Product Description
Illustrated text explores the history, geography, and culture of Newfoundland. ... Read more

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Beloved nature writer Robert Finch spent the greater part of a decade traveling around the island of Newfoundland, at "the edge of North America." In these evocative sketches, stories, and essays, he explores the people, geography, and wildlife of a remote and lovely, but often dangerously inhospitable place. Between the icy cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean, the lush valleys and barren drifts, he collects intimate stories of birds and moose and foxes--and of the people who share their space. He evokes a landscape of raw beauty in detailed essays that ebb and flow as we make the journey with him, straining to hear the waves. But while Newfoundland may be a place of unparalleled beauty, its citizens face serious economic hardships, with the fishing industry withered and very little industry to replace it.

Finch often steps aside, allowing the Newfoundlanders' to tell their stories in their own voices, and allows us to hear the cadence and movement of individuals and their tales. A wide array of characters--fishermen, hunters, and hitchhikers, newcomers and oldtimers--bring to life an island tucked between provinces, languages, and cultures,a land of ancient hardship and stirring beauty. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not just another travelogue
This is a very different book from Robert Finch. Unlike his previous collections of essays (Common Ground, The Primal Place, Outlands, etc.), which fall more under the "nature writing" category, "The Iambics of Newfoundland" is more tilted toward describing the people and culture of Newfoundland. To be sure, Robert Finch never made an artificial dividing line between "nature" and "human" in his other books and essays; he has always said that the landscape (of Cape Cod, which is most his other essays are based on) is a living landscape, changed and shaped by natural and human forces (I paraphrase). Nevertheless, if other books are 90% nature writing, this book probably has just 10%, so it reads more like a travelogue. Yet it distinguishes itself from other travelogues because although Finch humbly labeled himself as an "outsider" of this "unknown shore", he really has lived in Newfoundland for extended periods of time, and as always, his ability to observe and write about the details of the human lives and natural environment gives these essays tapestries of nuances, his descriptions of the accents and dialects of the local people are especially vivid and funny.

I am very pleasantly surprised by this book because almost all other books by Robert Finch are about Cape Cod, which is all good, and it will take one a lifetime to really know a place. On the other hand, I have always wished he would venture to other places and write about them. Now, how about the Appalachia where you are originally from, Mr. Finch? I am sure you can do it.

Back unto the book, the essays are mostly short ones about the local people and culture, but there are three pieces about a sailing trip from Cape Cod to Newfoundland, a caribou hunting trip and a snow crabbing trip, which give this collection some varied pace. The "nature" pieces are relatively few, but where they are, they are vividly detailed and written with clarity, as all other Finch essays. Some even have an ethereal quality (such as the one about jellyfish).

Whether you want to know about the people and culture of Newfoundland, or just want to read a good travel book or some masterfully written essays, you should read The Iambics of Newfoundland. You will feel the rising and ebbing of the tide, the gentle rolling of the ocean and the undulating tundra.

A good view from "The Rock"
Robert Finch's "The Iambics of Newfoundland" reconnected myself to my own experiences as a visitor to Newfoundland's shores.Having been "from away" Robert's book helped put into words the same generosity and concerns Newfoundlanders exhibited during my time on "The Rock".
My definition of a typical Newfie had always been a person that helps though you didn't ask, does more than what you expect and then apologies because they felt they hadn't helped you enough.His book helps show what a truly wonderful community these people are and explains precisely how, after hundreds of years of hardship and uncertainty these families have endured, adapted but mostly kept that keen sense of humour and respect for their surroundings. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the remarkable story of a remote Newfoundland village and its evolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Great Book !
As far back as I can remember, I wanted to go fly fishing on the La Poile with Dad. He made me wait until I was "old enough" at age 13 before I could go. Finally, after so many stories and pictures that I had grown up with, I witnessed first-hand what all the fuss was really about. Only those who have been can truly understand the stunning beauty of Newfoundland, the serenity of the La Poile River, and the kindness of the locals.

