Book Clubs

Gemma Hickey is a passionate humanist whose activism has changed the legal landscape of Canada, expanding rights, equality and dignity for the LGBTQ2+ community and raising awareness for survivors of clergy abuse. Since 2010, they have been Executive Director of For the Love of Learning, a non-profit that works to forge new paths for at-risk youth by advancing their literacy and creative skills. In 2013, Gemma created the Pathways Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports survivors of clergy abuse. To promote awareness and raise funds for the cause, they walked 938 kilometres across Newfoundland in July 2015. 'Almost feral' celebrates the community of support that gathered around this journey and recounts Hickey's remarkable story of self discovery which led to the realization that they are transgender. In this thought-provoking and wide-ranging autobiography, Hickey counters memories of sexual assault, bullying, and depression with inspiring reflections on faith, love, family, individual and communal identity, sex, gender, and acceptance.

In this magically told memoir of the largely resettled Southside Road region of St. John’s, Helen Fogwill Porter evokes the characters who made this community distinct within the larger city. With Porter’s unerring sense for detail we meet the people who gave life to the Southside – including longshoremen, housewives, sailors, coopers, midwives, and even a few prostitutes.

Burning Down the House is the story of Wangersky’s eight-year career as a volunteer firefighter, an experience that wound up reaching into every facet of his life and changed the way he saw the world forever. Also available as an eBook and a Bookclub kit-to-go.

Shortlisted, NL Reads, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and Raymond Souster AwardLonglisted, First Nation Communities READ Award From the author: I cannot let the story of Crow Gulch-- the story of my family and, subsequently, my own story -- go untold. This book is my attempt to resurrect dialogue and story, to honour who and where I come from, to remind Corner Brook of the glaring omission in its social history. In his debut poetry collection, Douglas Walbourne-Gough reflects on the legacy of a community that sat on the shore of the Bay of Islands, less than two kilometres west of downtown Corner Brook. Crow Gulchbegan as a temporary shack town to house migrant workers in the 1920s during the construction of the pulp and paper mill. After the mill was complete, some of the residents, many of Indigenous ancestry, settled there permanently -- including the poet's great-grandmother Amelia Campbell and her daughter, Ella -- and those the locals called the "jackytars," a derogatory epithet used to describe someone of mixed French and Mi'kmaq descent. Many remained there until the late 1970s, when the settlement was forcibly abandoned and largely forgotten. Walbourne-Gough lyrically sifts through archival memory and family accounts, resurrecting story and conversation, to patch together a history of a people and place. Here he finds his own identity within the legacy of Crow Gulch and reminds those who have forgotten of a glaring omission in history.

THE DANGER TREE was met with enormous acclaim when it was first published, garnering rave reviews from critics and readers alike. Now in a new edition featuring an introduction by Giller Prize–nominated author Lisa Moore, David Macfarlane’s memoir tells the story of his mother’s family, the Goodyears of Newfoundland. Weaving together the major events of the twentieth century in Newfoundland—the tuberculosis epidemic, the great seal-hunt disaster, the Confederation debate, and the First World War—the memoir brings to life this storied region with wit, insight, and deep affection. Featuring a multi-generational cast of larger-than-life characters, THE DANGER TREE is brilliant, funny, and profoundly moving, a modern classic about family, history, and the stories we tell.

On August 10, 1944, during "Operation Overlord" and the Battle of Normandy, Vern Ploughman’s tank was ambushed by fire from a Tiger tank in the trees. The Sherman tank was no match. The driver and co-driver were killed instantly, while Vern suffered severe injuries. Billie’s letters to Vern, which he kept on board his tank, were destroyed. Years later, in 2019, Vern and Billie’s daughter, Karen Lundy, discovered the remaining letters among her parents’ possessions. She presents them here for the first time.

Each year, for generations, poor, ill-clad Newfoundland fishermen sailed out "to the ice" to hunt seals in the hope of a few pennies in wages from the prosperous merchants of St. John's. The year 1914 witnessed the worst in the long line of tragedies that were part of their harsh way of life.             For two long days and nights a party of seal hunters--132 men--were left stranded on an icefield floating in the North Atlantic in winter. They were thinly dressed, with almost no food, and with no hope of shelter against the snow or the constant, bitter winds. To survive they had to keep moving, always moving. Those who lay down to rest died.             This is an incredible story of bungling and greed, of suffering and heroism. With the aid of compelling, contemporary photographs, the book paints an unforgettable portrait of the bloody trade of seal hunting among the icefields when ships--and men--were expendable.

Set in North Harbour, Newfoundland, this is one woman's true story of fortitude and love. In a life layered by tragedy and loss, Catherine Linehan's ingrained response is to put one foot in front of the other and not succumb to grief. For the mother of ten children, five of whom perished in a house fire, this means "making some kind of best" out of the rest of her life. If I Cry I'll Fill the Ocean is the true story of how tears of cleansing and forgiveness are sacrificed to keep memories alive . . . and sanity in reach. This kind of courage only exists in the hearts and souls of those who have endured the unendurable.

