American Election 1864

In the fall of 1864, Canada’s Fathers of Confederation took along their unmarried daughters and sisters to the Quebec conference and tour to promote Confederation to, well, to promote union of a different sort. Mercy Ann Coles, the charming, beautiful, and intelligent twenty-six year old unmarried daughter of the Prince Edward Island Father of Confederation George Coles, kept a diary of her travels and the events, balls, banquets, people, and whirlwind of social happenings and political manoeuvrings as they impacted her and her desires.

The Coles family travelled back to PEI through the United States at an important time in American history too – the Presidential re-election of Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, people fleeing the South, and the oil boom and oil speculation in the Northern States.

The diary is everything one is supposed to be: part gossip, part travelogue, part social commentary. No diary by any of the other women is known to exist and Mercy’s one gives us new insight into this seminal time period in Canadian – and American history.

I used Mercy Coles’ diary to help me create Mercy’s character and structure my novel To the Edge of the Sea. You can read more of that here and more on the United States here

On Election Day Mercy and her family were in the United States visiting with her mother’s relatives. Mercy writes:

“Tuesday, Nov 8^th, 1864

We drove to Uncle William’s yesterday [Bloomfield, Ohio] and arrived just in time for dinner. [Many people came over, there was singing and a fun time it sounds like.] Uncle took us to his mill where he grinds corn and wheat. Ma and I were weighed. Ma [unclear]. Mine 138. Aunt Elizabeth 194. Aunt Sarah is as stout as Ma but she does not weigh as much. The Presidential Election came off to day. Uncle William and Pa went to the Poll. I think they were pretty much all the same way, very few seats for Mr. [George B.] McClellan. We left Uncle Williams ... ” [Emphasis mine. Abraham Lincoln was re-elected, getting 212 of the 233 seats.]

Mercy and her family travelled from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, on to Cleaveland, to Warren, Ohio and from there the 16 ½ miles north to Bloomfield. From Bloomfield they travelled to New York City to start their return to Prince Edward Island. On their way they passed through the cities and towns that were booming with oil.

She writes: “We are now at Corry Pennsylvania the great city for oil. They are building everywhere. ... Such a splendid lot of oil they [run?] 1500 barrels of oil a day. Making money as fast as they do in California.”

Word on the Street

The Word on the Street in Saskatoon is happening next Sunday September 23, 2012 from 11:00 am to 5 pm.

There are 30 authors reading, 4 tents including a kids and teen tent, music, booksellers and a marketplace - what more could a reader, writer - or savvy Christmas shopper want!

I'll be there reading from my award winning novel. To the Edge of the Sea, set during the Confederation Conferences of 1864 - where the sun is shining, island breezes (Prince Edward Island that is) are blowing, $13,000 worth of champagne is being poured, the circus is in town, and John A, the John A, is falling in love ... and so the story of Canada begins.
     Who knew Canadian history was so fascinating - tightrope walkers, the circus, champagne and love!

Some comments from judges, reviews and readers:

In the mid-19th century, three young Prince Edward Islanders explore their disparate futures at home and away, in a debut novel that is lyrical and precise in its descriptions of land, sea and people, and powerful in its accounts of both personal and political histories of the province and country.

Sask Book Award judges Joan Barfoot, Christine Cowley and Katherine Gordon

"Prince Edward Island is also a character in the story.  Seldom has any writer conveyed its essence so well.  And the beautifully constructed sentences and paragraphs flow like water, read like a prolonged dream, and would be worth reading aloud slowly ..."  Elizabeth Cran for the Charlottetown Guardian

"Anne weaves such an imaginative, descriptive spell in this wonderful story bringing life to Canadian history. It is so suspenseful that I found myself eager to hurry to each subsequent page to see what would happen next. This book is brilliantly written, and ranks with some of Canada's esteemed authors. It has such a poetic quality to it while being a superb narrative. A beautiful piece of writing!"  a reader in Ottawa

Judges comments for To the Edge of the Sea First Book Award winner

To the Edge of the Sea won the First Book Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards this past weekend! It has been a long journey from researching to writing to getting published and promoting a first novel. It is great and wonderful and more to have this acknowledgement. Here are the judges comments and John A and I have a wee dram of champagne, Gord Hunter pours.