Here I am, 10 years later, and I leave for La Poile and North Bay in 2 days for a week of fishing with my dad. I am re-reading this wonderful book in preperation for my trip, and realize how lucky I am to have such an in-depth look at the history of a place that I love so much. It truly is a page turner to the end, and it is very apparent how much research and attention to detail went into it's pages.

I was only 2 years old when my grandfather, Duncan, passed away but I can imagine that he would have recommended this book to everyone close to him.

- Luke Smith

Life was so difficult a 100 years ago in Newfoundland.
I picked up this book not knowing anything about Newfoundland, or the life people led a hundred years ago especially ship builders.I found myself unable to put it down as I read how they endured the hardships, raisedfamilies and nothing seemed to stop them.Itinspired me to realize thatwe came from such strength and how the human spirit carries usthroughlife.We may have it easy by comparison but this book amazed me andreminded me that we also have that potential within us too. At least I'dlike to think so.It is inspirational and educational. ... Read more

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A ten-year-old girl from New York City learns about the traditional fishermen's way of life when she spends the summer in the remote Newfoundland fishing village of Salvage. ... Read more

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The eighty stories in Between Sea and Sky tell of courage, hardship, self-sacrifice, misadventure and good luck. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, published by Performing Arts and Entertainment in Canada on September 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1727 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Behind a winter door: it's serious business when the mummers come a-knocking. (Masquerade).
Author: Gordon Jones
Publication: Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2002
Publisher: Performing Arts and Entertainment in Canada
Volume: 34Issue: 1Page: 29(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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The Labrador interior has long held the well-deserved reputation of being one of the most inhospitable places on earth. It is a patchwork of Canadian Shield granites and sphagnum moss, labyrinthine caribou trails and desolate subarctic barrens, all set against glacier-scoured hills stretching to an apparently limitless horizon.

In the late spring of 1903, Leonidas Hubbard, a young writer, and Dillon Wallace, a forty-year-old New York attorney, set off with George Elson, a native guide with no firsthand knowledge of their destination, to explore the incompletely mapped Lake Michikamau region of interior Labrador. Beset by delays, the men paddle past their intended route, the Naskaupi River, and head up the horrible Susan River instead. When in early September they finally glimpse the vast waters of Michikamau from the top of an unknown mountain, Labrador's cold winds had begun. With scant scraps of food remaining, the three begin a desperate struggle against starvation and the rapidly approaching and unforgiving winter as they race home for their lives.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

"Great Heart" is the ultimate tale of this adventure
I am an adventure traveler and canoeist, and an avid reader of adventure writing.This story was told best, last and forever in the book, "Great Heart:The History of a Labrador Adventure."It is written by experienced canoeists and guides James West Davidson and John Rugge.These talented authors create atmosphere, characterization and drama that is unforgettable.I have returned to the book many times.If the story of the Labrador adventure intrigues you, I implore you to read "Great Heart."

Every canoeist, from novice to expert, should also own their other book, "The Complete Wilderness Paddler."The authors use the story of a wild and wooly trip down the Class IV-V Moisie River in Canada as a way to teach everything from how to plan a trip to how to survive the torture of black flies.It is hilarious, brilliant, insightful, genius!You can read it over and over and learn new things about canoe camping.Even if you'd never set a paddle in a river, you'll love the graceful writing of Davidson and Rugge.

Where the heck are they?
A wonderful book, very readable and absorbing.The strength and courage of these three men is inspiring and can only be imagined.E.g., making a 40 mile portage, half starving, carrying a canoe and several hundred pounds of supplies and equipment, or having to wade across a river (up to their armpits) that was encrusted with ice along its banks and having their now-wet clothes start to freeze on their bodies while they try to build a fire.However, the 3-star rating is not because of the writing or the adventure:this version (Lyon Press, 2004) has no maps and no photos.Photos would have added another dimension to understanding the spartan hardships of such an adventure, not to mention conveying the author's meanings of barren, difficult, or heart-breaking - all of which I thought were understated.And oddly enough, these photos are readily available - a google search will locate many, and the Canadian Virtual Museum has 67.The photos along with the text would have added substantial impact to the question, "How could they have endured this?"

But the lack of a map is intolerable.Maps are referenced half a dozen times by Wallace in the first half a dozen pages: their inaccuracies, their incompleteness, and the details his map now provides.Since a major navigational failing of the expedition is due to an inaccurate map from the Canadian Geological Survey (circa 1896 - and also available online via the CGS website), its absence is unforgivable.Another CGS map that got Hubbard so excited because "Unexplored Territory" was written across northern Labrador is another "must have" exhibit.Without a map, the reader has no idea where these men started, where they wanted to go, where they got lost or how they returned, or can understand the sad realization that a dream predicted an accurate route to safety but was ignored.

I spent more time online looking up maps of Labrador, trying to find the various missteps of the explorers (e.g., the Nascaupee, Susan, and Beaver Rivers) than I did reading the book.If you don't want to get lost reading this incredible adventure, then buy a version of this book that contains maps.I found this version of the book very frustrating.

A truly sincere classic
I couldn't put this book down once I started and really enjoyed the read. It has a place on my shelf of classics and just a very real story that is captured extremely well in words.

And I thought the Boundary Waters was tough
I'm ordering a second copy to give to my fellow canoers who head for the boundary waters canoe area wilderness. We travel with up to date equipment and maps. The fellows in this book "winged" it with what was then state-of-the-art gear. This book is a great contrast between wilderness canoe travel from this century to the last century.
The account is truly chilling at times. You are tempted to exclaim "these guys must have been nuts!!" But their journey was truly an adventure. Few of us would have the stones to attempt this today.
If you do any form of wilderness trekking or canoeing, you will really like this book.

Lure ofthe Labrador Wild
Dissappointed that this edition did not have the pictures or maps of earlier edition(s?). I returned it and will search old book sellers for an earlier, and more COMPLETE, edition. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Revue parlementaire canadienne, published by Canadian Parliamentary Review on June 22, 1999. The length of the article is 3114 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Rencontre avec le loup: points de vue sur le 50e anniversaire de l'entree de Terre-Neuve dans la Confederation.
Author: Gary Levy
Publication: Revue parlementaire canadienne (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1999
Publisher: Canadian Parliamentary Review
Volume: 22Issue: 2Page: 24-7

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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In February 1934, a financial emergency created by the Great Depression forced the suspension of self-government in Newfoundland. Britain guaranteed Newfoundland's debt and appointed a Commission of Government. Among the first members named to the new government was Sir John Hope Simpson, whose portfolio included responsibility for fishing, forestry, mining, and agriculture. This book is a selection from the many letters written from Newfoundland to family members in England by Sir John and Lady Hope Simpson (familiarly known as Quita). It recalls in vivid detail the terrible decade of the 1930s. The reader relives the era through the eyes of a couple who had a unique and informed perspective on events in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Sir John Hope Simpson was a man of wide international experience and exceptional administrative ability. His correspondence is candid and direct - that of an insider. Quita's letters reveal a perceptive and inquisitive nature and a pervading social concern.Both write about their progressive, even utopian, ideas. They travelled extensively in the country,met a wide range of people, and recorded their experiences in letters that capture the essence of the time.

Peter Neary's edition is based on the collection of Hope Simpson papers at Balliol College, Oxford. His selection from the Newfoundland correspondence is complemented in the book by maps and photographs. Neary's introduction lays the groundwork for an understanding of the letters and the milieu of the Hope Simpsons. ... Read more

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Wilfred Grenfell was sent to Newfoundland in 1892 to improve the plight of coastal inhabitants and fishermen. The initial Grenfell text, Vikings of To-day, is intended to summarize three years among the residents of Labrador. These three years would lead to a lifetime spent in aid and passionate defense of the Labradorians. Beginning with descriptions of the environment, Grenfell sees the hardships and ingeniousness with which these people live off the land and maintain an indomitable spirit. ... Read more

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You don’t have to come from Newfoundland to appreciate it as a unique and wonderful place – the first land to see the break of day in North America. The sentiments in Ode to Newfoundland reflect the peoples’ relationship with the sea, the weather, and the rugged terrain. Written by Sir Cavendish Boyle, governor of Newfoundland from 1901 to 1904, and set to music composed by Sir C. Hubert H. Parry, Ode to Newfoundland is a tribute to a small land with an enormous heart.

