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#73 Fall 2013

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Flying with a broken wingVisually impaired Cammie Deveau is only 10, but she worries that life is passing her by. Raised by her Aunt Millie, the local bootlegger, Cammie finally convinces Millie to let her go to school. As she makes her first friend, gets a pair of eyeglasses and slowly uncovers the truth about her father, Cammie becomes more determined to realize her dream of going to a special school for the blind. Her friend Evelyn devises a plan that they hope will convince Aunt Millie to send her there. But can it make things better for Evelyn too?

Best creates an authentic portrait of post-Second World War life in a rural Nova Scotia community. Her descriptions of Saturday nights at the bootlegger’s house, women gossiping at the general store and a dance at the local hall capture a strong sense of time and place. Cammie’s voice has a folksy charm and her earnestness is appealing even while readers will sympathize with her frustrations. Evelyn is a compelling character in his own right and readers may have enjoyed entering more fully into his story. While the ending feels somewhat sudden, it is satisfying to see Cammie reach a hopeful place.

Flying With a Broken Wing
by Laura Best
$12.95, paperback, 216 pp.
Nimbus Publishing, September 2013

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Pam Estabrook-webReaders often enjoy books that offer similar sensibilities, or with similar themes, genres or subject matter.

Here are some recommendations to keep fans of ghost stories, true crime and mysteries happily reading in Atlantic Canadian style.

Searching for your next read?

I love a good mystery with a local setting like Sign Of The Cross by Anne Emery (ECW Press, 2008). This is the first in an excellent mystery series set in Halifax.

sign of the crossIf you enjoy reading mysteries with a local flavour, you may also like:

  • Damaged by Pamela Callow (Mira, 2010) and Foul Deeds by Linda Moore (Nimbus, 2012)—crime novels also set in Halifax
  • Revenge of the Lobster Lover by Hilary MacLeod and The Reluctant Detective by Finley Martin (Acorn Press, 2010, 2012); both are first novels in mystery series’ set on Prince Edward Island
  • Death of a Lesser Man (Boulder Press, 2011) and The Body On The T by Mike Martin (Baico Publishing, 2013); the latest installations in mystery series set in Newfoundland.

The Curse of the Red Cross Ring by Earl Pilgrim (Flanker Press, 2000) is a true story Curse of the Red Crossof murder in outport Newfoundland in the late 1920s. This book has been lauded for its vivid depiction of Newfoundland and also for its authenticity—the story’s central character is the author’s grandfather.

If you like true crime stories from Atlantic Canada, you may also like:

  • Maritime Murder (Nimbus, 2012), in which Steve Vernon recounts 19 true crime stores from all over the Maritimes
  • Catherine Snow (Flanker Press, 2009); this is Nellie P. Strowbridge’s haunting novel based on the story of the last woman hanged in Newfoundland
  • Hunting Halifax (Pottersfield Press, 2007), Steven Laffoley’s investigation of a historical cold case—a murder that took place 150 years ago
  • The Ballad of Jacob Peck (Goose Lane, 2013); the compelling story of Amos Babcock, a New Brunswick man hanged for murdering his sister in 1805.

Bluenose Ghosts (2nd Edition, Nimbus Publishing, 2009) was originally written by iconic Nova Scotia folklorist Helen Creighton back in 1957. Over several decades, she Bluenose Ghostsrecorded tales of the supernatural as told to her by regular folks.

So, if you like a good ghost story, you may also like these books about folklore, superstitions, and ghosts:

  • Red Sky At Night by Vernon Oickle (MacIntyre Purcell, 2011); a compilation of superstitions and wives’ tales from Atlantic Canada
  • Ghost Stories and Legends of Prince Edward Island, in which Julie V. Watson (Dundurn, 1988) tells some fascinating “true tales”
  • Ghosts of Nova Scotia by Darryll Walsh (Pottersfield Press, 2010); a collection of ghost stories, old and new
  • Ghost stories from Newfoundland: Haunted Shores by Dale Jarvis (Flanker Press, 2004)
  • Tales from New Brunswick: Wicked Woods by Steve Vernon (Nimbus Publishing, 2008)
  • Brand new from Nimbus in fall 2013: Fire Spook: The Mysterious Nova Scotia Haunting by Monica Graham—the mysterious tale of a series of spooky, spontaneous fires in 1922.

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Atlantic Books Today’s food editor Valerie Mansour has culled some tasty beet recipes from two new books,to bring the spirit of the season into your kitchen and offers her reviews of the latest in Atlantic Canadian food writing

Have you made any of  the recipes we’ve shared in Atlantic Books Today or at AtlanticBooksToday.ca? We’d love to share your photos with our readers.

