Local book reviews

Jeff Green | Dec 15, 2021

Corvus and Me – Solar Spark

The fourth book in a series by Snow Road's Joelle Hubner-Mclean, Corvus and Me - Solar Spark, follows the adventures of Janine, who is now 12 years old. 

The story starts when she falls from a tree being lured by some unusually shaped leaves glistening in the sun. Janine is transported from her day to day world to a magical world where Corvus the Crow is waiting for her to help in a quest to prevent the evil Faeran from his quest for dominance.

She soon meets a horse, Solar Spark, aka Sparkie, and they embark on a journey.

Faeran and the spies and dragonflies that he controls are constantly laying traps, all designed to make her succumb to her own fears and bring Janine to a state of despair.

Like the other books in the series, Corvus and Me borrows from the traditions of epic journey tales, and from more modern sources such as CS Lewis.

The plot propels the characters into action, while Janine, Corvus, the Right Whisperer, Solar Spark and even some of Faeran's henchmen are given enough depth for readers to develop a sympathetic connection to them and their plight.

Solar Spark is a progression from the other books in the series because Janine is older and has developed a more complex relationship to this magical world, which she knows well at this point.

But will all of that matter if she does not survive and help her friends to keep Faeran at bay?

Corvus and Me - Solar Spark is available in print and Kindle versions, from a link on the Corvusandme.com website. The print version is $12.99 and the Kindle version is $3.

Whiskey and Wickedness

Larry Cotton is an author based in Lanark, who has an unrelenting passion for the 19th Century history of Eastern Ontario communities.

He has now completed 7 volumes in his Trent-Severn Waterway Series, Whiskey and Wickedness. Each book features historical records from small hamlets, many of which have since disappeared and are only recognised now as names on road signs.

“Vanished. Lost in the mists of time are more than one hundred cheese factories; general stores; taverns; blacksmiths, wagon making, harness making, shoemaking shops; schools; churches and temperance halls that once stood along the country roads of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Counties” 

Cotton compiles his books from research into newspaper archives and other sources, and presents his findings in a mix of photos, lists of names, and anecdotes. The books can be read from start to finish, or by cherry picking.

As the title suggests, Cotton rarely misses an opportunity to recount stories that end in either drunkenness or violence, which often happened in tandem. He is also interested in both the distilling and pub industries, as well as the temperance movement, which was still picking up steam in 1910, which is when the most recent entries in the book come from.

The accounts of the mining industry are particularly enlightening.

Here are a few tidbits from the book.

The Frontenac Lead Mine (Frontenac Draper Lake Mine) operated between 1866 and 1870, 1875 and 1880, between 1903 and 1905, and until as late as 1917. All told aout 5,0000 tons of lead were extracted. When the mine started up in 1870 the Stoness Brothers, Jabez and James arrived. Jabez opened the Farmer's Inn at Perth Road.

“At some point, his Methodist beliefs in abstinence cause him to close the Farmer's Inn. It was reported that he rolled the surplus whiskey barrels down the hill behind the public house into the swamp. Jabez also served as the reeve for a few years.”

Sydenham holds a large Canada Day celebration to this day, as it did 125 years ago as well. But things have changed.

“Dominion Day in 1885 was observed with more than the usual vigor in Sydenham ... the proceedings as a whole maintained an orderly character. Several drunken rows, however, occurred on the following two days. One man was stabbed in the breast and another almost had his head split open with an axe, yet there were no arrests in connection with these disgraceful occurrences.”

There were few characters as devoted to money and whiskey as confederate army deserter Loftus Haines, who made his way up to Flinton, now part of Addington Highlands, in 1863. When he heard that bounty's ranging from $2,700 to $3,500, paid in gold coins, were being given to the “Substitute” union soldiers, Haines joined and buried his money along Dead Creek, which is near Henderson. He deserted the army, swam across the St. Lawrence River and returned to Lessard's Tavern in Flinton to drink away his money. He then severed one of his toes, discoloured his hair and re-joined the army under another name, and did the same thing. When he did the same thing a third time, he was finally shot dead.

But he left up to $10,000 in gold coins buried along Dead Creek. In the Lessard hotel, he left a locked box with a map and instructions about how to get the gold for his fiance.

But before anyone had a chance to go looking for it, a fire swept through the Dead Creek area and all of the landscape features on the map were gone. So the gold coins were never found.

Whiskey and Wickedness Volume VII is available locally at the Arden General Store (C4 Convenience), Parham General Store, Sharbot Lake Pharmacy, Godfrey General Store, Troudale's General Store, Perth Road Store, Finnegan's General store, Cloyne and District Pioneer Museum (in season) and the Sunbury General Store.