Death On The Ice

Death On The Ice
Author: Cassie Brown
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2010-07-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0385673825

Each year, for generations, poor, ill-clad Newfoundland fisherman sailed out 'to the ice' to hunt seals in the hope of a few penniew 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, freezing days and nights a party of seal hunters--one hundred thirty-two 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 on the ice against the snow or the constant, bitter winds. To survive they had to keep moving, always moving. Those who lay down to rest died. Heroes emerged--one man froze his lips badly, biting off the icicles that were blinding his comrades. Other men froze in their tracks, or went mad with pain and walked off the edge of the icefield. All the while, ships steamed about nearby, unnoticing. And by the time help arrived, two thirds of the men were dead. This is an incredible story of bungling and greed, of suffering and heroism. The disaster is carefully traced, step by step. 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.

Saku's Great Newfoundland Adventure

Saku's Great Newfoundland Adventure
Author: Marie-Beth Wright
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2019-09-11
Genre:
ISBN: 9781771177672

Saku, a black Cape Shore dog, is still young but is skilled and strong with a lot of exploring to do. Watching him bound around the backcountry or swimming behind Justin Barbour's raft, you just know that he is ready to go on a very long adventure! Best of all, he carries a famous name, that of Saku Koivu, the long-ago captain of the Montreal Canadiens. Together with his owner, Justin, Saku is going to cross from Robinsons in western Newfoundland to Cape Broyle, where the province's eastern shores meet the Atlantic Ocean! Using a satellite phone, they inform everyone how they are doing as the months speed by. What will the two friends find as they travel through dense bush, cross icy rivers, shoot rapids, and catch trout for fresh food? Travelling with Saku and Justin, young readers will also learn how to start a campfire, make a warm bed of boughs for chilly nights, and to live as friends with nature. After a snowy spring start, the two pals can soon travel faster and make new friends as they emerge from the wilderness in the little towns of St. Alban's and Conne River. Excited children, townspeople, Chief Mi'sel Joe, and his family all welcome them warmly and offer a break from their long, hard journey. Saku's personal pack is soon filled with new kibble, Justin is relaxed and happy, and the pair continue eastward. Even Bear, Saku's doggy friend who remains at home, can hear Saku's excited bark when Justin and his girlfriend chat together on the phone. Finally, they near Cape Broyle. Saku and Justin can't believe the welcoming party gathered near the beach. A cheer goes up, they are home again with many ad adventure to share!

Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders

Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders
Author: Greg Malone
Publisher: Vintage Canada
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2014-01-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307401340

The true story, drawn from official documents and hours of personal interviews, of how Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation and became Canada's tenth province in 1949. A rich cast of characters--hailing from Britain, America, Canada and Newfoundland--battle it out for the prize of the resource-rich, financially solvent, militarily strategic island. The twists and turns are as dramatic as any spy novel and extremely surprising, since the "official" version of Newfoundland history has held for over fifty years almost without question. Don't Tell the Newfoundlanders will change all that.

This Marvellous Terrible Place

This Marvellous Terrible Place
Author: Yva Momatiuk
Publisher: Willowdale, Ont. : Firefly Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Newfoundland and Labrador
ISBN: 9781552092255

A touching tribute to Canada's tenth province, this book tells the story of a ruggedly beautiful landscape through the words of its people and the photographs of two exceptional photojournalists.

The Day the World Came to Town

The Day the World Came to Town
Author: Jim DeFede
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2011-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 0062103288

The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill. As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news. Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill.

The Newfoundland Dog

The Newfoundland Dog
Author: Robert Charles Parsons
Publisher:
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2012-01-27
Genre: Human-animal relationships
ISBN: 9781926881652

Robert C. Parsons, one of Newfoundland and Labrador's best-known authors, will delight readers with this brand new collection of more than 50 true stories involving one of nature's treasures: the noble Newfoundland dog. From the deck of the Titanic, to the sandbars of Sable Island, learn about the breed's intelligence and charisma as you read tales from around the world of rescue by land and sea, heartwarming stories of undying loyalty, and accounts of the Newfoundland dog risking its own life to save others. Known worldwide as being one of the most courageous, friendly, and protective breeds on earth, the Newfoundland dog has also become one of the most beloved. Dog lovers and story lovers alike will find this book, beautifully illustrated by Mel D'Souza, to be man's second-best friend!

