What do Northtrop Frye, French dairy cows, and Historic Fort York have in common? They’re all part of Ward McBurney’s lyric and personal stories from CBC Radio’s Fresh Air, which are now available for the first time in print.Broadcasting live on Saturday mornings, with Jeff Goodes as host, Ward has been performing his own work for over four years. Sky Train collects 35 of his creative non-fiction pieces, in which Isaac Brock, steam trains, dream trains, Fred Astaire, star ...

American baker Leo arrives in Montmartre determined to make his New York-style bakery succeed, only to discover that Paris has little interest in being impressed by sugar and ambition. Across a narrow lightwell, florist Camille becomes his unlikely guide to the quieter language of the city—subtle flavors, seasonal beauty, and the art of letting things bloom in their own time. As their early-morning conversations grow into friendship and then something deeper, Leo must decide whether succes...

Selected from 15 years of radio-show archives and re-edited by the author, this onderfully eclectic essay collection gives a glimpse into the thoughtful mind at work behind The Vinyl Cafe. From meditations on peacekeeping to praise for the toothpick, The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks runs the gamut from considered argument to light-hearted opinion. Whether McLean is visiting a forgotten corner of the Canadian Shield, a big-city doughnut factory, or Sir John A. Macdonald's gravesite, his ob...

Ontario is rich in ghost towns, communities that were once thriving but which have been reduced to mere shadows of their former selves. Nine villages -- including silver camps, fishing ports, crossroads hamlets, and farming settlements -- come alive on the pages of this book. The term 'ghost town' invariably conjures up images of fog-shrouded cemeteries, buildings with sinister visages, and of course, restless spirits of the dead. While often this is merely our imagination at play, in some...

**PGWUncle John's taking the plunge . . . into the Great White North!RaincoastHey, Canada! Uncle John salutes you!**For 25 years, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader has been wildly popular in Canada, so we decided to dedicate an entire edition to our friends in the Great White North--even though much of the continental U.S. is north of Canada’s southernmost point. That misconception--and a whole lot more--is revealed in this loving ode to a friendly natio...

Canada is a country rich in stories, and few take as much joy as Douglas Gibson in discovering them. As one of the country’s leading editors and publishers for 40 years, he coaxed modern classics out of some of Canada’s finest minds, and then took to telling his own stories in his first memoir, Stories About Storytellers.Gibson turned his memoir into a one-man stage show that eventually played almost 100 times, in all ten provinces, from coast to coast. As a literary touri...

"Every year, he put on the red Santa suit. Every year, there were more sick and needy children to attend to. And every year, as word of his activity spread, Jimmy collected more money and gifts to distribute." This book will be especially fascinating for all readers interested in: history and human interest stories. Christmas is a time for celebrating with friends and family and for sharing stories, memories, and good cheer. This compilation brings to life the very best holiday stories fro...

Best known for his original series of Arthurian novels, A Dream of Eagles (called The Camulod Chronicles in the US), and his more recent Knights Templar trilogy, Jack Whyte has authored 10 international bestsellers in the past 15 years. Jack's imagination and his passion for observing human nature shine through in both his prose and his verse in this uniquely Canadian memoir. He delights in pointing out daily treasures of his chosen homeland that are taken for granted by non-immigrants. He...

On the morning of June 13, 1886, a rogue wind fanned the flames of a small clearing fire—and within five hours, the newly incorporated city of Vancouver, British Columbia, had been reduced to smoldering ash. Vancouver is Ashes: The Great Fire of 1886 is the first detailed exploration of what happened on that pivotal, yet seldom revisited day in the history of Canada’s third-largest city. Lisa Anne Smith tells the story with numerous archival photographs. She uses eye-witness accounts to de...

Ghost hunter Terry Boyle brings you this two-ebook bundle of the bestselling Haunted Ontario books, conjuring up an eerie treasury of paranormal locales. Join Terry as he investigates apparitions at the former Swastika Hotel in Muskoka, poltergeists in Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, and a whole village of spooks roaming the buildings of Black Creek Pioneer Village.With a list of addresses, phone numbers, and websites for each location, Terry Boyle invites all ghost enthus...

It’s the country that is respected across the globe. These days, everyone wants to be Canadian! And you’ll know why after you read these stories.Diversity. Whether it’s geography, language, climate, or culture, diversity is what Canada’s all about. This collection celebrates Canada’s rich history, its place in the world, and its multi-cultural traditions, sports, and outdoor lifestyle. Read about Canada Day celebrations, wilderness adventures, summer cottages, and ...

A writer returns to Nova Scotia, and finding it almost unrecognizable, sets out to capture the essence of his ancestral province--a place as strange and wild as anywhere on the continent.John DeMont visits places as diverse as a Buddhist abbey; the first free black settlement outside Africa; an island that harbours pirate treasure; and a backwoods barndance where the music of 18th-century Scotland lives on. He visits tuna smugglers and moonshiners; the brooding painter Alex Colvill...