, from teenage years to late thirties, priorities ever-changing, friendship sustaining them. Wicks’ sharp language— skilled punning meets stark imagery—sheds new light on a classic theme drawn large on a St. John’s landscape.
During slow season, Newfoundland tour guide Sebastian Synard (One for the Rock) visits Gros Morne with his son. Their trip is flipped when they discover a half-buried body. Murdered. Sebastian’s curiosity sends him deeper into a twisting mystery, and eventually grave danger. This one’s a crowd-pleasing page turner.
Heidi Wicks Breakwater Books
BLAZE ISLAND
SWEETNESS IN THE LIME
Catherine Bush Goose Lane Editions
Stephen Kimber Vagrant Press
Climate change gothic from critically acclaimed author Catherine Bush. As you’d expect, the novel poses morally complex questions. It does so with the tautness of a thriller and the luxuriant precision of poetry.
Stephen Kimber weaves a frank story of romance not only between cultures, but across the First WorldThird World divide, with all the inherent economic tensions and frustrations. Sweetness is a tense, honest and moving tale of latter-life love in the time of postcolonial globalization.
GOOD MOTHERS DON’T
Laura Best Vagrant Press
In this gripping novel, Best brilliantly, and with great empathy, conveys the intense sorrow and pain of Elizabeth, a woman suffering mental illness in the 60s and 70s, and the loss it causes her. Best also dives into the societal why of matters, realistically portraying a community incapable of keeping ties with someone like Elizabeth.
CARDINAL DIVIDE
Nina Newington Guernica Editions
Meg, a sober alcoholic working in rehab with Indigenous clients, was adopted at age 10 and lacks memory of what came before. Then her father tells her he was born a woman. Nova Scotia writer Nina Newington brings us a taut and utterly believable tale of people who
are never what they seem to be, always as complicated as identity itself. BUTTER HONEY PIG BREAD
Francesca Ekwuyasi Arsenal Pulp Press
Nigerian-Canadian writer Francesca Ekwuyasi, who lives in Halifax, delivers a vivid, moving saga of twin sisters divided, and their mother Kambirinachi, who sees herself as a spirit, haunting families with dead children, miscarriages and stillbirths.
HISTORY
BLACK LOYALISTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK
Stephen Davidson Formac Publishing
Davidson’s biographies of eight African American Loyalists—transported to New Brunswick by the British after their defeat by the Americans, brings life to an important history, and the very human toll of white supremacy when slavery was still legal in what became New Brunswick. JOHN LENNON, YOKO ONO AND THE YEAR CANADA WAS COOL
Greg Marquis James Lorimer & Company
Historian Greg Marquis offers a unique portrayal of Canadian society in the late Sixties, recounting how politicians, activists, police, artists, musicians and businesses across NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
41
Atlantic Books Today AFTERWORD
Canada reacted to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous Bed-In for Peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.
in fact, gained and what was lost in the destruction of Halifax’s ‘mean streets.’”
NO PLACE FOR A WOMAN
Robert Hunt Flanker Press
THE BULLET
Antony Berger Breakwater Books
A fascinating biography of the author’s ahead-ofher-time mother, told largely in her own words with brief contextual notes. She worked during the Second World War to evacuate children from Spain and Germany, and later reinvented herself as journalist sharing real stories of Newfoundlanders, taking on the stereotypes of outsiders. KINGS OF FRIDAY NIGHT
AJB Johnston Nimbus Publishing
This book is a delightful throwback to a time when young Nova Scotians were desperate for rock and roll. The Lincolns, fronted by vocalist Frank MacKay, scratched that itch, became one of the most popular bands in the Maritimes and brought together kids from different sides of the track, of different faiths and race. They were united by music and dance. MEAN STREETS
Steven Laffoley Pottersfield Press
“Slums” are communities. People living in wealthier neighbourhoods have always had trouble understanding that. Laffoley’s research paints a picture of Halifax before the “slum clearances” of the 1960s, “to see what was, 42
Hunt interviewed retired workers on the pre-Confederation Newfoundland Railway to develop this collection of stories, which range from heartwarming tales of travelling families to hilarious anecdotes of colourful characters to the occasional tragedy on the rails. IN SEARCH OF ADVENTURE
YOUNG READERS A NEWFOUNDLAND MAPLE
Samantha Baker, Dawn Baker Flanker Press
Artist Dawn Baker beautifully captures the essence of a tree, and how much all of nature depends on it, in this story by Samantha Baker of a young boy and his grandfather learning about a maple tree’s life during a fishing trip. THE HERMIT
Helen C Escott Flanker Press
Jan L Coates Nimbus Publishing
Escott interviewed veterans of the RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador to put together this collection of behindthe-lines stories, including everything from investigating the murders of their own colleagues to finding new ways to connect with communities they policed.
