CBC Readers Choice Contest for the Giller

The Grand Prize winner of the CBC Readers Choice Contest has just been announced - and they nominated my book, To the Edge of the Sea!

Here are a couple of comments from the CBC Contest and a link to the CBC Grand Prize Winner Contest   Congratulations Helen!

I love history and To the Edge of the Sea has inspired me to want to read Mercy Cole's diaries. The book kept me turning the pages to the very end. The characters were interesting and amazing with a twist at the end I had not expected. Sir John A. Macdonald (who has on his tombstone in London, England "A British subject I was born and a British subject I will die" was made more real to me. A strange Epitaph for the Father of Confederation I always thought. Great book, great cover, great bookmark. Loved it all.    

A blend of poetic technique combined with page-turning, cliffhanging narrative, this novel evokes a seminal period in Canadian history - a time, I might add, that few Canadians know much about. McDonald's prose is fluid and meticulous, the equivalent of sunlight shimmering on the sea, as it illuminates her characters' inner struggles and triumphs. Lyrical, finely crafted descriptions abound, and every page offers the thrill of experiencing a vanished world via the author's unique sensibility.

CBC Readers Choice Contest for the Giller Prize - some of the nominations for To the Edge of the Sea

Lovely comments that say what the book is about even better than I have myself. Thanks to all who posted and voted!

Anne McDonald's To the Edge of the Sea is the best book I've read in ages. A thoroughly Canadian novel, it tells the story of Confederation, with John A. Macdonald as one of its central characters. While some of the characters are historical figures, others are fictional. The latter include two brothers, Reggie and Alex, sons of a fisherman, both of whom want more out of life than following in their father's footsteps. Their stories are interwoven with those of John A. Macdonald and Mercy Coles, another historical figure who, in the novel, wants to escape the strictures of Charlottetown high society. The result is a narrative that celebrates thinking differently or unconventionally-the kind of creative thinking that led to Confederation. The four stories are linked not only by coincidence of time and place, but also figuratively, with, for example, Alex's stint as a tightrope artist serving as a metaphor for the balancing act performed by John A. Macdonald during the Confederation negotiations. In his personal life, however, the hard-drinking John A. is not so sure-footed. Beautifully written, To the Edge of the Sea should certainly make it to this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist-and further.   by Florence

In To the Edge of the Sea Anne McDonald has written a gripping story fashioned around our story of confederation. Meticulously researched it gives insight into how we came to be the country that we are as we ride the waves with her characters. With her unique writing style she teaches us our own history that we surprisingly know so little about. It not only deserves the richest Canadian literary prize, it needs to be read by every Canadian student in our schools.   by Carol

You can read all of the nominations on the CBC Readers Choice Page. And stay tuned for the big announcement of the Grand Prize winner of the trip for 2 to the Giller on Friday September 2, and the winner of the Readers Choice on Sept 6!

http://www.cbc.ca/books/scotiabankgillerprize/nominees-p1/