1892
Butler, Paul | Flanker Press
In 1892, critically acclaimed novelist Paul Butler plunges the reader into 19th century St. John’s, its light and its shade . . . An obscure servant, Kathleen, yearns for her home in Ireland. A mysterious scientist, Dr. Glenwood, believes he can be the first to bring a new photographic discovery to the world. A stable hand, Tommy Fitzpatrick, battles inner demons as he tries to win Kathleen’s heart. These collective struggles will soon erupt to change the fate of an entire city. Long listed for the 2009 ReLit Awards
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According to Doyle
Doyle, Norman | Flanker Press
Before he walked onto the political stage, Norman Doyle grew up in Avondale, Conception Bay, in a family of nine children. He followed in his father’s footsteps and made his way to New York City, where he found employment as an ironworker on the site of the World Trade Center. Later, he returned home, where his political aspirations took root. Inspired by the fiery speeches of Brian Peckford, and with the encouragement of the local ironworkers, Norman threw his hat in the ring and was elected to the House of Assembly in 1979. "Norm,” as he is affectionately known in his home province, left provincial politics in 1993 and later joined the House of Commons when he was elected as the Member of Parliament for St. John’s East in 1997. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2012, the latest of many achievements in a long and illustrious political career. During his years on Confederation Hill (St. John’s) and Parliament Hill (Ottawa), Norm worked alongside other political heavyweights in the Progressive Conservative Party, and later the Conservative Party of Canada: Brian Peckford, Gerry Ottenheimer, Bill Marshall, Danny Williams, Loyola Hearn, Peter MacKay, Joe Clark, Jean Charest, and Stephen Harper. In According to Doyle, Senator Norman Doyle gives us a front-row seat to some of the greatest political battles ever fought for province and country—some which pitted Newfoundland and Labrador against Canada and put him in the difficult position of having to serve two masters at the same time.
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Norman entered federal politics in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for St. John’s East. During his twelve years in the House of Commons, he served as the Progressive Conservative Party whip, chair of the national caucus for both the PC Party and Conservative Party, and also chair of the national Immigration committee. He was also elected four times at the federal level, racking up eight back-to-back wins in both federal and provincial politics.
Norman Doyle was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2012. He is a member of the Internal Economy Budget and Administration Committee and the Transport and Communications Committee.
He currently resides in St. John’s and is married to Isabelle (née Hannifan). They have two sons, Deon (Denise) and Randy (Joy), and two grandsons, Thomas Randell and William Norman.
The Forbidden Dreams of Betsy Elliott
Parsons, Carolyn R. | Flanker Press
Betsy Elliott is a match for the cold northeast winds that rattle windows and carry Newfoundland sailors away to their deaths. Forced into service after her father’s death, married at eighteen to a much older man, she’s become as hard as the rocks that line the shores of her island home. Talented, brilliant, and hard-working, she will do anything to make things go her way in the life she’s been forced to live.
One November day in 1933, Edmund Taylor stumbles into their lives when he is invited by John Elliott to board with them to write a book on the Commission of Government and finish his final papers for his graduation from Harvard Law School. During the harshest winter in decades, disaster and despair rock the Elliott home and their entire community, and events lead Edmund, overcome with guilt, to want to flee. In love with the formidable Betsy, he invites her to run away with him to Boston.
Should Betsy stay in a place where children die of curable diseases and life has a deadening sameness, or go to Boston, the city of her dreams, where adventure and opportunity await? Betsy must choose between duty and the dreams she thought were impossible. But time is running out. Edmund will leave as soon as navigation opens up. Will Betsy be on the boat with him, or will she stay, chained forever to the life she thought she was destined to live?
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She penned a regular community column entitled “Connections,” a biweekly arts feature, “In Conversation,” and wrote general news for the Pilot. Today she writes a weekly column, “Art & Soul,” for the Central Voice and co-hosts an online radio program, Bridges. A founding director of Literary Events NL, she also serves as the current Central/Burin representative for the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL).
Carolyn is married to Kent Chaffey, also a Change Islander, and they have four daughters and three grandchildren. In the past decade, she has written a poetry collection, two novels, and a book of short stories. The Forbidden Dreams of Betsy Elliott is her debut novel with Flanker Press.
The Killdevil Lodge Experience in Gros Morne National Park
Payne, Stewart | Flanker Press
The year 2019 marks the sixtieth anniversary of Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre, situated in the scenic Bonne Bay area of Lomond, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Gros Morne National Park.
The twofold purpose of this book is to tell when and how the site was acquired in 1959 by the Diocese of Newfoundland and developed over those sixty years, and to share the first-hand experiences of people, particularly campers and staff, who have spent time at Killdevil. More than thirty people have contributed stories of their experiences. Some of them pay tribute to volunteers who gave many years of service directing the church camps and to making Killdevil what it is today.
Everyone who passes through the gate at Killdevil is a visitor to Gros Morne National Park, an important site to Parks Canada. This book shows through personal anecdotes, historical narrative, and photos the Killdevil Lodge experience from its beginnings to present day.
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Stewart began performing as a choir member and lay reader for the Anglican Church early in his teaching career. The seed was planted, and in 1952 he returned to St. John’s to study theology at Queen’s College. In 1956, Bishop J. A. Meaden sent Stewart to Happy Valley–Goose Bay as a student minister. His experiences in Labrador during the summer of 1956 assured him that his future was in pastoral ministry.
He graduated from Queen’s College and was ordained as a deacon in 1957 and a priest in 1958. Stewart returned to Happy Valley–Goose Bay and worked as a minister there for eight years, covering the areas of Rigolet, North West River, and Mud Lake. In 1962, Stewart married Selma Carlson Penney of St. Anthony, and they started a family in Happy Valley while Stewart continued his work there.
In 1965, Stewart and his young family moved from Labrador to Bay Roberts, Conception Bay, where Stewart took over as the new rector at the parish. He worked there until 1970, when he and his family left to serve in St. Anthony on the Great Northern Peninsula. In 1978, Stewart was ordained as bishop of the Diocese of Western Newfoundland. He and Selma moved to Corner Brook, to the See City of the Diocese of Western Newfoundland.
While living in Corner Brook, Stewart Payne was elected and installed as metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, and therefore also became archbishop of Western Newfoundland, a position he held from 1990 to 1997, when he retired. Today Stewart makes his home in Corner Brook.
Grandpa Pike's Number Two
Pike, Grandpa | Flanker Press
He’s baaaack!
The bestselling author of Grandpa Pike’s Outhouse Reader is back with a whole slew of new tales, rants, annoyances, and opinions—delivered with his unique brand of humour. Many readers have asked, “Will Grandpa do his Number Two?” He has. Here it is. You’ll want to read and reread this book. It’s funny, inspirational, and often thought-provoking.
Grandpa Pike is a natural-born storyteller who can make the seemingly mundane magical and meaningful. Few writers can reach way down and pull so much up out of their own experiences and make you feel them. Take this book home. Take it to heart.
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The Promise
Young, Ida Linehan | Flanker Press
North Harbour, Newfoundland, 1894 Orphaned at a young age, Erith Lock has a cruel upbringing at the hands of a harsh stepmother. At the tender age of sixteen, a ruthless act leaves her shattered and struggling for survival. When all she has is her word, she makes a solemn vow to three small children. But circumstances drastically change, and the promise could take years to fulfill. She fears it might be better broken. When her past must be confronted, Erith finds herself facing unbearable choices that might cost her everything. Enduring self-doubt pushes Erith to her breaking point. Will she allow hope and kindness to guide her, or will it be safer to remain captive in the grip of her unfortunate past?
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Mother of the Regiment and Other Remarkable Women of Newfoundland and Labrador
Browne, Susan Chalker | Flanker Press
An advocate for veterans, a photographer, a writer, a suffragist, an opera singer. Five remarkable women who pushed boundaries and made a difference at the turn of the twentieth century. But history then was about men, and no one wrote about these women. Their stories faded from memory and then disappeared for decades. Here now are those stories.
