Books Set in North America: Canada and Maine, United States

The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters (2023)

Read:  August 19, 2025

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love and Plenty, by Bonny Reichert (2025)

Read:  June 16, 2026

5 Stars

Books Set in North America, Canada, Newfoundland, Gander

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim Defede (2020)

 

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed 4 planes on United States territory.  United States airspace was immediately closed, so the planes bound for the US were ordered to either return to their country of origin, or if they had passed the half-way point, to land at the nearest airport.  Thirty-eight planes were diverted to the remote town of Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.  The airport had once been a military base, so had exceptionally long landing fields.

 

Gander, however, was a very small, remote town in Newfoundland ~ far from any major city.  The townspeople were so welcoming.  When they learned of the tragedy unfolding in the United States, the townspeople opened their arms and welcomed thousands of the stranded passengers.  They immediately opened up churches and schools to make room for the passengers to sleep, they brought their own bedding and towels for the passengers.  Many people welcomed passengers into their homes.

 

No one knew initially how long it would be before planes could once again fly into the United States.  Over the next four days, many of the passengers became friends with the Gander townspeople.  Most of the passengers were grateful for the assistance.  When planes were initially given clearance, passengers believed they would be flying directly back to the United States, but some planes were ordered back to their country of origin.  Most passengers understood this, and accepted this inconvenience.  A couple of families, however, chose to find their own way back home.  (I found I had little sympathy for their behaviour.)

 

One passenger was Werner Baldessarini, the then-chairman of Hugo Boss.  He had been on his way to New York for Fashion Week.  He had the opportunity to have a private jet come and collect him, but he appreciated the kindness and humanity of the residents of Gander, so stayed with his fellow passengers.  As a show of thanks, many of the stranded passengers collected money to provide scholarships and computer equipment for the Gander schools.

 

This book provided the inspiration for the musical Came From Away, which I saw a few years ago and loved.  This book shows that there is good in the world even in the face of evil.

 

Read:  June 20, 2021

 

5 Stars

 

 

Books Set in North America: Canada and United States, Boston, Massachusetts

The Arctic Fury, by Greer Macallister (2020)

 

In 1853, Lady Jane Franklin sought out Virginia Reeve, a young adventurer, to lead an expedition into the Arctic to find her husband’s missing ship, which was lost somewhere in the Arctic.  Virginia had earned a reputation leading expeditions across the United States as settlers began making the trek across the country.

 

Although she had never travel that far north, Virginia was experienced in traveling across the Rockies in winter weather.  Lady Franklin insisted that a team of resourceful women could accomplish what the teams of men had failed to do.  Virginia was to take 11 women with her, most of whom were preselected for her.  One woman, Caprice Collins, was a spoiled young woman from a wealthy Boston family.  Although Caprice had experience in hiking in the Alps, she had an attitude, and from the beginning, she clashed with Virginia.  She also insisted bringing her maid with her, so instead of the original twelve women, the party consisted of 13 women.

 

Not all of the women who set off on the adventure returned.  A year after the team set off on their travels, Virginia found herself on trial for the murder of Caprice.  Five of the survivors attend the trial to lend support to Virginia.  Virginia has insufficient counsel and the prosecutor seemingly has damning evidence.

 

The novel goes back and forth between the trial and the Arctic trek.  We do not learn a lot about many of the women on this trek, but their background stories are slowly revealed as the novel proceeds.  Lady Franklin made it clear to Virginia, that if the expedition was a success, Virginia would be handsomely rewarded.  If, however, it was unsuccessful, Lady Franklin would deny all knowledge of Virginia.  [Spoiler Alert:  Throughout the novel the author drops hints that Virginia was a part of the Donner Party.  We learn at the end of the novel that Lady Franklin feared that her husband and his crew met the same fate, and that her motive for the expedition was to hide any evidence of cannibalism.]

 

This novel is very loosely based on historical events.  Lady Jane Franklin really did pay for several excursions into the Arctic to search for her husband’s lost expedition, although she did not hire a team of women to make the trek.

 

I loved this book.  There were several twists and turns throughout and the novel held up to the very last page.  I think I have found a new favorite author!

 

Read:  April 27, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: American South and Canada

The Saints of Lost Things, by C.H. Lawler (2014)

This novel begins as Hurricane Betsy is about to hit the Louisiana coast in 1965.  Sammy Teague, the wealthy young son of a Louisiana planter, was about to leave the plantation and head back to college at Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. Instead, he is the sole member of his family left at home to keep an eye on the plantation.

Betsy Duplechain lives across the field in the plantation’s tenement house where she lives with her mother and grandmother. She, too, is left alone in the house to sit out the storm.  Although Betsy and Sammy have lived on the same plantation all their lives, until the hurricane, their lives never intersected.

After the first wave of the storm hits, Sammy sees Betsy struggling at her home.  The storm has caused damage to the little hut.  Sammy invites Betsy to wait out the storm with him in the main house.  They are immediately attracted to each other and become inseperable.  After the storm, when their families return to the plantation, Sammy and Betsy’s lives are changed forever.

When Sammy’s family learns of his attraction to Betsy, he is cut-off financially.  He can no longer afford his college life-style.  Because he is no longer a college student, he no longer has the draft deferment.  He can either enlist or head to Canada.

When Betsy’s mother learns she is pregnant, Betsy is disowned and kicked out of the house.  She, thinking that Sammy is in college in Oxford, heads there to find him.

In the meantime, the Deputy Sheriff of the fictional St. Matthew’s Parish, Louisiana, feels that the Teague family had stolen his family’s land.  He decides Hurricane Betsy provides him with the best opportunity to get his land back if only he can get to Sammy.  This is where the story goes off the rails.  The deputy is depicted as a stereotypical corrupt and cruel country law enforcement officer.  He schemes to follow Sammy and Betsy through their travels.