In this new book, Newfoundland-born Geoff Butler has set this well-loved anthem to joyous paintings, and provides readers with intriguing facts about the province: did you know, for example, that according to the Flat Earth Society, Brimstone Head on Fogo Island, is one of the four corners of the earth?

With the Ode’s full text and music, and with extensive notes about Newfoundland, this informative book is one to treasure by everyone who has been touched by the magic of The Rock. ... Read more

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"For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed."

When thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of United States airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than six thousand displaced travelers.

Roxanne and Clarke Loper were excited to be on their way home from a lengthy and exhausting trip to Kazakhstan, where they had adopted a daughter, when their plane suddenly changed course and they found themselves in Newfoundland. Hannah and Dennis O'Rourke, who had been on vacation in Ireland, were forced to receive updates by telephone on the search for their son Kevin, who was among the firefighters missing at the World Trade Center. George Vitale, a New York state trooper and head of the governor's security detail in New York City who was returning from a trip to Dublin, struggled to locate his sister Patty, who worked in the Twin Towers. A family of Russian immigrants, on their way to the Seattle area to begin a new life, dealt with the uncertainty of conditions in their future home.

The people of Gander were asked to aid and care for these distraught travelers, as well as for thousands more, and their response was truly extraordinary. Oz Fudge, the town constable, searched all over Gander for a flight-crew member so that he could give her a hug as a favor to her sister, a fellow law enforcement officer who managed to reach him by phone. Eithne Smith, an elementary-school teacher, helped the passengers staying at her school put together letters to family members all over the world, which she then faxed. Bonnie Harris, Vi Tucker, and Linda Humby, members of a local animal protection agency, crawled into the jets' cargo holds to feed and care for all of the animals on the flights. Hundreds of people put their names on a list to take passengers into their homes and give them a chance to get cleaned up and relax.

The Day the World Came to Town is a positively heartwarming account of the citizens of Gander and its surrounding communities and the unexpected guests who were welcomed with exemplary kindness.

Customer Reviews (69)

Wonderfully told behind the scenes story
This book is a wonderful tribute to the many people of the Town of Gander in Newfoundland.It is very well written and is a glimpse of what people not in NYC, DC or PA experienced on that day.

I didn't know such kindness existed in today's world.
In this brief review, I can't begin to describe the many ways Newfoundland's residents treated the "plane people" as if they were family members.But I assure you that they did just that.

This book had a greater and greater impact on me as I read of more and more acts of thoughtfulness by the Newfies.Gander and surrounding villages treated people from all over the world who stayed there when U.S. airspace was closed with kindness beyond comprehension -- even respecting cultural differences and religious requirements far different from their own.

Before I picked up this book, I couldn't have imagined wanting to read anything more about 9/11.It was all just too depressing.Au contraire!This is one heartwarming book!

Loved it...
I found this book a great read. I don't know if it was because I was so "close" to the local characters written about; but I felt the author painted a very good image of those historical days and what happened in Gander. I got so entrenched in this book; I actually caught myself reading it in my eastern Canadian, maritime dialect.

This book could be a good history/social studies lesson for a school/teacher to give (include some music from Newfoundland artists to really create a mood).

I'm originally from Nova Scotia and have spent a significant amount of time in Newfoundland. In particular, due to my profession, I was/am very familiar with the airports in Halifax, NS & Gander, NL. This really added to my interest in this book.

Feel Good Anecdotes
If I started reading a book about 9/11 and a few pages into it found that an American General, a CEO of an international clothing conglomerate, several members of the board of a wealthy charity, an NYPD detective and parents of a firefighter who is lost in the World Trade Center were stuck in a small Canadian town in the middle of Newfoundland (not to mention a long-lost native son) I would have put the book away with a chuckle and started a new one.

Nevertheless, this is not fiction and the events really happen.

Even though I really liked the book, and even recommended it to my beloved wife, there are several glaring omissions.

First and foremost for me: there is no map.
The author goes to great length to describe the geographical region as well as the Gander's street layout (which is supposed to be shaped like the head of a moose) - yet...no map?
I find this to be unbelievable.