Email your photos to kim@atlanticpublishers.ca, tweet us at @ABTMagazine or like us on Facebook as Atlantic Books Today and share your favourite food pics.

Halifax Tastes: Recipes from the Region’s Best Restaurants
with Liz Feltham, $22.95 (pb)
978-1-77108-006-4, 74 pp.
Nimbus Publishing, May 2013
Halifax Tastes
Liz Feltham has taken her knowledge from almost 10 years as restaurant critic for The Coast weekly newspaper in Halifax and compiled a collection of recipes from restaurants in the Halifax/Dartmouth area. Stunning photos—by Scott Munn—of food, local scenery and awe-inspiring architecture make it an attractive book.

It’s a brave endeavour to document the ever-changing restaurant scene; already, two of the featured restaurants are no longer, and another has moved.

But their recipes live on, as do those from other restaurants, including a simple yet beautiful Pepper Prosciutto-Wrapped Halibut with Mango Salsa from Dartmouth’s Nectar Social House, and the Armview’s yummy Manchego and Chorizo Mac ’n Cheese.

Recipes are clearly presented and methods concisely written, making even the multi-step dishes accessible. Halifax Tastes is a celebration of our impressive culinary scene.

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad from Halifax Tastes: Recipes from the Region’s Best Restaurants with Liz Feltham

Roasted beet and goat cheese salad. Photo credit: Joseph Muise
Roasted beet and goat cheese salad. Photo credit: Joseph Muise

A small but innovative menu fuelled by local ingredients is the hallmark of Halifax’s Stories at the Halliburton’s offerings. In this elegant salad, chef Scott Vail uses   local red, golden and “candy-striped” (chiogga) beets.

Salad

  • 1 pound very small unpeeled
  • mixed beets
  • 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ pound young arugula
  • 8 ounces goat cheese
  • 2 ounces pistachios, peeled, roasted, and coarsely chopped

Vinaigrette

  • 10 ounces fresh orange juice
  • 1 small shallot, finely diced
  • 2½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 5 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  1. Preheat barbecue or oven to 375°F. Divide beets according to variety (to keep the red beet colour from bleeding into the others), and lay them onto separate squares of double thickness aluminum foil. Place into each package a sprig of thyme, and drizzle red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper over beets. Fold the edge of the foil and roll up to form a tight package.
  2. Roast the beets on the upper rack of the barbecue or in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour, until a skewer inserted into the package can pierce beets with only a little resistance. Remove beets from the package, allow to cool, and peel—the skins will easily slip off.
  3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, simmer orange juice until one quarter of its original volume. Remove from heat and add diced shallot and balsamic vinegar. Slowly, in a thin steady stream, whisk in olive oil, and then add orange zest.
  4. Dress arugula with vinaigrette and divide among the plates. Place the grilled beets around the arugula, top each salad with goat cheese and roasted pistachios, and serve.

Makes 4 appetizer-sized salads

You Can Too! Canning, Pickling, and Preserving the Maritime Harvest
by Elizabeth Peirce $19.95 (pb)
978-1-77108-024-8, 134 pp.
Nimbus Publishing, June 2013

You can too 2“It is my hope that this book will help to demystify the very human act of preserving the good things of the earth,” writes author Elizabeth Peirce. And, indeed it does.
You Can Too! explains how to deal with your own harvest—whether you’re freezing beans, canning peaches, or dehydrating kale. Information is provided on equipment, storage and techniques with handy charts and illustrations. Fun recipes include Squash Pie, Pickled Fiddleheads, and Strawberry Marsala and Vanilla Bean Jam.
It’s a useful book (although lacking an index) with intriguing ideas such as freezing herbs, and using the hot back window of your car as a solar dryer for fruit. It’s also a good read, and includes a chapter called “Life Preservers: Stories from the Kitchen,” featuring inspirational tales from friends on their own food preserving journeys. It’s a worthwhile trip for us all, and this is the right book to bring along.

Pickled Beets from Elizabeth Peirce’s You Can Too! Canning, Pickling, and Preserving the Maritime Harvest

Beets are among the most versatile of vegetables. Easy to grow, they sprout quickly and their greens, when small, make a lovely addition to salads, while bigger greens can be steamed and eaten like cooked spinach. The beets themselves are wonderful pickled. Keep the basic proportions of water to sugar to vinegar, found in the recipe that follows, to pickle any number of beets.