Joan Barfoot, Christine Cowley and Katherine Gordon

      In the mid-19th century, three young Prince Edward Islanders explore their disparate futures at home and away, in a debut novel that is lyrical and precise in its descriptions of land, sea and people, and powerful in its accounts of both personal and political histories of the province and country. 

 Much thanks to Shelley Banks for the pictures. You can see more of Shelley's work at Latitude Drifts

You can also see my friend Gord Hunter's (who won the gorgeous raffle prize basket with all the winning books, wine, and Prairie Cherry chocolates from  Over the Hill Orchards) blog posts here at Life is too short to drink cheap wine

Canadian Bookworm Book Review

A lovely review of To the Edge of the Sea by librarian Shonna

see her Review and Blog here

To The Edge of the Sea

Finished March 16
To the Edge of the Sea by Anne McDonald
This short novel is lyrical and flows between four characters. Set in the summer and fall of 1864, this book begins in PEI and takes us across the Canadas to Niagara Falls. Two young men in PEI, brothers, Alex and Reggie are very different. Reggie, the oldest, is seasick every time he goes out on his father's fishing boat, yet he is the responsible one, the one who asks before he acts. Alex is impulsive and a natural fisherman. When a circus comes to the island, Alex leaves in the night to go to town to see it. He is drawn to the actions of the highwire performers and follows them beyond his island home. Reggie is changed by Alex's disappearance and makes choices in his own life that change his life forever.

At the same time, the leaders of Upper and Lower Canada come to PEI to try to get agreement to form a nation. This is the start of a road trip from the island across the Canadas and we see things from the eyes of John A Macdonald himself and the eyes of Mercy, daughter of PEI delegate George Coles, a young woman both drawn and repelled by John A.

 

This is a journey, and a discovery and a leaving.
Mercy leaves behind her younger, more innocent self. John A leaves behind part of himself as a cost to forming a new country. Alex leaves behind his island home and family. Reggie leaves a life he was born into, but not without cost. From Canadian history to the famous Farinis, this novel explores change and a sense of inevitability. Very enjoyable.

Saskatchewan Book Award Shortlist

To the Edge of the Sea has just been shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award!

The big gala is Saturday April 28, 2012 in Regina.

Find all the info on the shortlist and the gala here.

I'll be participating in the Sask Book Awards Shortlist Reading in Moose Jaw on Wed April 4 - more info at the same link above.

And at interview with short listed Regina writers, including me
here and below.

The Sask. Book Awards recognize writers of poetry, scholarly works, fiction, non-fiction, children's literature and aboriginal books, along with publishers. The award ceremony is scheduled for April 28 at the Conexus Arts Centre.
       Awards Chair Barbara Shourounis stressed the importance of recognizing authors from Saskatchewan.
    "Having your counterparts, your fellow writers, choose your work as the best is a very rewarding experience," she said.
"I think there's something about Saskatchewan that brings out introspection and the creative process, because we do have a lot of very successful writers from this province.
"It also gives young writers something to look forward to."
      Anne McDonald, who moved to Regina from Toronto 12 years ago, said Saskatchewan has positively influenced her writing career. 
    McDonald's book, To The Edge of the Sea, is nominated in the First Book Award category. It is set during the Canadian Confederation conferences of 1864, including intertwining stories.
"When I came here there were all of these writers and artists that were living their lives as writers and artists," McDonald said.
For a full list of nominees, visit www.leaderpost.com.
BOOK AWARDS
REGINA NOMINEES
Mark Cronlund Anderson and Carmen L. Robertson (scholarly writing, aboriginal writing, Regina book, non-fiction); Wilfred Burton and Anne Patton (Regina book); Edward Willett (Regina book); Britt Holmstrom (Regina book, fiction); Alison Lohans (Regina book, children's literature); David Sauchyn, Harry Diaz and Suren Kulshreshtha (scholarly writing); Adam Pottle (poetry, first book); Judith Silverthorne (children's literature); Timothy Long (non-fiction); CPRC Press/University of Regina (publishing, aboriginal publishing, education publishing); Coteau Books (publishing, education publishing); Haglos Press (publishing); Nature Saskatchewan (publishing).

It's John A Macdonald's Birthday

John A is nearly 200 - 3 more years and he'll be there! In the meantime, he, I, and Richard Gwyn have had a great year.

