Val’s Book Reviews My Turquoise Years: A Memoir (Twentieth Anniversary Edition) by M.A.C. Farrant Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2024$21.95 / 9781772016369 My Turquoise Years is the 20th Anniversary reprint edition of M.A.C. Farrant’s original memoir with five additional stories added, plus an introduction by Lynne Van Luven and a new preface. This is not a typical memoir
Non-typical memoir, non-typical family Read More »
Val’s Book Reviews Celebrities Who Have Met Me: A Child of the Lost Empire by John D’EatheVancouver: Adagio Media, 2024$21.99 9781999433925 John D’Eathe’s memoir is a whimsical look at the fall of the British Empire, told through anecdotes of his life as D’Eathe travelled through many countries and observed how the once-great British Empire has
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A Christmas Miracle At least once in everyone’s life we need a miracle. The story of the one that happened over 180 years ago on a cold, crisp Christmas Eve in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, has been told many times before but, in today’s world of unrest and uncertainty, it still bears repeating. It concerns
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Val’s Book Reviews The Champagne Letters by Kate MacIntosh Toronto: Gallery Books, 2024 $36.99 / 9781668061886 In The Champagne Letters, Kate MacIntosh has successfully managed to create two parallel stories set in two different eras: one in nineteenth-century France and the other in the present day. Her narrative flows seamlessly between discrete eras
A Grand Dame and a divorcée Read More »
My Annual Christmas Plea! Christmas is fast approaching——a time of love and a time for families. It can also be a time of unimaginable sorrow if you are mourning a loved one, especially if that loved one is a child. Throughout history, women have lost children for many different reasons. Difficult births resulting in stillborn
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No Place Like Home During my life, I have been lucky enough to have travelled to many different countries and have stayed in a multitude of different hotels through the years. Some were 5-star or better; some mediocre and some (in my youth) hostels or cheap hotels. They all have one thing in common. They
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Our Freedom! This is the time of year when we honor all those who have served to protect our freedom. My father served in World War II; My Uncle was at Dunkirk; another uncle lost his life at age 19; a family friend was an Air Force pilot. Other members of my extended family have
Val’s Book Reviews A Traveller’s Guide to Historic British Columbia (revised) by Rosemary Neering Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2023 $34.95 / 9781770503700 Now revised and updated, Rosemary Neering’s A Traveller’s Guide to Historic British Columbia is a fascinating historical journey through the province. She begins the book with some powerful words: “More than 30 years ago,
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Chloe’s Box This is a story about a toy box. It belongs to Chloe, and it always will. On Chloe’s first birthday, my husband (Grumps) made the box for her. We kept it at our house and filled it with toys. As she grew up and then her younger sister Aubrey came along, the two
An Important Day in History Two of the most important events in ancient and modern history happened on this date—September 28 — although neither are celebrated worldwide today or even thought about much. The first was the birth of Confucius, one of the most important people in ancient China, born on this date in 551
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