#ReadAtlanticEbooks: Biography and Memoir Week
This summer, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia public library users get unlimited access to 100 local accessible eBooks with no holds or waitlists. This week, we’re highlighting the biographies and memoirs in the collection that you don’t want to miss.
Peace by Chocolate by Jon Tattrie (Goose Lane Editions)
Tareq Hadhad was worried about his father: Isam did not know what to do with his life. Before the war began in Syria, Isam had run a chocolate company for over twenty years. But that life was gone now. The factory was destroyed, and he and his family had spent three years in limbo as refugees before coming to Canada. So, in an unfamiliar kitchen in a small town, Isam began to make chocolate again.
This remarkable book tells the extraordinary story of the Hadhad family– Isam, his wife Shahnaz, and their sons and daughters– and the founding of the chocolatier, Peace by Chocolate. From the devastation of the Syrian civil war, through their life as refugees in Lebanon, to their arrival in a small town in Atlantic Canada, Peace by Chocolate is the story of one family. It is also the story of the people of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and so many towns across Canada, who welcomed strangers and helped them face the challenges of settling in an unfamiliar land.
Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS
Acadian Driftwood by Tyler Leblanc (Goose Lane Editions)
Piecing together his family history through archival documents, Tyler LeBlanc tells the story of Joseph LeBlanc (his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather), Joseph’s ten siblings, and their families. With descendants scattered across modern-day Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the LeBlancs provide a window into the diverse fates that awaited the Acadians when they were expelled from their homeland. Some escaped the deportation and were able to retreat into the wilderness. Others found their way back to Acadie. But many were exiled to Britain, France, or the future United States, where they faced suspicion and prejudice and struggled to settle into new lives.
A unique biographical approach to the history of the Expulsion, Acadian Driftwood is a vivid insight into one family’s experience of this traumatic event.
Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS
Saltwater Chronicles by Lesley Choyce (Nimbus Publishing)
If Lesley Choyce was not a surfer, he would not have dropped out of graduate school in Manhattan in 1978 and moved to Nova Scotia—a decision that made all the difference.
Saltwater Chronicles follows the adventures of the ambitious, idealistic, and brash young man (still alive and kicking inside Choyce) while the older man ahead beckons him forward with a mischievous grin. In many ways, this book celebrates the ordinary: the everyday disasters and discoveries that shape a life. Along the way Choyce has adapted to the crisis of becoming a respectable citizen. He has experienced the death of his father and of his family dog. He has helped guide his wife through cancer as they rode the North Atlantic waves and recorded a most human range of sorrows and joys.
Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS
Mrs. Beaton’s Question by Robert Mercer (Acorn Press)
Robert Mercer’s life could have been very different. He was born with very low vision and, as a youngster, struggled in school. But through the intervention of a caring teacher and the support of his family, he found his way to the Halifax School for the Blind and into the classroom of Mrs. Beaton.
It was there that he discovered his voice, a voice he uses to recount his remarkable journey from a shy little boy to a community leader.
Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS
One Good Reason by Séan McCann with Andrea Aragon (Nimbus Publishing)
This deeply personal memoir, co-written by singer- songwriter, renowned mental health advocate, and recent Order of Canada recipient Séan McCann and wife Andrea Aragon leaves no stone unturned. Detailing in powerful and lyrical prose a Newfoundland childhood indoctrinated in strict Catholic faith, the creation of the wildly successful Great Big Sea, and the battle with alcoholism that nearly cost them everything, McCann and Aragon offer readers a story of reaching international fame and finding rock bottom. Most of all, this book is an honest, raw, and inspiring tribute to embracing the belief that we are all worth saving.
Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS
Cet été, les utilisateurs des bibliothèques publiques du Nouveau-Brunswick et de la Nouvelle-Écosse auront un accès illimité à 100 livrels du Canada atlantique sans liste d’attente. Cette semaine, nous présentons les biographies et mémoires:
Westray par Vernon Theriault (Nimbus Publishing)
L’explosion de méthane éventre la mine Westray, en Nouvelle-Écosse. Vingt-six mineurs y sont pris au piège. Les résidents de Plymouth retiennent leur souffle tandis que les sauveteurs partent à la recherche de survivants, bravant des conditions extrêmement dangereuses pendant des jours. Vernon Theriault, un mineur de Westray décoré pour sa bravoure, s’était joint aux équipes de sauvetage.
Dans ce livre, Theriault décrit son expérience dans la mine du comté de Pictou, ses combats personnels à la suite du désastre et la façon dont il a donné un sens nouveau à sa vie en participant à la campagne de lobbying de longue haleine du Syndicat des Métallos, qui a mené à l’adoption de la Loi Westray en 2004.
Emprunter: N.-É. | HFX | N.-B. | CELA | NNELS
« Merci De Nous Avoir Choisis » par Donald J. Savoie (Nimbus Publishing)
Un observateur aguerri a écrit au sujet des Irving : « Qu’on les aime ou qu’on les haïsse, on se doit de les respecter. » S’appuyant sur d’innombrables entrevues et des recherches approfondies, l’auteur primé Donald J. Savoie (Se débrouiller par ses propres moyens) examine en détail le succès d’une entreprise qui a vu le jour à Bouctouche et qui a grandi à Saint John, au Nouveau-Brunswick, et qui exploite maintenant la plus grande raffinerie de pétrole au Canada, ainsi que plus d’un millier de stations-service réparties dans l’Est du Canada, la Nouvelle-Angleterre et l’Irlande. L’entreprise a également des bureaux à Amsterdam et à Londres et exploite la seule raffinerie en Irlande.
« Merci de nous avoir choisis » retrace l’histoire de la famille Irving depuis ses origines en Écosse, couvre la création et les premières années de l’entreprise et étudie la façon dont Irving Oil fait face aux défis actuels. Cette biographie exhaustive fournit des enseignements précieux pour les aspirants entrepreneurs, les écoles de commerce, les politiques publiques et, en particulier, le Canada atlantique.
Written By: