The Best of New Brunswick Books
Your summer reading list awaits with fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young readers honourees from the 10th annual New Brunswick Book Awards
Thereβs nothing quite like spending an evening with a bunch of authors.
Imaginative, witty and with a healthy splash of Can Con self-deprecation, the writers of New Brunswick recently got together to celebrate their accomplishments at the 10th anniversary edition of the New Brunswick Book Awards.
I was there to celebrate and take photos, as the newbie member of the volunteer brigade led by Executive Director Rhonda Bulmer, which organizes this annual shindig, held this year at the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel ballroom in Fredericton.
It really was a delightful event and an extra bonus was meeting Ali Hassan, comedian, author, actor and host of CBCβs Canada Reads. Hassanβs memoir, Is There Bacon in Heaven? has some lovely details about life in Fredericton, where Hassan was born while his dad did his graduate work in English at the University of New Brunswick.
If youβre looking to try something new this weekend, consider hopping over to your nearest library or bookstore β Frederictonβs Westminster Bookmark is my favourite β to check out some of New Brunswickβs finest writing of 2024.
Fiction
Nelson Keane β Nachzehrer
Galleon, Saint-Philippe
The life story of Gerald Kurt Paine, a self-confessed βeater of souls,β as told to his friend, the teacher. It is the story of a young Canadian man who loved to fly bi-planes, and who at the outbreak of WWII convinces the Royal Air Force to let him fly a Hurricane, to shoot down Nazis. It is also the story of his capture and bizarre subjugation to a cruel Kommandant at the Plotzensee Prison.
Nelson Keaneβs small novel is haunting and strange, and dark, yet it doesnβt lack moments of levity and throughout exhibits a thorough understanding of the best and worst of human nature.
Finalists
Mark Blagrave β Felt
Cormorant Books, St. Andrews
A familyβs history is woven, unravelled, and rewoven into a tapestry spanning three generations. Museum curator Matthew Readeβs career and marriage are in crisis in the aftermath of a recent exhibition.
When he gets a worrying phone call about his fiercely independent ninety-six-year-old mother, Penelope, Matt uses the excuse of a research project to return to the Maritimes to check on her for himself. Once home, he finds he must stay on to help navigate her new diagnosis of Alzheimerβs.
The more Matt talks to his mother while preparing to move her into the local long-term care home, the more she reveals about his grandmotherβs emigration from Norway to New Brunswick before World War I, the murky origins of the family handcraft business, her own complicated past relationships, and Mattβs beginnings. But how much of it can he trust and how much has been rewritten by the disease?
Vanessa C. Hawkins β A Child to Cry Over
CSG Publishing House, St. George
Maddy Bell was just eight years old when she was sent away for the murder of a two-year-old boy living in the rural town of St. George, New Brunswick.
Growing up in the church-run community with a life-hardened mother, Maddy has always been an outcast in the wake of her fatherβs homosexuality. She keeps to herself until authorities discover Sonnyβs body on the railroad, but was his death just a terrible accident, or is little Madeline Bell to blame?
The media and the community of St. George are quick to condemn her, and ten years later, when Madeline is released from juvenile detention with a new identity, can she hide her past, forget her roots, and finally be a normal girl in the midst of a media manhunt?
Non-fiction
C. Ted Behne, James W. Wheaton, Keith Helmuth, Daryl Hunter, Nicholas N. Smith β Tappan Adney: From Birchbark Canoes to Indigenous Rights
Goose Lane Publishing and Chapel Street Editions, Woodstock
The remarkable life and legacy of an extraordinary man whose influence echoes through time. Tappan Adney travelled from New York to New Brunswick for a summer holiday at the age of 19 in 1887, and it changed the course of his life.
Adney is best known for a singular achievement. He was the artist, writer, and illustrator whose chance encounter with Peter Jo, a WΙlastΙkwi Elderβcraftsman, led to a passionate, lifelong interest in the birchbark canoe and WΙlastΙkwey culture.
But that is only part of the story. Throughout his life, little escaped Adneyβs curiosity.
From his extensive documentation of the design of Indigenous canoes to his reportage on the Klondike Gold Rush; from his work as an illustrator, photographer, and designer to his natural history journalism; from his activism for Indigenous rights to his documentation of the WΙlastΙkwey language, Adneyβs mind roamed from one passion to another, leaving behind a treasure trove of natural history and ethnographic research. This book tells the intriguing story of his remarkable life and his multifaceted legacy.
Finalists
Margaret Augustine and Lauren Beck, Mitji β Letβs Eat! Miβkmaq Recipes from Sikniktuk
Nimbus Publishing, Sackville
An intergenerational source of wisdom and knowledge, Mitji combines a cultural history of Mi'kmaw cuisine with a practical cookbook. The welcome call of "Mitji" can be heard by Mi'kmaw children, hungry workers, family, and friends when dinner is ready.
This book, too, is an invitation to celebrate and practice Mi'kmaq foodways: the recipes passed down from one generation to the next; the way traditional foods and medicines are gathered, hunted, and cooked; and the lived experience of ancestors and Elders about how to nourish the spirit and body through Mi'kmaw culture and knowledge.
It offers over 30 traditional and popular Mi'kmaq recipes, arranged seasonallyβlike Fish Cakes and Eel Stew in spring; Blueberry "Poor Man's Cake" and Stuffed Salmon in summer; Swiss Steak with Moose Meat and Apple Pie in fall; and Molasses Cake and Wiusey Petaqn in winter.