  • 10-12 beets
    2 cups beet water
    1 cup white sugar
    1 cup white or apple cider vinegar
    Spices for seasoning (optional; see step 4)
  1. Scrub your beets and trim away their tops and long tails. Keep little beets (two inches or less in diameter) whole, but cut larger ones in half. Put them in a large stockpot and boil until the beets are tender (a poke with a fork should tell the tale). Drain, reserving the liquid (now beet juice!) and give your beets a dunk in a bowl of ice water to loosen their skins—a messy job, but worth the trouble.
  2. In a saucepan, boil together 2 cups beet water, 1 cup white sugar, and 1 cup white or apple cider vinegar.
  3. Pack peeled beets into pint or quart jars and pour hot brine over them, leaving an inch of headspace.
  4. Pickled beet lovers all seem to have a favourite spice to accompany the basic brine: mine was always mixed pickling spice—about a teaspoon of it in each pint jar or two teaspoons per quart. Others prefer caraway, onion, garlic, even fenugreek. Try one spice in each bottle and see which you prefer—labeling jars is always a good idea.
  5. Seal jars and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes per pint, or 20 minutes per quart.

Makes about 2 pints

Maritime Seafood: Chowders, Soups and More
by Chef Paul Lucas $19.95 (pb)
978-1-894838-94-8, 88 pp.
Acorn Press, July 2013

Maritime Seafood

If you’re looking for enticing seafood recipes to impress your dinner guests, this is the book for you. Maritime Seafood includes Cajun Shellfish Gumbo and Root Vegetable Stew with Mussels. Chef Paul Lucas also takes the expected regional seafood recipes and provides a twist: Seafood Chowder with Seasoning Variations, Potato Corn Chowder with Sautéed Scallops, and Potato Leek Soup with Haddock.

The author covers the basics by discussing at length how to make basic brown and white stocks—not just seafood or shellfish based, but by using pork, beef, chicken and vegetables as well. The sauce chapter includes an appealing Puréed Fruit Sauce with Caribbean fruit and spices.

Although there’s lots of useful information here, the recipe introductions and procedures are often unnecessarily long-winded and repetitive. But it’s an attractive book with photographs of Prince Edward Island scenery and lobster traps, and seafood dishes to inspire you.

Looking for more food reviews from Valerie? Try these:

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We’re celebrating The Word on the Street’s 20th anniversary this weekend! This story is from the fall 2013 issue of Atlantic Books Today. If you are looking for our feature package about The Word on the Street Halifax 2014, please click here.

Jian Ghomeshi hasCBC_JianGhomeshi-394 a long list of complimentary things to say about Halifax.

The host and co-creator of the national daily talk program Q on CBC Radio One and CBC Television has paid several visits to the city since his days touring with the folk-pop band Moxy Früvous.

He’s generous with his praise of Halifax’s welcoming vibe and vibrant art, music and theatre scenes. He even recalls, with apparent fondness, some “painful” late nights at Pizza Corner.

Ghomeshi will be visiting again, this time wearing his author hat and reading from his bestselling literary memoir, 1982 (Viking Canada), at the 19th annual The Word on the Street Halifax  National Book and Magazine festival on Sunday, September 22 on the Halifax waterfront.

1982 is a work of creative non-fiction that chronicles a year in the life of the then-14-year-old Ghomeshi, an immigrant from England with Iranian parents, as he struggles to create his own identity in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill.

The story weaves funny and poignant memories with ’80s music, as the young Ghomeshi discovers a passion for David Bowie, new wave style and an older woman named Wendy.

Although Ghomeshi had always wanted to write a book, he had his doubts during the writing that people would actually want to read it.

“Not a day would go by as I was writing that I wouldn’t think ‘Who wants to read a book about me growing up and feeling like an outsider?’” he recalls. “But what I’ve found from people who’ve read it is that feeling like an outsider is a universal feeling, and that feeling like an outcast in your teens is a kind of universal experience.”

He says the most difficult part of the writing process was just getting started. “I write in spurts. I spend an hour or two putting words on the screen, then I spend the next few hours looking at what I’ve got and workshopping it,” he says. “But I learned that it’s really important to let that burst happen in a really unfiltered way.”