Sweetland

Sweetland
Author: Michael Crummey
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2015-03-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1472115872

For twelve generations, the inhabitants of a remote island in Newfoundland have lived and died together. Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, they are facing resettlement. They have each been offered a generous compensation package to leave the island for good. There’s just one proviso: everyone must go. Gradually, all of the residents surrender to the inevitable. All of the residents, that is, but one: old Moses Sweetland. Motivated in part by a sense of history and belonging, and concerned that his somewhat eccentric great-nephew will wilt on the mainland, Moses resists the coercion of family and friends in order to hold onto the only place he’s ever called home. As his options dwindle, Moses Sweetland concocts a scheme to remain the island’s only living resident. Cut off from the outside world, with the food supply diminishing and weather shredding away the last evidence of human habitation, Sweetland finds himself, finally, in the company of ghosts . . . Written with incomparable emotional power and depth, Sweetland is a story about loyalty and courage, about the human will to persist even when all hope seems lost.

Making Witches

Making Witches
Author: Barbara Rieti
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0773533605

There is a little-known tradition of witch lore in Newfoundland culture. Those believed to have the power to influence the fortunes of others are not mythological characters but neighbours, relations, or even friends. Drawing from her own interviews and a wealth of material from the Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive, Barbara Rieti explores the range and depth of Newfoundland witch tradition, looking at why certain people acquired reputations as witches, and why others considered themselves bewitched. The tales that emerge - despite their seemingly fantastic elements of spells and black heart books, hags, and healing charms - concern everyday affairs and reveal the intense social interdependence central to outport life. Frequently featuring women, they provide fascinating new perspectives on female coping strategies in a volatile economy.By addressing the perennial human issues at the heart of witchcraft - construction of enmity and intertwined fate - these narrative accounts also illuminate older witch beliefs revealed in witchcraft trial documents. Making Witches shows that in storytelling communities with a rich legacy of witch lore, witch tradition has endured well into the twentieth century.

A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service

A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service
Author: Sarah Glassford
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2012-04-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0774822589

As the body of First World War literature continues to grow, women’s experiences of this period remain largely obscure.This innovative collection addresses the invisibility of women in this literature, particularly with regard to Canadian and Newfoundland history. Drawing upon a multidisciplinary spectrum of recent work – studies on mobilizing women, paid and volunteer employment at home and overseas, grief, childhood, family life, and literary representations ?– this book brings Canadian and Newfoundland women and girls into the history of the First World War and marks their place in the narrative of national transformation.

The Shipping News

The Shipping News
Author: Annie Proulx
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0743519809

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Annie Proulx’s The Shipping News is a vigorous, darkly comic, and at times magical portrait of the contemporary North American family. Quoyle, a third-rate newspaper hack, with a “head shaped like a crenshaw, no neck, reddish hair...features as bunched as kissed fingertips,” is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when his two-timing wife meets her just desserts. An aunt convinces Quoyle and his two emotionally disturbed daughters to return with her to the starkly beautiful coastal landscape of their ancestral home in Newfoundland. Here, on desolate Quoyle’s Point, in a house empty except for a few mementos of the family’s unsavory past, the battered members of three generations try to cobble up new lives. Newfoundland is a country of coast and cove where the mercury rarely rises above seventy degrees, the local culinary delicacy is cod cheeks, and it’s easier to travel by boat and snowmobile than on anything with wheels. In this harsh place of cruel storms, a collapsing fishery, and chronic unemployment, the aunt sets up as a yacht upholsterer in nearby Killick-Claw, and Quoyle finds a job reporting the shipping news for the local weekly, the Gammy Bird (a paper that specializes in sexual-abuse stories and grisly photos of car accidents). As the long winter closes its jaws of ice, each of the Quoyles confronts private demons, reels from catastrophe to minor triumph—in the company of the obsequious Mavis Bangs; Diddy Shovel the strongman; drowned Herald Prowse; cane-twirling Beety; Nutbeem, who steals foreign news from the radio; a demented cousin the aunt refuses to recognize; the much-zippered Alvin Yark; silent Wavey; and old Billy Pretty, with his bag of secrets. By the time of the spring storms Quoyle has learned how to gut cod, to escape from a pickle jar, and to tie a true lover’s knot.