May Furlong — Advocate for Veterans
Elsie Holloway — Photographer
Lydia Campbell — Writer
Armine Gosling — Suffragist
Georgina Stirling — Opera Singer
Five biographies detailing the ambition, intelligence, compassion, and grit they all shared. The obstacles they overcame, the tragedies they endured, the incredible success they achieved. Discover how May Furlong, Elsie Holloway, Lydia Campbell, Armine Gosling, and Georgina Stirling pressed against the social norms of a century ago and helped change life and attitudes in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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Unveiled
Morgan, Carolyn | Flanker Press
The Louvre has the Mona Lisa.
Canada has the Veiled Virgin.
In the twenty-first century, Rebecca Howell is transfixed by the beauty of Giovanni Strazza’s masterpiece the Veiled Virgin. The sculpture was created in Italy in the mid-1800s but is housed at the Presentation Convent in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Its existence is one of the best-kept secrets in North America. Rebecca can’t help but wonder why in 1856 the Italian artist allowed such a brilliant example of his work to come to this remote island.
She discovers that although the work is signed by Strazza, it is not listed with his other sculptures, and there are no existing documents for the sale of the work. Rebecca travels to Italy to solve the mystery. Her research on Strazza and the Veiled Virgin will be the subject for her doctoral degree in art history.
Rebecca’s search is a labour of love as it takes her across the majestic cities and countrysides of Italy—from Milan to Rome, from Florence to Vinci, and finally to Piedmont, where her answers await. Her journey becomes one of self-discovery as the Newfoundland-Italy connection deepens and the mystery about the model who posed for Giovanni Strazza unfolds . . . along with the legacy she left.
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The Sign on My Father's House
Moore, Tom | Flanker Press
"Felix, you are a dreamer. I used to be, too, but there’s no payoff in it.”
Felix Ryan, from Curlew, Conception Bay, has been in love with the enigmatic Ellen Monteau ever since the day he met her in school at Smallwood High. Friends and family try to warn him that she is nothing but trouble, but she is Helen of Troy and he longs to be her King Menelaus . . . or Prince Paris. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing at home, as Felix’s father erects an enormous sign on his house condemning Premier Joey Smallwood—much to the chagrin of his family and their Liberal neighbours in the early days after Confederation.
This is the uproariously funny and at times heartbreaking tale of a young man's rough ride into adulthood. Felix Ryan is on a journey to discover who he is and where he is headed. He moves from rural Newfoundland to the hectic life of Memorial University in the late 1960s. It is a world of music, girls, and new experiences. Felix's world is changing as the Joey Smallwood era comes to an end. But Ellen Monteau never strays far from his mind. Ultimately, he must choose between continuing his education on the mainland of Canada, or putting down roots at home in Newfoundland.
The Sign on My Father’s House marks Tom Moore’s triumphant and long-anticipated return to literary fiction. It is a story about finding your voice and putting up your own sign about who you are and what you believe.
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In 1994, Angels Crying became Moore’s second national bestseller. It is the true story of his student, a sexual assault victim. It has become a case study for a number of university schools of social work, including Memorial University, Dalhousie University, College of the North Atlantic, and the University of Maine at Presque Isle. It was translated into Chinese by New Sprouts Publishers of Taipei in 2002.
In 2000, The Plains of Madness, a work of historical fiction, won the inaugural Percy Janes Award for best novel manuscript in Newfoundland. His short story The Sign on My Father’s House was published as a winning entry in Canadian Storyteller, Toronto, in the summer of 2004.
Other books include The Black Heart, a collection of poetry, and Wilfred Grenfell, a children’s biography, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside.
His poems have been used as operatic song settings nationally and internationally: poems Ancestors, Songs, and Caplin Scull were broadcast on CBC radio by Lyn Channing of the Music Department, University of Calgary; and his poem Songs was presented by Peter Mannion and the Galway University Choir in Ireland. Ancestors was read at the welcoming ceremony for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Newfoundland and Labrador.