Loosely based on the reallife hermit of Gully Lake, Nova Scotia, The Hermit uses Coates’ always original yet so-real characters to take a heartrending dive into interrelated themes of friendship, community, love, activism and the need to protect the natural environment.
AT THE OCEAN’S EDGE
Margaret Conrad University of Toronto Press
A history of a province this thorough, this comprehensive, this impeccably researched, should not be so entertaining. But it is as engaging as it is detailed, a book that will meet all standards of academic rigour and intriguing storytelling.
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO GOODBYE
Melanie Mosher Nimbus Publishing
In this middle-grade reader, Mosher tackles the challenging subject of death. Her protagonist, Laney, is guilt ridden over the loss of her younger sister, and her parents just won’t deal with it. She comes to rely upon an elderly neighbour to help in her grieving process. Laney is a believably courageous character, well worth cheering on.
AFTERWORD Atlantic Books Today
SO IMAGINE ME
Lynn Davies Art by Chrissie Park-MacNeil Nimbus Publishing
This beautifully illustrated children’s book accentuates the many mysteries of the natural world. The focus here goes beyond the obvious charming megafauna, looking closely at more ethereal beauties as the movement of wind, and crucial minutia like acorns and tree bark. The art of science is in this book. GARY THE SEAGULL
Christian Johnston Art by Paul Hammond Nimbus Publishing
With vibrant illustrations and a zany bird determined to trick his way into a free lunch, this is a fun read aloud that kids can join in on. “Shoo, bird, shoo!” It has a delightful twist of an ending that will make even the adults in the room laugh out loud.
NONFICTION A RELUCTANT SEARCH FOR SPIRITUAL TRUTHS
Adrian McNally Smith Acorn Press
In this memoir, author Adrian McNally Smith recounts life-changing moments, originally unearthed from his own psyche when writing an earlier memoir, Finding Forgiveness. Not a self-help book per se, but an enlightening form of storytelling that will likely invite deep personal exploration on the part of readers.
HALIFAX AND ME
ART
Journalist Harry Bruce calls Halifax a “City to Dance In.” He moved there at a young age, then left. Then came back, then left, then came back again. Repeat. Each time he returned, he found the city a little livelier, more welcoming. This memoir is a celebration of a city’s blossoming over time.
Michael Winsor Breakwater Books
Harry Bruce Pottersfield Press
ALL ’BOUT CANADA
Elizabeth F Hill Art by Alex MacAskill Nimbus Publishing
This small, attractive little book is packed with fascinating detail, in bite-sized, memorable tidbits. Well written and sexily laid out. Even hardcore Canada buffs will learn something new. Hill’s attention to and respect for Indigenous Peoples is much appreciated here.
LOST IN NEWFOUNDLAND
If one must get lost, in Michael Winsor’s Newfoundland is the place to do it. It’s a talented camera that captures the ruggedness of shorelines, the rusticity of old half-sunken vessels, the Newfoundland fondness of bright paints, and the timid wildness of stalking wild cats all in the same little book of bigness. MAUD LEWIS: CREATING AN ICON
Ray Cronin Gaspereau Press
Cronin’s essay serves as not only an introduction to and serious treatment of Lewis’ work, but also a consideration of her rise to fame and synchronization with the marketing of Nova Scotia as a brand. STAY THE BLAZES HOME
THE SECOND MOVEMENT
Vernon Oickle MacIntyre Purcell
Oickle’s outhouse readers are one of the most fun ways to learn about Nova Scotia. Filled with facts about topics ranging from Canada’s oldest general store to UFO sightings to the casualties of war, this is a book of firsts, oldests, largests and onlies. We may need more outhouses.