Family marketplace
Book lovers of every stripe can find something engaging about The Word on The Street festival, from booksellers and author tables, to readings and activities for young readers in the Family Marketplace. Photo courtesy of The Word on the Street Halifax

A multisensory experience

Gen-WOTS2013-web
Genevieve Allen Hearn is The Word on the Street Halifax’s new executive director. Photo by Joseph Muise

The new executive director of The Word on the Street, Genevieve Allen Hearn, thinks that giving audiences the opportunity to interact with well-known authors like Ghomeshi is part of what makes the annual magazine and book festival—which drew over 12,000 visitors last year—so popular.

“The Word on the Street festival is about experiencing literature in a different way—by meeting the personalities behind the words and hearing the stories that influenced their writing,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to what I’m sure will be some lively discussions between Jian Ghomeshi and the people in the audience.”

Allen Hearn also thinks that Ghomeshi’s status as one of Canada’s most highly regarded radio and television hosts will appeal to older teens and 20- and 30-somethings. Plus, she sees a great benefit to new authors who will gain exposure from audience spillover.

“I think it really helps local authors and up-and-comers to be on the stage before and after people like Jian Ghomeshi. It’s a great way for emerging authors to get noticed.”

The 2012 WOTS festival drew book lovers of all stripes to the tents at the Halifax waterfront.
The 2012 Word on the Street Halifax festival drew book lovers of all stripes to the tents at the Halifax waterfront. Photo courtesy of The Word on the Street Halifax

The programming for the 2013 festival is built around the idea of looking at literature across disciplines.

“It’s going to be a really multisensory experience this year,” Allen Hearn says. “We’re bringing together things like art, music, zine-making and craft. There will be panel discussions, a songwriters’ circle, lots of children’s authors, a special spotlight on non-fiction and a segment that focuses on food and local recipe books. I think there will be something for everyone and for people of all ages.”

One of the events that Allen Hearn hopes she’ll get a chance to take in on the sure-to-be-busy day is something called “Notes From the Fort,” created by Michelle Elrick, a poet from Manitoba who recently moved to Halifax. Elrick has travelled the world creating site-based poetry written in “forts” that are reminiscent of childhood blanket forts. The fort space is constructed from a suitcase full of treasures that remind her of home.

“She’s going to build a fort, write in it, and then share the work that comes from it,” explains Allen Hearn. “I love the idea of the marriage of performance and literature!”

Ghomeshi is also looking forward to having the chance to check out some of the goings-on at the festival.

“I’ve done Word on the Street in different cities a few times, and I think it’s a pretty fantastic event—such a great opportunity to promote books and community.”

Need more Word on the Street?

 

 

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Jeanne Dugas of Acadia Cassie Deveaux CohoonIt was a long time since Jeanne had been able to lean on an older woman. Anne, Charles’s wife, took her under her wing. She noticed Jeanne’s tenseness and her air of worry and apprehension. In fact, she thought Jeanne looked old beyond her years. The morning after their arrival, when Anne sympathetically asked her what was wrong, Jeanne broke down in tears. Anne took her in her arms.

“It’s nothing,” Jeanne sobbed. “It’s nothing and everything.” Then she poured out her heart to Anne. Her life at Port Toulouse, her marriage to Pierre, giving birth to Marie when she was alone (she did not mention Martin), the moves from Port Toulouse to Île Saint-Jean, to Remshic, to Port Toulouse, to Remshic, to Île Saint-Jean, to Remshic, to Port Toulouse, to the Miré and now to the Ristigouche. How they stayed in each place sometimes for only a few months at a time, in rough lean-tos, in abandoned houses or even on the schooner. And living in fear. Always the fear and the uncertainty.

“Please, Anne, don’t think that I regret following my brother Joseph to Port Toulouse. I really don’t.”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did, Jeanne.” Anne sighed. “You’re not telling me everything, are you?”

Jeanne Dugas of Acadia
by Cassie Deveaux Cohoon
$14.95, paperback, 274 pp.
Cape Breton University Press, June 2013

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Breakwater Contemporary NL Poetry“Newfoundlander” and “storyteller” have long been synonymous in the Canadianist lexicon, but the province’s poets have earned their dues. With several of its 11 featured poets having recently penned successful collections—Ken Babstock, Michael Crummey, Patrick Warner, Carmelita McGrath, Mary Dalton—The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Poetry is less an exhaustive memorialization of the past 40 years, and more a guidebook to the most important voices writing Newfoundland out of itself.

Sure, there is a dash of the expected, but it is the act of reconciling this that results in a collection of such strength and depth—as in Tom Dawe’s “Top of the World,” or Richard Greene’s “Crossing the Straits”—summed up most poignantly in John Steffler’s “Towers and Monuments”: “the sea slides after us/erasing what we’ve done.” A versatile read, this collection illuminates and celebrates the Newfoundland that has always belonged to its poets.