Florence Clothier left her wealthy Philadelphia family and spent the summers of 1924-1925 as a Grenfell volunteer teacher in Sops Arm. Her letters home revealed a new world to both herself and her family. Also available as a Bookclub-kit-to-go.

** Winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour ** The sad, tender, and extremely funny memoir of a boyhood few thought he would survive, including the unforgettable mother and hilarious grandmother who raised him A book to be relished by lovers of such works as The Glass Castle, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, and Angela's Ashes Everything readers love about consummate storyteller and beloved bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston's work is on full display in Jennie's Boy: incredible characters, brilliant language, and a deep sense of place. Wayne Johnston's family -- his mother, father, and three brothers -- were always on the move. The year he turned eight, the most memorable year of an unusual childhood, they found themselves occupying a wreck of a house in the community his mother Jennie was from: Goulds, Newfoundland was not so much a place as a scattering of homes along an unpaved road. Everyone knew him as "Jennie's boy," and his tiny, ferocious mother felt judged for Wayne's sickly, skinny condition -- he had to spend much of his time in a bed on wheels that was moved from room to room. While his brothers went off to school, Wayne passed his days with his witty, eccentric maternal grandmother, Lucy, whose son Leonard had died at the age of seven and whose photo stood alongside a statue of the Blessed Virgin. Jennie's Boy recalls a boyhood full of pain, laughter, tenderness, and the kind of wit for which Newfoundlanders are known. By that wit, and by their love for each other -- so often expressed in the most unloving ways -- he, and they, survived.

Published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of Newfoundland and Labrador joining Canada, Sean T. Cadigan has written the book that will surely become the definitive history of one of North America's most distinct and beautiful regions. The site of the first European settlement by Vikings one thousand years ago, a former colony of England, and known at various times as Terra Nova and Newfoundland until its official name change to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001, this easternmost point of the continent has had a fascinating history in part because of its long-held position as the gateway between North America and Europe. Examining the region from prehistoric times to the present, Newfoundland and Labrador is not only a comprehensive history of the province, but an illuminating portrait of the Atlantic world and European colonisation of the Americas. Cadigan comprehensively details everything from the first European settlements, the displacement and extinction of the indigenous Beothuk by European settlers, the conflicts between settlers and imperial governance, to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment's near annihilation at the Battle of the Somme, the rise of Newfoundland nationalism, Joey Smallwood's case for confederation, and the modernization and economic disappointments instigated by joining Canada. Paying particular attention to the ways in which Newfoundland and Labrador's history has been shaped by its environment, this study considers how natural resources such as the Grand Banks, the disappearance of cod, and off-shore oil have affected the region and its inhabitants. Richly detailed, compelling, and written in an engaging and accessible style, Newfoundland and Labrador brings the rich and vibrant history of this remarkably interesting region to life.

Labrador Innu cultural and environmental activist Tshaukuesh Elizabeth Penashue is well-known both within and far beyond the Innu Nation. The recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award and an honorary doctorate from Memorial University, she has been a subject of documentary films, books, and numerous articles. She led the Innu campaign against NATO's low-level flying and bomb testing on Innu land during the 1980s and '90s, and was a key respondent in a landmark legal case in which the judge held that the Innu had the "colour of right" to occupy the Canadian Forces base in Goose Bay, Labrador. Over the past twenty years she has led walks and canoe trips in nutshimit, "on the land," to teach people about Innu culture and knowledge.Nitinikiau Innusi: I Keep the Land Alive began as a diary written in Innu-aimun, in which Tshaukuesh recorded day-to-day experiences, court appearances, and interviews with reporters. Tshaukuesh has always had a strong sense of the importance of documenting what was happening to the Innu and their land. She also found keeping a diary therapeutic, and her writing evolved from brief notes into a detailed account of her own life and reflections on Innu land, culture, politics, and history.Beautifully illustrated, this work contains numerous images by professional photographers and journalists as well as archival photographs and others from Tshaukuesh's own collection.

A Globe & Mail Canadian Non-Fiction Bestseller. 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. At the heart of this insightful coming-of-recovery is McCann's exploration of the root cause of his alcoholism; a secret he kept until 2014 when he came out as a survivor of sexual abuse. Aragon's parallel narrative offers a rare and intimate spousal perspective, making the memoir a nuanced and complex portrait of the effects of addiction on family. Featuring lyrics from McCann's celebrated solo career, personal colour photographs, and original drawings from visual artist Bee Stanton, One Good Reason is a rallying cry for holding on to the ones you love, helping yourself, and turning music into medicine.