Len Wagg Nimbus Publishing
Len Wagg is an adored, award-winning photographer. This is a book of not only photographs, but also stories, focusing on resilience during the ongoing global pandemic. It is a very Nova Scotian resilience, filled with acts of kindness, generosity and appreciation for essential workers in all industries.
NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
43
Atlantic Books Today AFTERWORD
THE PAINTED PROVINCE
SQUALL
Joy Snihur Wyatt Laking Pottersfield Press
Chad Norman Guernica
As Sheree Fitch says, Joy Laking’s watercolour paintings evoke “a strong sense of interconnectedness and belonging…” In The Painted Province the artist presents her favourite paintings from 40 regions, with commentary.
In Squall, Chad Norman fully embodies the voice of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, imagined here as a “proto-suffragette, precursor-feminist,” married to a narcissistic poet. Norman excels at depicting the emotional turmoil of a brilliant woman forced into the shadows, and Judith Bauer’s gothic illustrations amplify the power of Norman’s words.
AUTISM ARTS
Dale Sheppard Goose Lane Editions, with Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Autism Nova Scotia
Autism Arts is filled with stories, images and lesson plans showcasing the profound impact of a joint program by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and Autism Nova Scotia, which provides meaningful art experiences for children and young adults on the autism spectrum.
POETRY
A HOUSE IN MEMORY
David Helwig McGill-Queen’s University Press
In his lifetime, PEI resident David Helwig authored nearly 50 books of poetry. As Diane Schoemperlen wrote, “oh, you’ve left us so much.” These are his last poems, and some of his most personal, assembled by Maggie Helwig, his daughter.
ODE TO THE UNPRAISED
Abena Beloved Green Pottersfield Press
Green collects conversation, prose and poetry from elders, peers and relatives to create an experimental work celebrating community knowledge and wisdom, especially that of Ghanaian and Canadian women.
44
GREAT OUTDOORS GREEN GHOST, BLUE OCEAN
Jennifer M Smith Pottersfield Press
Jennifer M Smith leads a life many desk jockeys surely only dream about. The good news is, she writes as well as she lives, bringing readers hearts and minds along for 40,000 nautical miles and over a decade of sailing to remote destinations, occasionally
accompanied by curious and stunning sea creatures. THE NOVA SCOTIA BUCKET LIST
Dale Dunlop and Alison Scott Formac Publishing
Regardless of the season, this is a handbook of inspiring ideas to help Nova Scotians shake off the shack wackies right in their own province. It’s a book that forgoes the obvious, focusing instead on lesser-known destinations it’s about time we knew about. MEDICINAL HERBS OF EASTERN CANADA
Brenda Jones Nimbus Publishing
Award-winning author and artist Brenda Jones’ guide features gorgeous full-colour illustrations of 72 wild plants with medicinal properties, as well as advice on collecting and preparing them. Perfect for budding botanists and experienced gatherers alike.
FOLKLORE GLOOSCAP TALES
Roche Sappier Red Earth Publishing
Roche Sappier wrote and illustrated his collection of Maliseet stories, which has been passed down orally in his family through the generations. Many were told to him by his grandfather, Dr. Peter Paul, a noted historian and linguist.
