Remembrance Day Reads

Remembrance Day is a time to remember and reflect on the great sacrifice and effects war has had on so many generations of Canadians, and those around the world. Reading is just one way to get a glimpse into times of war and the scars it leaves.

All Books in this Collection

Showing 17–19 of 19 results

  • Where The Sun Shines Best

    Where The Sun Shines Best

    By: Austin Clarke
    $15.00

    Three Canadian soldiers awaiting deployment to the war in Afghanistan beat a homeless man to death on the steps of their armoury after a night of heavy drinking. The poet, whose downtown Toronto home overlooks the armoury and surrounding park, describes the crime, its perpetrators, the victim, and a cast of homeless witnesses that includes the woman, a prostitute, who first alerts police. The subsequent trial evokes reflection on the immigrant experience the poet shares with one of the accused, and on the agony of that young soldier? mother. From Kandahar to Bridgetown to Mississauga, Ontario, Where the Sun Shines Best encompasses a tragedy of epic scope, a lyrical meditation on poverty, racism and war, and a powerful indictment of the ravages of imperialism.

  • Where White Horses Gallop

    Where White Horses Gallop

    By: Beatrice Macneil
    $19.95

    FROM AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR BEATRICE MACNEIL COMES THE ACCLAIMED STORY OF THOSE WHO WERE SENT INTO BATTLE— AND THOSE WHO WERE LEFT AT HOME. In 1941, three young men enlist in the legendary Cape Breton Highlanders and sail off to war, leaving their families to wait and wonder at home in Beinn Barra, Nova Scotia. Fisherman Hector MacDonald, gifted musician Benny Doucet, and hopeful medical student Calum MacPherson are all eager for the excitement of life in the famous regiment, but on the homefront, they leave behind only the anxiety and pain of their loved ones. Heart-wrenchingly told in smart, lyrical, evocative prose, Where White Horses Gallop is a novel that strikes at the heart of war in its glory, and in all its stark legacy.

  • Women Overseas

    Women Overseas

    $21.95

    In these Red Cross memoirs, some 30 women tell their stories of volunteer work with the Canadian Red Cross Corps in overseas postings during World War Two and the Korean War. These dramatic narratives take us across oceans infested with enemy submarines to witness Canadian women on duty in the U.K., in Europe and in Asia.

    The volunteers shouldered challenging and often dangerous jobs, working as nurse’s aides, ambulance drivers, welfare officers, cooks, transport drivers and in the social clubs Canadian soldiers visited on leave. We learn how it feels to survive daily bombings and severe food shortages, to witness death and destruction all around, and to acquire the spirit and courage exhibited by so many “ordinary” people during the war.

    Laced with humour and filled with grace, these stories are a testament to the vital yet often overlooked responsibilities that thousands of women gallantly accepted for the Allied war effort. Women Overseas is a companion volume to the national bestseller Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories. It contains many period photographs as well as an illuminating introduction to the Canadian Red Cross Corps.