Second, the writing seems more like a collection of articles than a finished book. That's fine and it didn't bother me that much but I thought I should mention it.

Third, it would be nice to have appendices with a chart of the flights, departure, landings at Gander International Airport, etc.

Fourth, I would have liked to see more pictures. Again, this does not take away from the book but would have been a nice addition. There are several pictures in the book but they are small and grainy (much like...a newspaper article).

Fifth, where is the tourist info for Newfoundland? Come on guys, capitalize on this book. I've been to your area (but not Gander), it is a beautiful, gorgeous part of the world and true to the book - some of the nicest people in the world live there.

However, I still this book high marks because I did thoroughly enjoyed it since it is about the people of Newfoundland and not about the big events happening around them. The only part which took away my personal enjoyment was the first bullet point I mentioned (and yes, I did google the town and found the map but I still can't "see" the moose head layout).

The day the world came to town
Having recently watched a "Made for TV" movie based on the true events contained in this book I was anxious to read the facts about the way the good folk of Gander, Newfoundland rallied round & accomodated, fed & entertained an influx of 6,600 air travellers aboard 39 planes which had been diverted to their town due to American airspace being shut down on 9/11.
I was not disappointed !
Jim Defede, the writer, presents a very well written account of the 4 days that the world came to Gander & chronicals both the huge logistical operation and the emotional experiences for both passengers and townsfolk.
Many friendships were formed over those 4 days which exist to the present day, and I cannott commend the town of Gander enough for the humble, caring way they held out the hand of genuine friendship to complete strangers.
This is a " must read" book. ... Read more

Product Description
Illustrated. Formatted for the Kindle. Linked Contents.

CONTENTS
I. Early Days
II. School Life
III. Early Work in London
IV. At the London Hospital
V. North Sea Work
VI. The Lure of the Labrador
VII. The People of Labrador
VIII. Lecturing and Cruising
IX. The Seal Fishery
X. Three Years' Work in the British Isles
XI. First Winter at St. Anthony
XII. The Coöperative Movement
XIII. The Mill and the Fox Farm
XIV. The Children's Home
XV. Problems of Education
XVI. "Who hath desired the Sea?"
XVII. The Reindeer Experiment
XVIII. The Ice-Pan Adventure
XIX. They that do Business in Great Waters
XX. Marriage
XXI. New Ventures
XXII. Problems on Land and Sea
XXIII. A Month's Holiday in Asia Minor
XXIV. The War
XXV. Forward Steps
XXVI. The Future of the Mission
XXVII. My Religious Life

Excerpt from Preface:
Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland, have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1957, Farley Mowat shipped out aboard one of Newfoundland’s famous coastal steamers, tramping from outport to outport along the southwest coast. The indomitable spirit of the people and the bleak beauty of the landscape would lure him back again and again over theyears. In the process of falling in love with a people and a place, Mowat also met the woman who would be the great love of his life.

A stunningly beautiful and talented young artist, Claire Wheeler insouciantly climbed aboard Farley’s beloved but jinxed schooner as it lay on the St. Pierre docks, once again in a cradle for repairs, and changed both their lives forever. This is the story of that love affair, of summers spent sailing the Newfoundland coast, and of their decision to start their life together in Burgeo, one of the province’s last remaining outports. It is also an unforgettable portrait of the last of the outport people and a way of life that had survived for centuries but was now passing forever.

Affectionate, unsentimental, this is a burnished gem from an undiminished talent.

I was inside my vessel painting the cabin when I heard the sounds of a scuffle nearby. I poked my head out the companionway in time to see a lithesome young woman swarming up the ladder which leaned against Happy Adventure’s flank. Whining expectantly, the shipyard dog was endeavouring to follow this attractive stranger. I could see why. As slim and graceful as a ballet dancer (which, I would later learn, was one of her avocations), she appeared to be wearing a gleaming golden helmet (her own smoothly bobbed head of hair) and was as radiantly lovely as any Saxon goddess. I invited her aboard, while pushing the dog down the ladder.

