Gratitude to the prairie skies and lands that nurture my soul and spirit. Gratitude to the First Nations people, who have taught, and continue to teach me.
And finally, for her equanimity and unfailing support, I thank my first and last reader, my partner, Carroll Hodge.
MORE GREAT FICTION FROM DUNDURN
The Redemption of Oscar Wolfe
James Bartleman
In the early 1930s, Oscar Wolf, a thirteen-year-old Native from the Chippewas of Rama Indian Reserve, sets fire to the business section of his village north of Toronto in a fit of misguided rage against white society, inadvertently killing his grandfather and a young maid. Tortured by guilt, and fearful of divine retribution, Oscar sets out on a lifetime quest for redemption.
His journey takes him to California where he works as a fruit picker and prizefighter during the Great Depression, to the Second World War where he becomes a decorated soldier, to university where he excels as a student and athlete, and to the diplomatic service in the postwar era where he causes a stir at the United Nations in New York and in Colombia and Australia.
Beset by an all-too-human knack for making doubtful choices, Oscar discovers that peace of mind is indeed hard to find in this saga of mid-twentieth-century Aboriginal life in Canada and abroad that will appeal to readers of all backgrounds and ages.
Local Customs
Audrey Thomas
Nominated for the 2014 Victoria Book Prize
Letitia Landon, “Letty” to her friends, is an intelligent, witty, successful writer, much sought after for dinner parties and soirées in the London of the 1830s. But, still single at thirty-six, she fears ending up as a wizened crone in a dilapidated country cottage, a cat her only companion.
Just as she is beginning to believe she will never marry, she meets George Maclean, home on leave from his position as the governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast of West Africa. George and Letty marry quietly and set sail for Cape Coast. Eight weeks later she is dead — not from malaria or dysentery or any of the multitude of dangers in her new home, but by her own hand. Or so it would seem.
Local Customs examines, in poetic detail, a way of life that has faded into history. It was a time when religious and cultural assimilation in the British colonies gave rise to a new, strange social order. Letty speaks from beyond the grave to let the reader see the world through her eyes and explore the mystery of her death. Was she disturbed enough to kill herself, or was someone — or something — else involved?
Surface Rights
Melissa Hardy
What was it Donald used to say? “When it comes to children, you pay now or pay later. You never don’t pay.”
Middle-aged Verna Macoun Woodcock returns to the family cottage for the first time in thirty-eight years to scatter the ashes of her husband, father, and twin sister. At first she is alone except for her dad’s dog, the lake, bitter memories, and a barely hidden drinking problem. But soon Verna is forced to open up her tightly shut world to others: strong-willed handywoman Winonah; the neglected children of her sister, each lost and broken in their own way; even the ghost of Winonah’s dead brother, Lionel, who can’t seem to make it to the Sky World.
Just as Verna is starting to accept this newfound family, she discovers a menacing prospector who posts a notice on the cottage door, stating his intention to dig for ore. As it turns out, the Macouns hold the surface rights for the land, but not the mineral rights. For the first time in her life, Verna has something to fight for and family at stake.
Saltwater Cowboys
Dayle Furlong
After generations of prosperity in the mining town of Brighton, Newfoundland, Jack and Angela McCarthy find themselves jobless. In order to keep his family together, Jack accepts a job in a gold mine in the wilds of northern Alberta.
Arriving in Foxville, the McCarthys find themselves resented, bullied, and cast as outsiders. When Jack’s best friend, Peter, is swindled out of his savings and resorts to stealing from the mine, his attempts at reversing their fortunes thrust both families into even deeper torment.
A powerful, poetic novel dealing with the effects of poverty, the harshness and beauty of Canada’s north, the perils of theft, and the timeless value of community and family among displaced Newfoundlanders, Saltwater Cowboys is a classic cautionary tale that presents a stark glimpse into the lives of families struggling to survive in unfamiliar terrain.
Copyright © Lynda A. Archer, 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editor: Allison Hirst
Design: Jennifer Gallinger
Cover Design: Laura Boyle
Image credits: arinahabich/123RF.com
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Archer, Lynda A., author
Tears in the grass / Lynda A. Archer.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-3211-7 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3212-4 (pdf).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3213-1 (epub)
1. Native peoples--Canada--Residential schools--Fiction. I. Title.
PS8601.R38T43 2016 C813’.6 C2015-904916-4
C2015-904917-2
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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J. Kirk Howard, President
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