Looking for title of a Canadian book?
Question by Susan H: Looking for title of a Canadian book?
Written by a journalist, he and his wife sell all their posessions, move to the northern Canadian wilderness, build thier own cabin and live off the land. It may be a series of books.
Thank you , but Farley Mowat is not the author. It was similar, but it was a married couple.
Thank you for your reply. Although the Owl Pen Reader sounds like a good read, it is not what I am searching for.
In the book I read the couple moved to the northern wilderness, no other people around. They arrived in the spring, living in a tent while they build their cabin. I remember that once winter arrived, they would fight over who would get out of bed first to warm the outhouse seat. They would get supplies flown into them when weather permitted, but very rarely. I also remember them hiking to a nearby logging camp that was shut down for the season and finding steak and lobster in the freezer. I read it in the ’90’s, I believe it took place in modern times (’70’s or later). The original plan was to stay 1 year, but since it was a series of books it leads me to think they stayed longer.
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
2 Responses to Looking for title of a Canadian book?
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You may be thinking of Farley Mowat. He did a bunch of stuff like that.
klb_72
March 12, 2013 at 11:24 am
This reminded me of a query from abebooks.com BookSleuth. Does this sound like the same book? If so, it was solved as Kenneth McNeill Wells, “The Owl Pen Reader.” (Note: “The Owl Pen Reader” seems to be a collection of the author’s four books, but might be somewhat abridged, so if you think this is the one, also check out just “The Owl Pen” by this author, which is the name of the first book.) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0773757465/24680e-20
I am searching for a book about Canadian rural life that I read many years ago. The book is a non-fiction account of a Canadian couple who moved from a large Canadian city to a small country town.
They did this probably around the 1940s or 50s. I clearly remember an account of how they bought old furniture and refinished it by first carefully scraping the old finish off with knives. That’s a very old method.
They also raised bees for the honey. In fact, one memorable passage was about how they put a sign outside their house that went something like “Honey and Poetry – For Sale”.
One poignant story from this book is about an elderly lady who lived in the area. She baked the best breads that nobody could match. One day, they found her in her home. She had died. But there she was in her bed caressing a bowl of her bread dough that was rising. Evidently, this was her well kept secret to get a good rise. She raised her dough during her afternoon naps. So, the people in town baked her last loaf of bread and shared it in a celebration to her life.
This is all I can recall from the book. I found it in my library here in Colorado back in the 1970s. So, it’s gone. And all my Google searches didn’t turn it up. I hope to find it some day so I can purchase it.
ll2
March 12, 2013 at 11:36 am