Davetian’s starkly moving stories take the reader into some of the world’s darkest corners—Somalia, Bosnia, Russia, Turkish-Armenia—and allow us to see and feel what it is to be an individual in the midst of genocide and ethnic warfare. Whether he is writing of Solzhenitsyn going into exile or of an unknown Somali peasant facing starvation alone, Davetian portrays characters struggling to find meaning and dignity. Also included is a witty and ironic story about the 1995 Quebec referendum.

The Seventh Circle

Literature & Fiction

Davetian, Benet

United States

Ronsdale Pr

Drawing from his "Speaking of Language" columns written for The Montreal Gazette, Howard Richler invites readers to enjoy the pleasures of exploring the English language—which is rapidly becoming the world’s lingua franca. Among other things, Richler traces how foreign words invaded the English language over the centuries, and how people’s names came into existence. Richler completes his tour of English with a special section on Canadian English. Take My Words also contains many entertaining puzzles, quizzes and word games to challenge readers’ skills.

Take My Words: A Wordaholic's Guide to the English Language

Politics & Social Sciences

Richler, Howard

Social Sciences

Designed for the general reader as well as the student of Canadian history, Brave Soldiers, Proud Regiments recounts the colourful story of our military's past through the personalities and accomplishments of its soldiers. The twenty-six chapters commence with the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the stirring story of Loyalist soldiers during the American Revolution. It presents the accomplishments of the19th-century figures Sir Isaac Brock, Light Brigade hero Alexander Roberts Dunn, V.C., Sir John Inglis, whose defence of Lucknow's Residency became a Victorian epic, and British officers Garnet Wolseley and Frederick Middleton, who led expeditions against Riel. Great War sketches include the moving story of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and an account of Sir Julian Byng, who led the Canadian Corps to victory at Vimy Ridge. World War Two stories include portraits of senior commanders Andy McNaughton and Harry Crerar as the "D-Day Dodgers"?Canadians who fought in Italy. Our country's modern role as a peacekeeper is examined in accounts of Rocky's (John Meredith Rockingham's) Special Force in Korea, and Lewis MacKenzie's novel role as a UN general commanding "Sector Sarajevo" in former Yugoslavia. Closing with an account of the new airborne companies, Brave Soldiers, Proud Regiments presents a superb account of two centuries of Canada's military heritage.

Brave Soldiers, Proud Regiments: Canada's Military Heritage

History

ANDREWS, Allen

Americas

A young adult novel set in New France in 1670 that tells the story of Madeleine Hébert, who disguises herself as a boy to accompany her brother on the long and dangerous canoe trip to Michilimackinac in search of her father. On arriving in Quebec City, they learn that their father, with the Regiment de Carignan, is at Michilimackinac, and possibly ill. When her brother Philippe decides to go in search of their father, Madeleine refuses to stay behind. She cuts off her long hair and disguises herself as a boy. And then begins a series of adventures as the two children and their guide make the long canoe trip from Montreal up the Ottawa, over the height of land and down to Lake Huron and Michilimackinac. For a young girl it is an arduous trek, but Madeleine shows her high spirit and independence over the long days of paddling and the grueling portages. At a welcoming Huron village, Madeleine discovers something of the Native way of life and that the land is far from being a terra incognita to the original inhabitants. In writing this historical novel, Metikosh has done a superb job of recreating history as it might have been experienced by a young woman.

Terra Incognita

Children's Books

Metikosh, Anne

Based on extensive research in the Fort Langley archives, this novel offers a rich and colourful portrait of the Hawaiians’ role as "servants" of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 1830s and their relations with the Native peoples of the northwest coast. Susan Dobbie takes us inside the world of Kimo Kanui, a young Kanaka man who leaves his native Hawaii in the early nineteenth century at a time when thousands of his people were leaving to find work abroad. For Kimo, the new life proves transformative as he grows to enjoy life "on the edge." He becomes deeply involved with the natives through his growing love for the half-Kwantlen, half-French Canadian woman, Rose Fanon, and when her life is threatened by marauders, he breaks Company rules to rescue her. As his attachment to Rose and the land grows, he foresees a time when the Company will no longer control the territory, when men can freely trade and lay claim to the land.

When Eagles Call

Dobbie, Susan

Literary

The passionate ill-fated relationship and literary rivalry between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes is re-imagined in a series of thought-provoking linked poems. Hurdle recreates both their lives and the ways in which those lives have been constructed and deconstructed by contemporary commentators.

After Ted & Sylvia

Biographies & Memoirs

Hurdle, Crystal

Arts & Literature

Leon Kahn, a Polish Jew and Canadian philanthropist, gives us a different kind of Holocaust memoir. He shares the little known story of the family groups of Jews and partisan fighters, composed of Poles and Russians from Siberia, who roamed the forests outside the towns in search of food and weapons. As a partisan fighter, Kahn was given professional guerilla training and soon became an expert in blowing up German trains. The story of the partisan struggles is as engrossing as it is terrible, for Kahn describes in detail those uncertain times when one never knew who was friend, and who was enemy.

No Time to Mourn: The True Story of a Jewish Partisan Fighter

Kahn, Léon

Morris, Marjorie

Historical

In Gold Rush Orphan, Sandy Frances Duncan has woven a gripping tale of hardship and adventure based on her grandfather’s gold rush journal entries of his 1898 trip to the Klondike. The arduous trek to the goldfields come alive in the fictionalized story of Jeremy Britain, an orphaned youth who joins James Fraser and his companions to search for the gold that would make their fortunes. Venturing into uncharted lands, Jeremy begins furiously panning the streams as he follows a mysterious account that promises the motherlode.

Gold Rush Orphan

Duncan, Sandy Francis

The extraordinary story of Michael Smith, a man who rose from humble beginnings in Blackpool, England, to become a revolutionary gene researcher, philanthropist and Nobel Prize winner. A professor at the University of British Columbia, Smith dedicated his talent and energy to science research, and later launched the university’s internationally regarded Biotechnology Laboratory. The authors present not only the career and science of a great Canadian scientist, but also the politics and personalities of university research.

No Ordinary Mike: Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate

Damer, Eric

Astell, Caroline

Professionals & Academics

Based on a true story, this charming juvenile novel tells of how eleven-year-old Rosie and her grandmother Bubba Sarah arrive in Toronto from Russia after fleeing one of the purges that carried away Rosie’s mother, a famous Russian dancer. To help make ends meet, Rosie works in Yitzy’s factory sewing velvet capes for Eatons, all the while dreaming of making such a cape from scraps, and wearing it to Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. Although Yitzy warns Rosie, "don’t steal the scraps," she cannot resist, and each evening when she dumps the scraps in the garbage, she hides the best ones in her apron. This tale provides a wonderful insight into how an immigrant child survives with her values and dreams intact despite the harsh working conditions of a 1921 garment factory.
"A touching story of heartbreak and joy, delicately stitched together into a young girl’s dream."
—Cathy Beveridge, author of Chaos in Halifax

Rosie's Dream Cape

Freedman, Zelda

Biographies

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