The Breakwater Book of Contemporary Newfoundland Poetry
edited by Mark Callanan and James Langer
$19.95, paperback, 216 pp.
Breakwater Books, April 2013

 

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Short History of MonctonAs Dan Soucoup makes plain in his slim yet compelling chronicle of New Brunswick’s “Hub City,” inevitability has played a leading role in Moncton’s stubborn durability over the centuries.

“Moncton’s vital position at the bend of the Petitcodiac River was the reason it became the hub of the Maritimes,” he writes.

The reason why it remains a civic nexus of the region is somewhat more complicated. But Soucoup, a veteran expositor of all things Maritime (he authored, among other works, the best-selling Maritime Firsts), is up to the task of deftly explaining the city’s continuing relevance and success. (Hint: It has to do with attitude and adaptability).

From early settlement and the French expulsion to bridge-building, shipyards, the railway, and the great “Moncton-Monckton what’s-in-a-name” controversy, this volume provides a marvelous introduction to a plucky, continuously resurging Maritime city.

A Short History of Moncton
by Dan Soucoup
$15.95, paperback, 144 pp.
Nimbus Publishing, April 2013

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I Never Knowed It Was HardI Never Knowed It Was Hard: Memoirs of a Labrador Trapper, by Louie Montague (dictated to, transcribed and edited by Elizabeth Dawson), is a story about a man’s love for Labrador. The book is laced with anecdotes that show the author’s respect for tradition and family, his Inuit culture, and the environment.

It reads as if Louie just dropped in for a cup of tea and starts telling stories. In the process, he paints vivid word pictures of a world that was tough and unforgiving;  exciting and rewarding.

Spanning a multitude of experiences from trapping, guiding and prospecting, to playing the fiddle, driving a dump truck and working as a wildlife enforcement officer, these tales are both poignant and entertaining. Yet there’s an innocence here that is a bit unnerving—perhaps because the rendering is so unpretentious.

Bonus: Dr. Robin McGrath, author and expert on Aboriginal issues, writes a comprehensive introduction which provides valuable insights into Labrador—then and now.

I Never Knowed It Was Hard
by Louie Montague
$19.95, paperback, 184 pp.
ISER Books, April 2013

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Complete Journals of LM MontgomeryFrom the “proud, wonderful, thrilling moment” when her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, was published, to the depths of L.M. Montgomery’s frequent struggles with depression, the writing in this second volume of The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery will engage the sympathies of readers.

Although at times the journals can be repetitive, as Montgomery herself acknowledged, the publication of them in their entirety for the first time is a welcome addition to Montgomery scholarship, as the details of her feelings of isolation and sorrow provide a fuller picture of her life.

Accompanied by her own photographs, Montgomery’s journal entries tell the story of her year of independence as a journalist in Halifax and of her years of confinement as a caregiver for her grandmother in Cavendish, PEI, along with memories of her childhood and reflections on her literary career—ending, in this volume, with her marriage and departure from her beloved Prince Edward Island.

The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery: The PEI Years, 1901-1911
edited by Mary Henley Rubio and Elizabeth Hillman Waterston
$39.95, hardcover, 319 pp.
Oxford University Press, March 2013 elated

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The Premiers Joey and Frank Bill RoweAfter graduating from Memorial in 1962, I spent the summer break working on a survey crew in the Bay of Islands before going to law school that fall. Diefenbaker called a federal election for June and a huge Liberal rally was organized in Corner Brook. Provincial Premier Smallwood, and not the federal Liberal candidate, was billed as the chief speaker.

At the rally, I would witness again what I had remarked before, and would confirm many times in the future: Joey loved to—he lived to—personalize his politics by demonizing his enemies. I saw it in the IWA strife when, among other personal attacks, Joey had somehow linked Landon Ladd to the then notorious American Teamsters Union: I recall Joey looking up at the gallery of the House of Assembly one day when Larry Daley, the head of the Teamsters in Newfoundland, was sitting there. His very presence seemed to galvanize Joey to an outburst: the Teamsters were infamously led in the States by Jimmy Hoffa, who was suspected of Mafia connections—ergo, Landon Ladd of the IWA, who was Daley’s buddy, was a gangster, too. It was a line of baseless logic designed to add to the demonization and destruction of Ladd personally and had nothing to do with the local issues at stake in the strike.