Eventually, Betsy and Sammy find each other.  They decide to head towards Canada.  On the way, they stop in Arkansas, where they are married by a kindly and psychic priest.  The priest warns that that the sheriff is following them and assists in providing a way to their destination.

Much of the story didn’t make logical sense. It was an interesting read, but not one that will remain with me.

Read: April 26, 2019

3 Stars 

Books Set in Europe and North America: England and Canada

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, by Jennifer Robson (2019)

After Heather Mackenzie’s grandmother died in 2016, Heather received a box containing some samples of beautiful embroidery on delicate silk.  The box had only the message “For Heather” with no other explanation.  She realized that she knew virtually nothing of her grandmother’s past, only that she had immigrated to Canada in late 1947 and that her mother had been born a few months later.  The embroidery must contain some clue into her grandmother’s past.

The novel alternates between the present (2016) and post-war England in 1947 with the announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Ann Hughes, Heather’s grandmother, was a young woman working an embroiderer for the real-life Norman Hartnell, couturier to the royal family.  She befriends Miriam Dassin, a young French Holocaust survivor, who had worked as an embroiderer in a French fashion house before moving to London.

Both young women are highly skilled.  When the royal family commissions Norman Hartnell to design the wedding dress for Princess Elizabeth, both Ann and Miriam are selected to be a part of the team to embroider and sew the dress.  All the women working on the dress are sworn to secrecy ~ if the press gets wind of the design, they will be fired.

Ann meets the handsome Jeremy, who appears to be a wealthy businessman.  She wonders why he has selected to take her out on dates, knowing that he is out of her class, but decides to go along for the ride.  Heather travels to England hoping to find out about her grandmother’s early life and her grandfather.

The novel gives a lot of historical information about the making of the wedding dress for the future Queen of England, and describes in detail the motifs found on the dress and its train.

I found this to be a fun read.

Read: April 1, 2019

4 Stars

Books Set in North America: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism, by John U. Bacon (2017)

The Great Halifax Explosion, by John U. Bacon, recounts the events leading up to the collision of two ships in 1917 in the Halifax Harbor as well as the aftermath.  One of the ships was laden some of the most lethal explosives known.  The explosion was as powerful an explosion as a nuclear weapon, and is second only to the bombing of Hiroshima.  Over 2000 people were killed in the subsequent explosion and thousands of others were wounded, many very seriously.

The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship was ordered by the French government to carry nearly 3000 tons of high explosives from New York City to Europe, via Nova Scotia, Canada, as a part of the World War I effort.  The ship carried almost 500 steel drums of combustible airplane fuel, 250 tons of TNT and nearly 2,500 tons of picric acid, an extremely unstable explosive.  The Mont-Blanc carefully sailed to the Halifax Harbor, successfully avoiding the German U-boats, and was to join a convoy for the remainder of the transport across the Atlantic.

The SS Imo, was a Norwegian vessel heading back across the Atlantic from Halifax Harbor.  The Imo was leaving the Harbor as the Mont-Blanc was entering.  Due to a number of factors, a serious miscalculation caused the two ships to collide on the morning of December 6, 1917.

The explosives were packed into the Mont-Blanc in such a way that the explosion did not immediately occur.  Instead, there was a fire, which caught the attention of the towns people.  Many folks looked out their windows, or wandered down to the dock to see the spectacle.  When the explosion finally occurred, it created a tsunami-like effect, causing shock waves to dissipate over much of the surrounding area, knocking down building, structures and people in its way.  The entire waterfront was virtually gone.  That which wasn’t immediately destroyed became consumed by the resulting fires.

The town folk initially assumed that the disaster was the result of a German attack since the Great War (World War I) was in full force in Europe.  In an instant, about half of the population of Halifax was homeless.  In 1917,  telephones were a luxury and the telegraph lines were destroyed.  Word of the explosion, however, reached nearby communities.  Boston, Massachusetts was the nearest large city accessible to Halifax via the Atlantic.  Despite the frosty relations between Canada and the United States (another fact I was not aware of), the acting Mayor of Halifax informed the Mayor of Boston of its need for assistance.

Boston just happened to be one of the few cities that actually had a disaster emergency plan in place.  The city immediately sent doctors, nurses, medical supplies and money to assist the people of Halifax.

The author brings several of the survivors to life.  He follows their actions in the days after the explosion in a very compassionate manner.

I just recently learned of the Halifax Explosion when listening to a history podcast.  Shortly thereafter, I happened to see The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy and Extraordinary Heroism in the public library.  I can’t believe that I never heard of the Explosion, especially since the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia has been giving my city of Boston, Massachusetts a Christmas tree as a way of “thanks” for years.

I found this book to be riveting. 

Read:  January 17, 2018

5 Stars 

Books Set in Canada: Quebec

The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny (2012)

This book is one in a series of Chief Inspector Gamache detective/crime novels.  Although it is not the first book in the series, it is the first book I had read.   I will definitely read other books in this series.

The novel takes place in a remote monastery in deep woods of Quebec where 24 monks who have taken a vow of silence but for their chanting live.  A recording of their chants has made them world famous and brings money to the monastery.

The choir director, however, ends up dead in the abbot's private garden.  Chief Inspector Gamache and his side-kick, Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Surete du Quebec are called in to solve the murder.  The discover that all his not peace and quiet in the monastery and several of the two dozen monks could have a motive for the murder.

The book was well written and the outcome of the mystery satisfactory.  I look forward to reading about the Chief Inspector in other books.

4 Stars

Read: December 12, 2014