Gwyn's 2nd volume of his biography of John A was released this year - as was my novel based around Confederation which features John A as one of the main characters (tricky, very tricky having a real person set in a real historical time - and fun to play with and explore).

In Today in Canadian History they have a wonderful 2 part interview with Gwyn. Before they speak with Gwyn they say the start of Canada was boring - I disagree with that! Read my novel; listen to Gwyn; just the plain facts tell us more than that.

Gwyn refers to Joseph Pope who became John A's secretary - and stayed in Wilfred Laurier's cabinet as he was so knowledgeable and so good at his job. Roy MacSkimming writes brilliantly of both Laurier and Pope in his novel Laurier in Love. For my part, I have a piece with Joseph Pope in To the Edge of the Sea - Joseph was the son of William Pope, one of the PEI delegates for Confederation, and the only one who went to meet the Fathers of Confederation on their steamship the Queen Victoria ... meanwhile, remember the circus was on ... Here is my fictional account of Joseph:

Joseph Pope sat in a tree in the yard, half way up and

hidden by the summer leaves, waiting for his father. He’d

been waiting two hours already. It didn’t matter anymore; the

show had started and still he waited. Today, he’d promised,

today they would go. Joseph took a twig and held it against

the trunk of the tree. Two black ants crawled onto the stick.

They walked up it and he pretended they were the acrobats. He

turned the stick upside down as the ants, unconcerned, went

up and down. He held it so that one ant crawled into his palm,

circled it, searching for what? Joseph sighed. He’d barely eaten

any lunch he was so excited and now it was nearly tea time.

     He shifted, the bark pressed uncomfortably against his

legs. He watched the ant on his palm, felt the slight tickling

of it as it walked. Joseph looked back at the road. Nothing,

no one coming. Holding the twig loosely in his other hand,

he watched the single ant crawl along it and then he held it

out over the open ground and dropped it. He watched as it

hit the ground, the acrobat falling, the crowd below gasping.

Joseph gasping too, as if it were real. Pretending to himself,

wanting the game. He looked back at his palm and reached

his finger out to touch the other ant. So small it tried to crawl

onto his finger. It struggled, then caught hold. With his thumb

he brushed against it, so small he could barely feel it, could

pretend it wasn’t there. He brushed harder, and then pressed

the ant between his finger and thumb. Opened his hand and

looked, only a smudge of black remaining.

Gwyn quotes Pope, "(Macdonald) knew every chord of the human heart."
Richard Gwyn will be reading and signing at McNally Robinson in Saskatoon this coming Mon Jan 16, 2012 at 7:30 pm.
Happy Birthday John A - and my Aunt Fran from Prince Edward Island, who sent me so much history on PEI and was a writer too.

The Giller invite and a food and off beat literary tour of my favourite Toronto places

This is Helen's invite to the Gillers this evening. She won the Grand Prize of a trip for 2 to the Gillers - and nominated my book. I moved from Toronto to Regina 12 years ago - and still have my favourite bakeries and places to go there - so I thought I'd put together a Giller Food and Out and About Tour. Yours to enjoy too!

Greek pastries Akropolis (not sure how late they are open, I’d usually go for lunch or a late afternoon snack.)

Spinach and cheese pies – ‘spanakopita’ and also custard pies dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon – all to die for! Their signs say they sell their phyllo pastry across Canada.

On the Danforth, Pape subway station, exit on the north –east side and walk east 1 – 2 blocks. See here

       After the Greek place you can keep walking east on the Danforth – it has changed from Greek to lots of Ethiopian and Eritrean places. Mosques. And a Turkish place that sells mostly olives, but also had a tray of stuffed grape leaves – the best, honestly, that I’ve ever tasted. As good as the ones my old ESL students made from leaves they’d picked in High Park.

             And if you want to take the subway further east yet – but need to give yourself some time, 30 – 40 minutes maybe – there is the RC Harris Water Filtration Plant – see note below.

