fiction

Review round up

Tess Bridgewater of the Waterloo Region Record on Pat Mattiani Mestern’s Granite:

“What Mestern does best is paint evocative pictures of the lovely rural area in the rolling hills between Fergus and Collingwood, and Shelburne to the east.

The book is worth reading for this alone, especially if you are familiar with the area.”

Alberta History on David Elliott’s Adventures in the West: Henry Halpin, Fur Trader and Indian Agent:

“Books like this, dealing with the personal side of the fur trade and Indian Affairs do not come by very often. This one is certainly worth having.”

Joseph Howse of The Chronicle Herald on one of our more recent Voyageur Classic titles, Benjamin Drew’s The Refugee:

“Through its abundance of firsthand testimony, The Refugee provides a long and heart-wrenching glimpse into a chapter of both U.S. and Canadian history.

The eloquent narratives reveal the courage and ingenuity of men and women who first succeeded in escaping the physical and mental torments of slavery, and then built livelihoods from scratch in a different frontier land…

Regardless of the choice of edition, The Refugee is an emotionally powerful and factually detailed nonfiction classic — essential reading for anyone who wants to hear and understand the voices of slavery survivors, and early black settlers in Canada.”

© 2008 Defining Canada.