6
AFTERWORD Atlantic Books Today
ATLANTIC CANADIAN
MUST-READS Six local book experts select a personal favourite
SONG OF RITA JOE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A MI’KMAQ POET
Rita Joe Breton Books
Often called the poet laureate of the Mi’kmaq people, Rita Joe writes with such simplicity, honesty, and kindness, that she has made me cry. A residential school survivor who lost her mother as a child, she tells her life story with a directness that can’t help but teach you something. She wrote poetry, she said, hoping she would inspire others to write. “My greatest wish is that there will be more writing from my people, and that our children will read it. I have said again and again that our history would be different if it had been expressed by us.” —Allison Lawlor is the author of six books of nonfiction including Broken Pieces, which was nominated for a 2019 Silver Birch Award by the Ontario Library Association and a 2019-2020 Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award. THE COLONY OF UNREQUITED DREAMS
Wayne Johnston Penguin Random House
After much deliberation and being forced to pick only one, I have to say Wayne Johnston’s The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is my favourite Atlantic book. As a fictional account of an infamous nonfiction character (NL Premier and “Father of Confederation” Joey Smallwood), this book is an epic that canvasses a lifetime of hopes, ambitions and grievous mistakes. The manner in which it combines beauty, darkness and wickedly sharp humour has stuck with me for years. —Bridget Canning is the award-winning author of The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes and Some People’s Children. Her first novel was a finalist for the BMO Winterset Award and was nominated for the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award. GENERATIONS RE-MERGING
Shalan Joudry Gaspereau Press
Shalan Joudry artfully explores the poetic relationships between generations—Mi’kmaw ancestry, identity, parenthood and traditional teachings. In Generations Re-merging, she draws as much from the landscape as her Elders, as her poems carry a specific vernacular that embraces life, loss and love, endurance and beauty, social and ecological shifts. —Shannon Webb-Campbell is a mixed-Indigenous (Mi’kmaq) settler poet, writer and critic. She is the author of three books, including Still No Word (Breakwater Books). THE INNOCENTS
Michael Crummey Penguin Random House
This is such a painfully tough question, to choose my favourite Atlantic Canadian book. My choice … it is a toss-up, between Lisa Moore’s Something for Everyone, Joan Clark’s An Audience of Chairs and Michael Crummey’s The Innocents. But I have to say … Crummey’s book is my most favourite. The Innocents is a masterpiece that marries language and content in an epic tale that NUMBER 92 | FALL 2020
45
Atlantic Books Today AFTERWORD
elevates historical fiction to a wild new level. A story that continues to haunt me, it distills Newfoundland’s early colonization into a dark creation myth. A brilliant mix of darkness and light, violence and love. —Based in Halifax, Carol Bruneau is the author of ten books, including Glass Voices and the just-released novel, Brighten the Corner Where You Are, a fictionalized account of the life of Maud Lewis. TAAPOATEGL & PALLET
Peter J Clair Chapel Street Editions
My favourite book from this region is Peter J Clair’s Taapoategl & Pallet, which is set in a world that Settlers like me actually live inside but can’t see and don’t recognize. The novel explores how the Mi’kmaq have survived my culture’s brutal efforts to forget them and to make them forget themselves. The novel is empowering for Wabanaki peoples, but Settlers in Atlantic Canada need these kinds of stories too as we learn to look at this place through the eyes of the people who were made here. —Rachel Bryant is the author of The Homing Place: Indigenous and Settler Literary Legacies of the Atlantic. She is a Settler Canadian researcher who divides her time between the traditional and unceded territories of the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik. ISLAND
Alistair MacLeod Penguin Random House
When I was in my early 20s, I worked at A Pair of Trindles, a Canadian-only bookstore in Halifax’s Historic Properties. Every summer we would sell hundreds of copies of Alistair MacLeod’s short-story collection The Lost Salt Gift of Blood. It was my favourite book in the store—just about the closest I’ve ever read to perfection, every word necessary, every image clear and sharp as crystal, and the narrative tone like something out of the mists of time. That book is out of print, but every story from it and MacLeod’s second story collection are included in Island, which has become my favourite all-time Atlantic Canadian book. —Ray Cronin is a senior arts professional with more than 25 years’ experience in multiple aspects of museums and creative industries. Most recently the CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Cronin led that institution for seven years. ■
Give a local story this Christmas
KIRA’S CROSSING Orysia Dawydiak
$13.95 | 9781773660585
WHEN THE HILL CAME DOWN Susan White
$22.95 | 9781773660516
A RELUCTANT SEARCH FOR SPIRITUAL TRUTHS Adrian McNally Smith $22.95 | 9781773660493
HERE AND THERE Roderick MacDonald $17.95 | 9781773660653
THE KETO SOLUTION By Angela Doucette $19.95 | 9781773660462
Available through local booksellers acornpresscanada.com WHAT IF? FROM WORRIES TO WONDER Words & Art by Doretta Groenendyk $22.95 | 9781773660615
46
BROKEN CRAYONS Words by Patsy Dingwell Art by Marla Lesage $14.95 | 9781773660639
MI’KMAQ CAMPFIRE STORIES OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Words by Julie Pellissier-Lush Art by Laurie Ann Marie Martin $14.95 | 9781773660547
Atlantic Books Today NEWS FEATURE
M A RK E T P LAC E Chocolate River Publishing www.chocolateriver.ca
FINDING AVALON
The Travel Store
a young adult novel by
Pamela MacDonald
with Valerie Sherrard
“Blood Work” and “A Boy and his Soul” are the first two novels of a trilogy by author John Graham-Pole inspired by heroic young people who have lived, and
AN ECLECTIC SHOWCASE FOR THE DISCRIMINATING
sometimes died, with cancer.
Literature • Original Visual Art
New to Atlantic Canada
from Atlantic Canada • First Nations
Publishers Dorothy Lander & John Graham-Pole the only multimedia publisher dedicated to the global arts & healing movement HARP — Healing Arts, Reconciling People Support Canadian publishing & order online at www.harppublishing.ca harppeoplespress@gmail.com
Privateers Upper Water Privat a eers Wharf Historic Properties, 1869 Up at U per Wa W ater St. at Halifax NS. B3J 1S9 | 902.423.2940 | carrefouratlantic@bellaliant.com www.carrefouratlantique.ca Newfoundland EmporiumAntique & Souvenir Shop 11 Broadway Street. Corner Brook, NL 709.634.9376 | www.NewfoundlandEmporium.ca
WRITERS WA N T E D
A call for BIPOC voices Nevermore Press is dedicated to better reflecting our community and is seeking submissions from writers who are Black, Indigenous or persons of colour. CheCk out nevermorepress.ca for more information. Nevermore Press is an independent publisher of fiction and creative nonfiction, based in Lunenburg, NS.
Your best source for local books and craft coffee. 3660 Strawberry Hill St. Halifax, NS openbookcoffee.ca
Gift ftss you can open more than on oncce...
BECAUSE WE LOVE, WE CRY Sheree Fitch $17.95 | gift book 978-1-77108-946-3
I PLACE YOU INTO THE FIRE Rebecca Thomas $18.95 | poetry 978-1-77108-885-5
COASTAL NOVA SCOTIA A PHOTOGRAPHIC TOUR Adam Cornick $34.95 | photography 978-1-77108-887-9
NOVA SCOTIA AND THE GREAT INFLUENZA PANDEMIC, 1918–1920 Compiled and Edited by Ruth Holmes Whitehead
STAY THE BLAZES HOME DISPATCHES FROM NOVA SCOTIA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC Len Wagg
$32.95 | history 978-1-77108-915-9
$19.95 | photography 978-1-77108-943-2
THE SWEETNESS IN THE LIME Stephen Kimber $22.95 | fiction 978-1-77108-913-5
BRIGHTEN THE CORNER THE SPOON WHERE YOU ARE STEALER A NOVEL INSPIRED BY Lesley Crewe THE LIFE OF MAUD LEWIS $24.95 | historical fiction 978-1-77108-881-7 Carol Bruneau
LAY FIGURES Mark Blagrave
$22.95 | literary fiction 978-1-77108-832-9
$16.95 | middle-grade | ages 8–12 978-1-77108-906-7
$24.95 | fiction 978-1-77108-883-1
WILD POND HOCKEY Words and art by Jeffrey Domm $12.95 | picture book | ages 3–7 978-1-77108-941-8
MI’KMAW DAILY DRUM MI’KMAW CULTURE FOR EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK Words and art by Alan Syliboy $14.95 | board book | ages 0–3 978-1-77108-889-3
SCREECH! GHOST STORIES FROM OLD NEWFOUNDLAND Charis Cotter Art by Genevieve Simms
THE BOY WHO MOVED CHRISTMAS Words by Eric Walters & Nicole Wellwood Art by Carloe Liu
A GREAT BIG NIGHT Words by Kate Inglis Art by Josée Bisaillon
$22.95 | picture book | ages 4–9 978-1-77108-908-1
$12.95 | picture book | ages 3–7 978-1-77108-911-1
@nimbuspub
Buying local books supports authors, illustrators, bookstores, and publishers in your region affected by COVID-19