The Portuguese Bakery Nova Era is not to miss – great reviews here. Take the bus south from Ossington Station down to Dundas. Walk west 1 – 2 blocks. Nova Era is right there on the north side, windows full of light, corn bread and everything else, pastries to sit and eat there, with ahhh coffee, AND more pastries to take away. You can’t go wrong. See here

Italian restaurant – not tres fancy, but nice, and excellent just family Italian food – they’ve been there 40 yrs I think. My sister and I always used to go and I went in August this past summer – still excellent (even nicer in the summer when you can sit outside, nevertheless, lots of windows and just nice. The Capital Restaurant on 597 College Street at Clinton (either take the subway to Bathurst and the streetcar south to College and walk 8 ish blocks or take the College Street car westbound, from anywhere along College.)  ... And then there are a few gelato places all right there.

Bar Volo is on Yonge Street just north of Wellesley a block ish. The Ont Speaker of the House recommended it! It’s good, a real urban Toronto experience – and their beers on tap change throughout the day. The Speaker likes it b/c they sometimes have ‘Dead Elephant Ale’ from a brewery in St Thomas where he is from and where Jumbo the Elephant was killed in a train crash in 1885. (The food was a bit pricey for what we got – so we’d recommend going for the beer not for dinner.)See here.

PLACES

Osgoode Hall - Originally called The Lawyers Hall – it’s in Mercy Coles diary and that ceiling of domed glass and mosaic tile floor is still there (tho I remember it seemed a bit difficult to find). A lovely and interesting building inside too. On Queen Street at University (about 3 blocks west of the Eaton Centre) See here

The Ontario Legislature  - Queens Park, is a stunning building. I can’t believe I’d never been in till we toured it for the Hansard Conference. It’s at University and College

Also – maybe the Carlu (I thought for eating ... but see the rest of the note) because Christopher Moore talked of it and it sounded good and fun – and also because a Saskatchewan children’s writer was the originator of the prize they were giving out.See Chris Moore's note on the Carlu and the Bilson Prize.

Ah I see on looking at the website it is for special events only – worth a look at though ... wonder if you can take tours? It’s at Yonge and College. For the Carlu

If you want to go for a walk from there and see some real live foliage you can walk east a good few blocks and get to the green houses – gosh nice and warm and lovely. A real haven. It’s not in the best part of town, go in the daytime, etc.

A bit further away – but if you’re going for the Greek place ... well ...

The R C Harris Water Filtration Plant in the Beaches is something not to be missed either –  Ondaatje used it as a site in In the Skin of a Lion. It’s something else. You have to go way east on the subway (Station ?) and then take the bus south and the streetcar more east. It takes a bit of time – you get to see the Beaches area at the same time though – funky, different, a whole other Toronto down there.

            When taking the subway to Pape for the Greek Akropolis and further east to the Beaches, you’ll pass over the Don Valley – this is the bridge that M Ondaatje also writes about – same book (remember the nun Alice Gull), same guy RC Harris (who wanted to design a “Palace for water”).See here   and here

For Helen's win for To the Edge of the Sea see here

"A must read for Canadians as it features John A. Macdonald and the beginnings of Canada. Anne creates tension from the first page. We almost feel that we have gotten into Mercy Cole's body with the description of the turning of her wrist. The sentences are brush strokes in this painterly, lyrical writing." 

The Canadian Boat Song by Thomas Moore

Mercy Coles writes of The Canadian Boat Song as she and the Fathers of Confederation and their families travel from Montreal to Ottawa in 1864 - so I included it in my novel - and, of course, no book launch is complete without a singalong. With thanks here to my niece Kate and her grade 5 class.

For more notes on Mercy's travels from her diary I've posted them here at Christopher Moore's History

Fact and Fiction Mercy Coles and John A Macdonald

October 1864 is when the Fathers of Confederation met in Quebec to create the 72 resolutions that make up the BNA Act of Canada's constitution - they took along their unmarried daughters and sisters too. Mercy Coles wrote of the events in her diary - I used it in creating her character in my novel and used the timeline to help structure the novel. On Wed Oct 26 she writes of John A at dinner with her - read that note here on my posting on Christopher Moore's history blog

AND FROM THE NOVEL - WHAT I MADE OF THE FACTS ...

When they all returned to their seats the conversation

continued, a little louder, more merry. They talked of

the tour ahead, of Montreal and Ottawa. Of the trip around

the lake, through Kingston and Toronto and on to the Falls of

Niagara. Everyone talked eagerly, looking forward to the trip.