“That’s only Blanche,” I reassured my visitor. “He won’t bite. He’s just, uh . . . being friendly.”

“That’s nice to know,” she said sweetly. Then she smiled . . . and I was lost.
–From Bay of Spirits


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A book with interesting parts but lacking in integrity
Farley Mowat writes well and his material is usually interesting. I don't like his mix of the personal and the "antropologic" in this tale of adultery. I found it disingenuous that on page 79 (hardcover edition) he reveals:"Claire had to return to Toronto and her job. I was a married man...."Then a few pages later, he gives Claire's response to his phone call:"I never expected to hear your voice once we were back in Ontario. I ... was sure it could never be more than a summer romance ... when you were a man with two small children."Well, eventually they found a way. When Mowat's wife refused him a divorce, he and Claire decided tocall themselves man and wife and live "common law." It's ironic that in the chapter entitled "Seduction," Mowat tells how he reported a large suspicious vessel that refused to identify itself to the Canadian authorities, who obligingly sent a bomber to check out the vessel-- which still refused to reply--and then got the US Navy to send a destroyer to stop the vessel. The ship was the yacht of an otherwise low-profile millionaire who had skipped the paperwork and sailed into Canadian waters to do some illegal salmon fishing. Mowat waxes over the millionaire's "arrogance" in not following the legalities; Mowat makes disparaging comments on the yacht's release and accusingly mentions the great wealth of the yacht's owner as the deciding factor. Mowat's indignationis comical and ironic here. Was the yacht owner so different from Mowat, who ignored the paperwork that would make his "marriage" to Claire legal? And Mowat doesn'tcondemn another ship's official who refused to let him and Claire share a cabin because they didn't have a marriage license, but reversed himself when Mowat announced he wanted their fares refunded. So it was okay when money talked for "the Mowats," but not okay when it talked for the yacht owner. As another reviewer mentioned, this double standard casts a pall on the story--not to mention Mowat's integrity. This is a book that Mowat couldn't have written at the time the events were happening--too much social disapproval then. Nor do I think he would have included the oft-repeated swear word "she-c..t," which even today is very rarely seen in print.

A "natural" love story
Farley Mowat writes a moving story about how he met his wife Claire by accident while trying to escape a vicious dog, and, in doing so, also "kills two birds with one stone" by portraying the colorful, insular people of Newfoundland in the 1950's as well as the inhabitants of the almost unheard of French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic off the coast of St. John, NF. I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy learning about new places and people, and at the same time would want to curl up witha well-written love story.

A tale of two loves...but you'll want more of both.
This is the tale of two love stories -- one covered extensively, one almost glossed over by books' end.

Farley Mowat came to Newfoundland in the early 1960s and fell in love, both with the land and its people, and with a young artist named Claire Wheeler.It's the former that Mowat dwells upon the most in this book, and as a reader I left frustrated because we learn so comparatively little about Claire and about their life together.It takes 1/3 of the book for Mowat to reveal that he was married when he met Claire, and that the the tug of his family -- including two sons -- delayed his eventual divorce.His former family is dismissed in a paragraph.

Having faced the music, Mowat settles down with Claire aboard his famously unseaworthy boat, "Happy Adventure", the star the classic "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float." Readers of "The Boat" will be startled by anecdotes, names and dates changing from one book to another.It gives creedence to the charge leveled against Mowat that he never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.

Ultimately this lovely book covers a period of but seven years, and ends just after Mowat's futile attempt to stop the people of his adopted home of Burgeo from killing a whale that has become trapped in a tidal pond.The whale died, the locals were savaged by the press, and the Mowats decided it was time to leave Burgeo and venture in Happy Adventure to Expo 67 (a voyage that nearly ended many times, if "The Boat" is to be believed.)

This is a wonderful book but I wanted more -- what happened to Happy Adventure?What happened to Mowat's sons?Where did they settle after the Expo trip?Much has happened between 1967 and now! -- I hope to hear more about the Mowat's voyages though these most interesting times.

Storm-tossed and falling in love - with a place and a woman
Farley Mowat's notion of an idyllic day's sail more often than not involves heavy seas in shallow, rocky waters, accompanied by gale force winds, pelting rain and/or pea-soup fog, in a leaky boat with engine issues.

