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Nova Scotia

We cannot leave Halifax without remarking that it is a city of great private virtue, and that its banks are sound. The appearance of its paper money is not, however, inviting.... I sarcastically called the stuff I received "Confederate money..".-from BaddeckLegend has it that Alexander Graham Bell was inspired by this travelogue of a journey through the Canadian Maritime provinces to establish his estate there. It may be what this delightful little book is best remembered for, but it has much more to recommend it. Originally appearing in five installments in The Atlantic Monthly, from January through May 1874, this journal of a trip through Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick is quick-witted and unexpectedly smart-alecky, full of observations on the romance of summer travel on a steamboat, the supposed plainness of Canadian women, and the wisdom of a traveler's not revealing that he's from the United States.American essayist and novelist CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER (1829-1900) served on the editorial staffs of the Hartford Press, the Hartford Courant, and Harpers Magazine. He was the first president of the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and published numerous books, including My Summer in a Garden (1870), My Winter on the Nile (1876), and a biography of Washington Irving (1881).

Fog Magic

Julia L. Sauer

A Newbery Honor Book.

Greta had always loved the fog—the soft gray mist that rolled in from the sea and drifted over the village. The fog seemed to have a secret to tell her. Then one day when Greta was walking in the woods and the mist was closing in, she saw the dark outline of a stone house against the spruce trees—a house where only an old cellar hole should have been. Then she saw a surrey come by, carrying a lady dressed in plum-colored silk. The woman beckoned for Greta to join her, and soon Greta found herself launched on an adventure that would take her back to a past that existed only through the magic of the fog.

Burden of Desire

Robert MacNeil

Burden of Desire centres on the love triangle between bohemian Halifax south-end belle Julia Robertson, Dalhousie professor Stewart MacPherson, and young Anglican minister Peter Wentworth.

Julia keeps a diary detailing her sexual fantasies, which she has with her at the moment of the blast that was the Halifax Explosion. She hides her diary in her coat, which is subsequently donated to a clothing drive for the individuals from the north end of the city who've list everything in the explosion. Peter discovers the diary and becomes fixated on its author, enlisting the help of his friend Stewart to find her.

Burden of Desire explores the repression and expression of sexual desire at the time of the First World War. It also offers a compelling fictional account of the impact on Halifax society of the Halifax Explosion.

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917

Sally M. Walker

On December 6, 1917, two ships collided in Halifax Harbour. One ship was loaded top to bottom with munitions and one held relief supplies, both intended for wartorn Europe. The resulting blast flattened two towns, Halifax and Dartmouth, and killed nearly 2,000 people. As if that wasn't devastating enough, a blizzard hit the next day, dumping more than a foot of snow on the area and paralyzing much-needed relief efforts.

Fascinating, edge-of-your-seat storytelling based on original source material conveys this harrowing account of tragedy and recovery.

This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

The Fiddler's Fakebook

David Brody

From the author’s preface: “This book was conceived four years ago, almost to the day, at a time when I was teaching fiddle and mandolin in New York City. It was my idea then, with my students in mind, to compile a book of the most often played, most important and most interesting fiddle tunes from the various Celtic and North American traditions.
The tunes were chosen by cataloging a large number of recordings by tune title. A tally was taken to find out which had been recorded most often. This established a foundation of material that could not be left out. To this list I added the names of other pieces which had not been recorded as frequently, but which I knew were played regularly and with respect. I admit to sprinkling the collection with a few lesser known tunes which happen to be personal favorites, but I am sure they will hold their own when placed next to the old war horses of the fiddler’s repertoire.
. . . Although I started out with my students in mind this book has turned out to be the book that I’ve always wanted and I hope that it will serve the advanced player as well as the beginner.”

Scenic Driving Atlantic Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador

Chloe Ernst

A first edition, Scenic Driving Atlantic Canada features nearly thirty separate drives through the beautiful Canadian coastline, from Nova Scotia up to Newfoundland. An indispensable highway companion, Scenic Driving Atlantic Canada includes route maps and in-depth descriptions of attractions.

A Great and Noble Scheme: The Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from Their American Homeland

John Mack Faragher

"Altogether superb: an accessible, fluent account that advances scholarship while building a worthy memorial to the victims of two and a half centuries past." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In 1755, New England troops embarked on a "great and noble scheme" to expel 18,000 French-speaking Acadians ("the neutral French") from Nova Scotia, killing thousands, separating innumerable families, and driving many into forests where they waged a desperate guerrilla resistance. The right of neutrality; to live in peace from the imperial wars waged between France and England; had been one of the founding values of Acadia; its settlers traded and intermarried freely with native Mikmaq Indians and English Protestants alike. But the Acadians' refusal to swear unconditional allegiance to the British Crown in the mid-eighteenth century gave New Englanders, who had long coveted Nova Scotia's fertile farmland, pretense enough to launch a campaign of ethnic cleansing on a massive scale. John Mack Faragher draws on original research to weave 150 years of history into a gripping narrative of both the civilization of Acadia and the British plot to destroy it.