Each recipe is contextualized with its origins, contributor information, food stories, and detailed preparation instructions, and throughout the book are short essays on Mi'kmaw cuisine, drawing a picture of how Mi'kmaq foodways were influenced by colonization, on the one hand, and how food became and remains a significant vehicle of resistance, on the other. Whether a novice or well-seasoned cook, Mitji is a feast for the reader: a bountiful introduction to, and celebration of, Mi'kmaw cuisine.
Donald J. Savoie β Speaking Truth to Canadians About Their Public Service
McGill-Queens University Press, Moncton
A timely book on the capacity of the Canadian public service to provide policy advice without fear or favour and to deliver services to Canadians. The federal public service plays a vital role in Canadaβs development by helping to shape public policies and deliver programs and services to Canadians.
It provides a comprehensive review of the challenges confronting the public service, how the relationship between politicians and career officials has evolved in recent years, and what motivates public servants.
Donald Savoie calls on Canadians and their politicians to consider what they want from their federal public service. Answering this question requires a fresh look at the governmentβs traditional accountability requirements, how policies are shaped, and how government programs and services are delivered.
It also requires a review of ambitious modernization and reform measures launched over the past forty years to make the public service more accommodating to political direction and to improve program delivery. Dividing federal public servants into two groups - poets (those who write policy) and plumbers (those who deliver programs and services) - the book establishes who has the upper hand.
This division sheds new light on the theories that seek to explain the attitudes and behaviours of career government officials. Amid increasingly strong signs that the public service is in need of a reset, Speaking Truth to Canadians about Their Public Service concludes with practical recommendations to assist Canadians and their politicians in defining what they want their public service to be.
Poetry
Michael Pacey, Van Goghβs Grasshopper
Pottersfield Press; Fredericton
A collection of fifty poems about insects and other very small creatures. Each poem focuses on particular aspects of a specific tiny life form: their name and what it means, their overall design and structure, the superstitions we have about them, and their particular strategies to survive.
Finalists
Matthew Gwathmey, Family Band
Porcupineβs Quill; Fredericton
?What was there to do but to play music?? Thus begins the first and title poem of Matthew Gwathmey's Family Band.
What follows describes becoming a family of seven (?It Seemed That We Had Hardly Begun And We Were Already There?), complete with made-up bedtime stories (?Bear The Bear?), the learning of language (?A High Frequency Words List?), road trips (?Stargazing?), pastimes like gardening (?Different Kinds Of Blight?) and fishing (?Salmon Fishing?), games (?Hide & Seek?), TV shows (?Closed Captions Of Sweet Tooth, Season 1, Episode 6?), more games (?The Impossible Game?), and the joys of home ownership (?This House?).
These poems catalogue family life up until the moment that the band decides to break apart, and everyone chooses to pursue their respective solo careers.
Gerald Arthur Moore, Flak Jacket
NON Publishing; Moncton
A drive to drug rehab, at least two murders, one escaped prisoner, a complex father/son relationship, and several highly unusual classroom experiences form the backbone of Flak Jacket, Gerald Arthur Mooreβs latest collection of his signature explosive poetry. Step inside to become entranced, but be prepared to be blown away, because weβre going for a ride.
Young Readers
Valerie Sherrard, An Unbalanced Force
DCB Cormorant, Miramichi
To catch a liar, he must become a liar.
Ethan Granger has no idea what his father does for work, just that itβs lucrative enough to make his family rich, and it often requires him to go out of town.
But when Ethan catches his dad in a lie, it raises unsettling questions he canβt ignore. Before long, Ethanβs investigation into this seemingly small fib uncovers a whole clandestine β and potentially criminal β operation.
Hiring a private eye, sneaking into his dadβs office, tailing him on his βbusiness tripsβ β Ethan uses every deceitful trick his father taught him against those closest to him, but just how far will he go to expose the lies?
And what if the truth throws his whole world off balance?
Finalists
Bea Waters, Project Human
Almandel Entertainment, Fredericton
Thirteen alien species are fighting to control planet earth because we are their science project...
Our ascension into the galactic community rests on the shoulders of Olivia Carpenter, a girl who is just trying to find her place in the world. What she ultimately finds, is her place in the galaxy.
When her grandmother's ancestral magic, given to their family by the star people, awakens something in Olivia's DNA, the galaxy takes note. Caught in the crosshairs of a galactic tug of war, she's sworn to secrecy about her "Terran" origins, until an attempt on her life forces her to trust her new alien friends with her identity. Because a predatory species of aliens has found this planet as well, and they have their own plans for humankind.
Project Human is an action/adventure novel that fuses ancient mythology with science fiction fantasy. Olivia Carpenter is a main character on a journey of self-discovery that becomes all the more real when she discovers that the galaxy is much bigger, and much more populated, than she ever could have imagined. She has a special relationship with her grandmother that will warm your heart, and makes special bonds with her found family that will bring you to tears.
Odette Barr, Colleen Landry and Beth Weatherbee β Follow the Goose Butt to Prince Edward Island
Acorn Press, Petit-Cap; illustrated by Odette Barr
The loveable young Canada goose, Camelia Airheart, is back again for another comical adventure! While attending the Gathering of the Geese in New Brunswick, Camelia takes off on an unexpected side trip and flies over the Confederation Bridge to the red sands of Prince Edward Island.
Although she loves to fly, Camelia is easily distracted and has difficulty navigating with a faulty GPS (goose positioning system). She also has trouble with her landings. Camelia gets lost (a lot!) and relies on new friends she meets on her travels to help find her way. Whether it is golfing with Gilbert, the great blue heron, discovering sands that sing with Josie, the jellyfish, or causing chaos at Green Gables, Camelia has an exciting and eventful time following the Islandβs coastline. She even learns important life lessons along the way.
Will Camelia be able to find her way around the Island and get back to her flock? Is her GPS as faulty as she has always believed?