Therefore armchair adventurers will enjoy this memoir of Mowat's 1960s love affair with "a special woman and a special world" as much as romantic sorts looking for travel among the bygone fishing villages of Newfoundland.

Readers familiar with Mowat, however, will know there must be bitter with the sweet. The Newfie fishing communities, fiercely independent and attached to their way of life like limpets to a rock, were in serious decline by the 1960s. The teeming schools of fish had disappeared under the relentless onslaught of the big fishing operations and the government wanted to resettle the fishermen in factory towns, bringing Newfoundland (which had only joined Canada in 1949) squarely into the 20th century.

The book opens with Mowat's harrowing and exhilarating trip aboard a 200-foot coastal steamer, one of six (now gone), which took freight and passengers to the outposts of Newfoundland, their main contact with the world.

"Newfoundland is of the sea. A mighty granite stopper thrust into the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its coasts present more than five thousand miles of rocky headlands, bays, capes, and fiords to the sweep of the Atlantic. Everywhere hidden reefs, which are called, with dreadful explicitness, sunkers, wait to rip open the bellies of unwary vessels."

Though Mowat saw little of the coast, due to foul weather and impenetrable fog, he was hooked. He bought a fish-slimed schooner, renamed it Happy Adventure and arranged to have it refitted for cruising.

But, flying in to reclaim his refurbished boat, he makes a dismaying discovery. "My wishes had conflicted with centuries of tradition, which dictated that space allotted to people aboard a boat must be kept to the irreducible minimum so as to leave as much room as possible for fish."

Then, on its maiden voyage the boat sprung a leak, a serious leak. The bilge pump jammed, the fog rolled in, water engulfed the engine and they (Mowat and his friend and longtime publisher, Jack McClelland) luckily ran aground. Next trip out they realized they should have had the compass adjusted while fixing the leak.

It was while working on Happy Adventure that Mowat met Claire Wheeler, a Toronto artist. It was love at first sight, but after several mostly idyllic (including the requisite sprinkle of sudden storms, engine troubles and fog) the pair go their separate ways. Mowat was already married, with two small children, a fact he had previously failed to mention to the reader and which naturally casts a bit of a pall.

Though Mowat makes no excuses, his friends and family - and hers too - seem remarkably enthusiastic about the romance. Either his first marriage was something awful, which does not seem the case, or his memory has reshaped itself. Eventually Mowat tells his wife and goes off with Claire.

They take up residence in Burgeo, Newfoundland, and continue spending summers sailing the coast and meeting its people. While a few communities are insular and suspicious, most are immediately hospitable, inviting the couple into their homes for meals, drink, stories and, when called for, a bed.

Arriving in Francois (Fransway) during a Force 7 gale, he and Claire are taken in by a friend who fed them rabbit soup and roast caribou. Mowat then "learned that it would be necessary for Les to take us to visit every single one of the family connections to show he and Carol weren't trying to hoard us. Visitors had to be shared, just like everything else in an outpost."

The anecdotes and tall tales Mowat collects form an endlessly fascinating portrait of people's work lives, bravery, quirks, superstitions, and customs. These are seamlessly complemented by historical research and interviews, documenting the long and inexorable decline of a proud, hardscrabble way of life. There is regret and sadness, but no self-pity among the Newfies.

Mowat has written more than 40 books, mostly about the people, places, creatures and history of a rapidly disappearing natural world. While this book meanders more than some, his customary passion, humor and eloquence draw the reader into his world.

But it's a world in which he remains an outsider. He is reminded of this from time to time, but the senseless killing of a lone whale (documented in "A Whale for the Killing") stranded in a nearby lake, ends the book and the Mowats' happy sojourn in Burgeo. Though many disapproved of the louts who slaughtered the whale for sport, more disapproved of Mowats' actions in bringing the press down upon them.

A postscript lists other Mowat Newfoundland books, including "This Rock Within the Sea" "Sea of Slaughter," and "The Farfarers." "The Boat Who Wouldn't Float" describes his restoration of the Happy Adventure. ... Read more