National Network for Equitable Library Service

Even as a young girl growing up in Nova Scotia, Mona Louise Parsons stood out for her elegance and theatrical flair. But the life of this Wolfville native has always overshadowed her stage roles. From a Nova Scotian childhood, she became a 1920s New York chorus girl, a Depression-era nurse, a prisoner of the Nazis, and an escaped, emaciated fugitive who walked across Nazi Germany in the dying months of World War II.The process of uncovering the story of Mona Parsons took almost as many twists and turns as the life it was piecing together.

This outspoken, timely book by former Mulroney Cabinet Minister Tom McMillan indicts Stephen Harper for destroying the historic Canadian Conservative Party while prime minister and party leader, accusing him of turning a force for progressive Canadian values into an American Republican-style vehicle for right-wing ideologues. Lamenting Harper’s hyper-partisan “cult of personality” politics, McMillan argues the Conservative Party is no longer the enlightened national institution founded by Sir John A.

In his uniquely homespun style, sinister storyteller Steve Vernon digs up the dirt on Maritime murders from 1770 to 1929--along with a few bodies along the way. Unearthing historically buried, and occasionally unsolved, violent crimes from across Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Vernon's versions of these 19 macabre tales will chill you to the bone. Featuring a bevy of questionable characters from the darkest recesses of Maritime history, Maritime Murder divulges a diverse array of bygone crimes, trials, and the eerie aftermath.

The wonder of a human hand; the tenacity of trillium; the restorative power of a hymnal: these topics and many more are explored in this thought-provoking collection of 80 spiritual essays from author-journalist Monica Graham.Taken from the best of the Chronicle-Herald column of the same name, In the Spirit explores with wit and wonder our human relationship with spirituality and religion.

Imagine living your life perched on a tiny island, without electricity, exposed to the fury of the sea, and always at the service of the mariner. This is how lightkeepers and their families spent their lives, even up until the 1960s. We are very close to losing the last of the people who lived this isolated life and experienced the heyday of lightkeeping in Canada. Lighthouse Legacies lets us share in the memories of those who kept the lights.

In Indian School Road, journalist Chris Benjamin tackles the controversial and tragic history of the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, its predecessors, and its lasting effects, giving voice to multiple perspectives for the first time. Benjamin integrates research, interviews, and testimonies to guide readers through the varied experiences of students, principals, and teachers over the school’s nearly forty years of operation (1930–1967) and beyond.

Culled from her collections Offshore Islands and Paradise or Purgatory(1984), New Brunswick Islands is part ecocritical exploration and part historical survey, as Mitcham explores the province’s not-so-far-off islands in search of their unique stories. The result is an extraordinary collection of essays that illuminates the social and cultural histories behind New Brunswick’s islands.

“Many of Nova Scotia's best sports stories have never entirely been told, at least not to the extent they deserve.” In Inside the Game, sports columnist Chris Cochrane goes beyond the headlines to tell the real stories behind ten of the province's most memorable sporting events and achievements: Clyde Gray's boxing battles with the young, brash Chris Clark; NHL player Bill Riley's persistence in the face of racism; Andrew Haley's stunning performance at the 1996 Paralympic Games; and the surprising break-up of Colleen Jones' curling rink, one of Canada's a

In December 1917, one of the greatest natural harbours in the world was humming with excitement. Halifax Harbour was filled with naval convoys and merchant vessels while factories worked overtime in support of the Allied war effort in Europe. But on December 6, Canada's worst disaster struck, as two ships--one carrying high explosives--collided. The explosion killed and injured thousands, razing the city's North End and destroying nearly everything in its path.

Do you remember the invasion of Newfoundland’s hydroponic cucumber? How about New Brunswick’s ill-fated space-age sports car? In this dynamic collection, Dan Soucoup follows the money trail up the political ladder to deliver the dirt on the most devastating failed business ventures, political scandals, and industry fiascos in Atlantic Canadian history. Presented in concise, entertaining vignettes, Boondoggles exposes two centuries of debacles in regional, national, and international scope.