by Paul Almond
I loved James Gray’s book on the Great Depression and fashioned my “Adam Hadley” character in the train after him, though not his later manifestation as a hobo. His book The Winter Years (1966, Macmillan) is so lively and such a great personal exploration of how the Depression struck Winnipeg, and does far more than my own imagination to illuminate this period. I thank Patricia Fennell, Gray’s daughter, for her permission.
I have used a few phrases from Barry Broadfoot’s unique collection of quotations Ten Lost Years, published by Doubleday Canada, for the hobo jungle chapters. The real people in his book express themselves wonderfully and I gratefully acknowledge permission from Mr. Broadfoot’s estate.
Nevil Shute’s autobiography “Slide Rule” provided all the details I needed on the R100, and I recommend it.
Laurence Alexander, caretaker of St. John’s Church, Darlinghurst in Sydney, found time to help me with that history, between actually pealing the bells for weddings and such.
That wonderful institution, the Canadian Pacific Railroad, is so enlightened as to keep archives, and what is more, to employ a fine archivist in Jo-Anne Colby, who answered every request promptly and kindly. Imagine, finding a Cross-Canada timetable from 1927!
Library and Archives Canada have been keeping all my personal histories, and those of Eric and Rene, thanks to their finest archivist, now retired, Anne Goddard. Sophie Tellier helped us find our way among the classifications on their impossible website, which befuddled even my best researcher.
Jane Nesbitt at the Canadian War Museum, with her staff and wonderful volunteers, have also been very helpful. It’s a great place to do research.
Nora Hague at the McCord Museum of Montreal printed valuable pictures from their treasured archive for my reference, and told me about the R100 and other snippets of the day. I was surprised that trans-ocean flights occupied so many newspaper headlines in those years.
Dr. Richard Virr, Curator of Manuscripts, Rare Books and Special Collections at McGill, took valuable time to help (as the volunteer Curator of the Montreal Diocese) with Reverend Eric’s various tenures.
I also thank Rachel Lev of the American Colony of Jerusalem Historical Archive for sending me pictures of the American Colony in 1920s. My own time there in 1963 was so special, as it must have been for Rene and Eric thirty years previously.
I must thank the long dead Leigh Hunt (1859) for his poem often heard recited during Shigawake evenings. And of course, Robert Service for his excerpt from The Shooting of Dan McGrew, which I myself had memorized. In the same vein, Peter Dale Scott, my good friend for some sixty years, has given the nod to using his grandfather’s poem that I found in Archdeacon Almond’s papers, and which has never been published in a book.
Out of my admiration for T.S. Eliot I have buried a phrase or two from Burnt Norton, the first of his Four Quartets, find it who will. He is the poet who has spoken most powerfully to me over the years.
Leigh Boyle Coffin collected his Uncle Roland’s Gaspe diary of fifty-five years into a mimeographed typescript full of his own interpretations. I found this loving volume Fifty Summers on the Sea, full of helpful facts about the years 1930 and 1931.
Glenn Bydwell, one of the very few geniuses I know, helped me with the location of railway yards, and the Greek influences of those days. My stepson Chris Elkins also helped with the research.
My loyal readers must be also thanked: Dr. Duncan Steel, the renowned astronomer who lives in Australia, vetted those chapters for me. Oxford friends for over fifty years, John Morrell, a leader in the City of London’s financial centre, Peter Duffell, a filmmaker and writer and Diana Colman Webster, a novelist and textbook writer, all came up trumps once again. The Rev. Susan Klein has been an important advisor for all the books that centre on clergymen. Catherine Evans, an English teacher at BCS (who kept winning every prize for her students’ literary magazine Inscape) brought her brilliant editorial faculties to bear. My good friend Nicholas Etheridge, the retired diplomat, continues to catch anachronisms and other mistakes. Rex King, the only author remaining from our Writers’ Group in the nineties, is a faithful reader and a great contributor of felicitous phrasing. Two editors of renown, Clare McKeon (now sadly deceased) and Shannon Wray, both inspired me to add additional scenes. David Stansfield, my new-found writer friend and Cambridge graduate living in Malibu, has been a wonderful support, having gone through it all with a finely honed eye.
My cousin Ted Wright has continued to be a great support and researcher throughout this series. He reads the historic backgrounds and boils them into manageable form for me, and searches endless details on the Internet, at which I still flounder. After early dawns picking raspberries and weeding cabbages, we have creative discussions, after which he goes off to make lobster and crab traps at La Fine Mouche. I could never have done this series without him. I also thank my intrepid housekeeper, Francine, who fed me every day and ran the household, leaving me free to write. And the marvellous Joe Dow, who keeps my computer running. I must also thank Red Deer Press publishing the last three books in this series.
And finally, Joan, my wife of well over thirty-five years, who prodded me into doing this series and continues to be my staunch supporter. As with every volume in The Alford Saga, this book is dedicated to her, but she must also be given pride of place in the acknowledgements.
Copyright © 2014 by Paul Almond
Published in Canada by Red Deer Press, 195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8
Published in the United States by Red Deer Press, 311 Washington Street, Brighton, Massachusetts 02135
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews and articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Red Deer Press, 195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8.
www.reddeerpress.com
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Red Deer Press acknowledges with thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Almond, Paul, 1931-, author
The hero / Paul Almond.
(The Alford saga ; bk. 7)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-88995-525-7 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-55244-342-2 (epub).--ISBN 978-1-55244-343-9 (pdf)
I. Title. II. Series: Almond, Paul, 1931- Alford saga ; bk. 7.
Publisher Cataloging-in-Publication Data (U.S.) ISBN
978-0-88995-525-7 (pbk).--ISBN 978-1-55244-342-2 (epub).--ISBN 978-1-55244-343-9 (pdf)
Data available on file
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