Mercy was eating new potatoes, the taste of home, the first

time she’d enjoyed eating anything in the past two weeks. The

two of them, Mercy and John A, still connected in the dance,

a shift in one causing a change in the position of the other.

A synchronicity of movement though they were turned away

from each other and talked to the people beside them. Mercy

felt how every subtle movement in her changed him, knowing,

with an edge of thrill, that if she were to stand now and leave,

he would follow.

As dinner ended they moved to the drawing room, the

women first as the men lingered behind talking. Mercy sat on

the blue couch by the fire, a silk cushion at her back. She felt

a draft of night air come in through the window; the damp of

it mixed with the smell of the wood smoke in the small room.

Macdonald was the first to enter the room. He walked over to

her bringing her dessert. As if he ought to do it, as if he always

would do it.

He sat with the men and poured himself a drink. The talks

were over, Mowat finished with his finances. Seventy-two

resolutions, the draft completed. Next the tour to convince

the people. He rested back into his chair. He liked the smell

of damp wood, the same as the smell of night in the trees by

his lake and the wet leaves of fall at home. Here it was nearly

winter, rain becoming snow too soon in the season. They

were headed back now, towards home. He closed his eyes for

a moment, smiled. He’d stop, see Hugh John. He raised his

glass, drank.

Mercy sat silent holding her plate. She wished she could

take off her gloves and feel the air on her skin, the coolness of

the fork against her palm, the texture of the plate. She wanted

to touch, feel the air. She could feel the cushion at her back,

was conscious of how her legs touched each other under her

dress, and how her feet rested lightly on the floor, every inch

of skin aware, everything magnified. She watched a drift of

smoke rise to the ceiling, the air quivering in the damp. She

sat eating her cake. There was a crumb at the corner of her

mouth. Raising her hand, she dusted the crumb away, leaving

lemon sugar on her lip. She licked it away, a small indelicacy,

her napkin held in her hand. And she saw Macdonald look up

at her just then, but her small tongue was out of her mouth.

John A watching, smiled as he looked away, the tip of her

tongue sweet in her mouth.

To the Edge of the Sea Book Review

Latest book review by Bill Robertson for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix

To the Edge of the Sea a blend of fiction, Canadiana

Regina writer's debut uses fiction, real life

Regina writer Anne McDonald leans on memories of her childhood summers on Prince Edward Island in her first novel, To the Edge of the Sea. In it, she makes fiction of the actual lives of people both close to, and not at all associated with, the negotiations in Charlottetown, Quebec City and Kingston to forge a confederation of what would become the provinces of Canada.
...

Reggie, the eldest son, loathes life on the sea, is made physically ill by it, and wants to be a farmer. He defies his father, already bereft of a son, and joins his farmer uncles as they gather to march in defiance of their landlords who bleed off their profits. Here are politics at a local and even violent level.
...

[McDonald's] strength lies in imagining three young people with vastly different ambitions at a crucial time in Canada's history. And that history is nearly incidental to all their desires. What excites McDonald, and what she conveys, is the sensual excitement these people feel when they touch something they love.

 

She may be falling in love, but it's the rain falling on Mercy's bare head one night as she marches with the people that thrills her. Reggie loves the feel of the red Prince Edward Island earth and Alex loves the feel of air, how he can train himself to move through it, even lean against it. Whatever their politics - national, local or family - these are elemental people and McDonald has found what they're made of and what they need to hold to.
Read more

John A is on the move! To the Edge of the Sea BC book tour

John A. Macdonald heads to Penticton June 16, Kelowna June 17, Vancouver June 20 and 21, and Victoria. To the edge of the sea for To the Edge of the Sea, a Novel by Anne McDonald.

Penticton        Hooked on Books, Thurs June 16, 7:00

                        225 Main Street, Penticton

Kelowna         Mosaic Books   Friday June 17, 1:00 Signing

                        411 Bernard St, Kelowna

Vancouver    Café Montmartre  Tues June 21, 7:30

                       4362 Main Street, Vancouver B.C.

                       iQmetrix  Monday, June 20

Victoria          tba in June

FESTIVAL OF WORDS, Moose Jaw, Sk   JULY 16, 5:00 upper lobby Cultural Centre