Froude’s diary richly describes his experiences, including his many injuries and his carousing and occasional fights ashore, which once led to the threat of being jailed in New York City. He writes about the duties of the crew, the sails and rigging of the vessels he worked on, and the use of log lines for calculating a ship’s speed. He also demonstrates a fundamental curiosity about global geography, history, and people. For example, in Leghorn he “took a great delight in rambling around the town and viewing the great buildings churches music [h]alls theaters circuses and law coarts,” and “got acquainted with the italians greeks and turks which I thought was quite a treat they told me of things I had never heard and of things I had never seen and of strange places in their own country where I had never been.” He usually provides a brief history of the places he visited, and while in Sevastopol (Ukraine), he was particularly inspired to relate the story of the charge of the Light Brigade during the Crimean War.​

This sequel offers a wide range of stories from the sex industry in St. John's. As new voices are introduced and some from Rock Paper Sex, Volume I are revisited, key themes emerge, including barriers to safe sex work and the intersection of sex work with human trafficking. This unique collection provides a space for voices of LGBTQ sex workers, dancers, escorts, street-based workers, a massage parlour owner, and others in a startling and compelling investigation of the industry.

This is the first book-length inquiry into Newfoundland immigration prior to Confederation in 1949. Sanctuary Denied sheds new light on the preservation of Newfoundland's culturally "distinct" homogeneous society and its endemic difficulties.

Refuting a widespread assumption that pre-Confederation Newfoundland was unable to attract immigrants, Dr. Bassler identifies numerous requests involving thousands of potential immigrants eager to move to Newfoundland in the half century prior to Confederation. Despite the existence of a uniquely liberal refugee law from 1906 to 1949, Newfoundland immigration policy developed a tradition of refusing asylum to all refugees and of deporting and excluding non-British immigrants as undesirable. The analysis of this immigration record raises intriguing questions about the legacy of nation-building in Newfoundland.

Twenty-seven dead. Staggering property losses.

Triggered by an offshore earthquake on the Grand Banks, a tsunami unleashed its fury on the coastline of the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland, killing twenty-seven people and destroying homes and fishing premises in fifty outports.

Here is the dramatic, incredible story of the South Coast Disaster of 1929, the superhuman efforts of Nurse Dorothy Cherry to save the sick and dying, and Magistrate Malcolm Hollett’s tireless campaign to rebuild shattered lives and devastated communities.

Winner of the 2005 Heritage and History Award
Also available as an eBook and a Bookclub-kit-to-go.

On November 18, 1929, a tsunami struck Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula. Giant waves, up to three storeys high, hit the coast at a hundred kilometres per hour, flooding dozens of communities and washing entire houses out to sea. The most destructive earthquake-related event in Newfoundland’s history, the disaster killed twenty-eight people and left hundreds more homeless or destitute. It took days for the outside world to find out about the death and damage caused by the tsunami, which forever changed the lives of the inhabitants of the fishing outports along the Burin Peninsula. Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning writer Linden MacIntyre was born near St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, one of the villages virtually destroyed by the tsunami. By the time of his birth, the cod-fishing industry lay in ruins and the village had become a mining town. MacIntyre’s father, lured from Cape Breton to Newfoundland by a steady salary, worked in St. Lawrence in an underground mine that was later found to be radioactive. Hundreds of miners would die; hundreds more would struggle through shortened lives profoundly compromised by lung diseases ranging from silicosis and bronchitis to cancer. As MacIntyre says, though the tsunami killed twenty-eight people in 1929, it would claim hundreds if not thousands more lives in the decades to follow. And by the time the village returned to its roots and set up as a cod fishery once again, the stocks in the Grand Banks had plummeted and St. Lawrence found itself once again on the brink of disaster. Written in MacIntyre’s trademark style, The Wake is a major new work by one of this country’s top writers.

Originally published in 1973, Woman of Labrador is Elizabeth Goudie’s enduring and candid story of her pioneering life as a trapper’s wife in the early 1900s. She was left alone much of the year to rear eight children while her husband worked the traplines, providing furs for their meagre income. Independent and resourceful, Elizabeth filled multiple roles as homemaker, doctor, cook, hunter, shoemaker, and seamstress for her growing family.

In the span of eighty years, she witnessed radical changes to Labrador, such as the construction of an airport at Goose Bay during the Second World War. Where once there had been pride and contentment in a harmonious relationship with the land, there came displacement and despair as the wilderness was overtaken by military and industrial projects. One of Elizabeth Goudie’s greatest triumphs was her steady pride in Labrador, her “country,” and her ideal of peace among neighbours. Her memoir is not about bitterness and defeat but courage and love, recounted with pride and humour.

In 1975, Elizabeth was awarded an honorary degree from Memorial University. She died in Happy Valley, Labrador, in 1982. Also available as a Bookclub-kit-to-go.