I would see and hear the same in his private vilification of Peter Cashin years after their public political scraps, even after Joey had given Cashin a plum job, as payback for Cashin having run as an independent in a federal election to split the Opposition vote and push Joey’s candidate to victory. Cashin’s new job entailed blasting off a city-wide siren now and then as a sort of fire drill warning that St. John’s was under nuclear attack. Joey would sometimes bring up Cashin’s mental state during conversations, stating that Peter had a steel plate in his skull as a result of World War I wounds and was completely off his head and indeed a dangerous, raving lunatic.

I would hear similar demeaning of others for years to come.

The Premiers Joey and Frank: Greed, Power, and Lust
by Bill Rowe
$22.00, paperback
Flanker Press, September 2013

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The Yarns We HadA yarn is a story; “to yarn” is to tell it. Deeply vernacular, this book’s 41 chapters are short tales, or clusters of tales, concerning “life in outport Newfoundland [Twillingate and environs] in the early to mid-20th century: a period when times were very difficult …”, “times were hard,” or, alternatively, “times were more than hard.” But the people had a sense of humour.

Everything about the setup forewarns cliché, but the writing largely dodges that. There are the usual cultural motifs: hard tack, berry picking, sailing. But author Cyril Greenham keeps them straightforward, not saccharine, tacking toward humour stoked with frankness and even profanity.

It’s specific to a place and a time, and even to a family—Greenham’s father’s is often the yarn’s originator—but the pieces are also open to a broader audience. Terms and events are explained and contextualized, and the book includes lots of black and white photographs for reference.

The Yarns We Had
by Cyril W. Greenham
$19.95, paperback, 175 pp.
Flanker Press, February 2013

 

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John TattrieAn author’s perspective on the public reaction to a hot-button historical subject

The first time I wrote about Edward Cornwallis, it was for a front-page article in the Chronicle Herald in 2010. A company selling hair-care products in Halifax had run an ad for “real human hair extensions” featuring models posed with a statue of Cornwallis in a downtown park. Given the city founder’s notorious role in ordering a scalping bounty against Mi’kmaq people, it led to a hot debate about history, racism and colonialism.

People emailed me, called my home and wrote letters to the editor. The conversation went national when the Halifax Regional School Board ordered Cornwallis Junior High to drop the English aristocrat’s name; it was eventually renamed Halifax Central Junior High.

I wanted to know more about him. To my amazement, I found that not a single book had been written about him—in fact, he barely earned a few mentions in Thomas Raddall’s Halifax: Warden of the North. If I wanted to read Cornwallis’s biography, I’d have to write it.

I spent two years digging through the archives and history books. My search led me to experts in Canada, Gibraltar, Scocornwallis statue halifaxtland and England.

The result, Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax (Pottersfield Press), came out in May. Normally, authors have to beg for media coverage of books. But Cornwallis was a force of nature: on launch day, I gave interviews from 6 am to 6 pm. The launch was standing-room only, attended by more than 130 people, and I had to field increasingly hostile questions. Was I defending a genocidal butcher? Was I trying to rewrite history in the name of political correctness? The moderator had to cut people off as emotions threatened to boil over.

A week later, I spoke to Dalhousie’s University Club. At the end of my talk, a prominent historian accused me of fudging the research to bend the book to pre-held opinions. Another week later, someone sprayed graffiti on the statue declaring Cornwallis to be “fake” and a “self-righteous ass.”

I was back for another full media blitz.

“Stepping onto the contemporary battlefield, surrounded on all sides by belligerents with bayonets fixed, the author produces a peace offering,” wrote the Herald’s book reviewer.

That’s exactly what it felt like. I asked myself: Why am I doing this? I have a lovely wife and a baby son at home. I’m a full-time writer, but books make up a tiny proportion of my income. I’m not in it for the money. I love writing, but don’t enjoy facing hostile audiences. So why?

The truth is, I wrote CornwCornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax - Pottersfield Pressallis not in spite of the controversy, but because of it. It was like that scene in Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers where Roberta Anderson stumbles on a metal object poking out of the ground. She scrapes away the dirt to reveal an ancient alien spaceship. The “real human hair extensions” was the pokey metal; this book is the spaceship.

Now that the truth about Cornwallis has been exhumed, it’s my hope that we can have a thoughtful post-mortem discussion about history and contemporary identity. Now that we know how Halifax began, we can better map out where we want the city to go.

Nova Scotia has given me a lot. This book is my way of giving a little bit back.

Read a review of Cornwallis: The Violent Birth of Halifax.