Paul Almond revisits Gaspé frontier life in The Survivor
First aired on All in a Weekend (19/6/11)
Filmmaker-turned-novelist Paul Almond takes us back to the untamed wilderness of Gaspé's Bay des Chaleurs in the early 19th century with his newest novel The Survivor.
It's the latest book in his Alford series, a fictional look back at two centuries of Quebec and Canadian history seen through the perspective of a pioneer family. The first novel in the series, The Deserter, introduced us to Thomas Manning, a young Englishman who joins the navy with a plan to jump ship and make a life for himself in the new world. He plunges into the icy waters of the Gaspé coast and swims to the shores of a wild Quebec, where he encounters an aboriginal tribe and learns to adapt to his rugged new home. In The Survivor, Manning changes his identity to James Alford and tries to win the hand of a much sought-after maiden, all while continuing to face life-threatening challenges -- including the worst famine in Canadian history.
Almond, who lives in Shigawake, Que., based the series on the history of his own Gaspé ancestors. He spent ten years researching and writing the books, relying on interviews with elder relatives and community members, trips to the Gaspesian British Heritage Village, and historical documents. Last year, McArthur & Company made the decision to publish all eight books.
"I wanted to know how the real people lived and it's hard to find out," Almond recently told All in a Weekend's Dave Bronstetter. "There are no books really about Canadian life on the Gaspé in the 1800s, so these are the first books which really give a picture of life on the Gaspé or in the Maritimes or New Brunswick."
Almond, who had an accomplished career in television and film before writing novels in his 70s, admits he wasn't much of a history buff before working on this series. But his experience researching the Alford saga, which he says was challenging, got him "hooked" on exploring the past, especially the more quotidian aspects of frontier life.
"It's not just click online and it's all there -- who online would have something about the Gaspé in 1800? Well, it's not there. It was very interesting to find out how to get these books written. There are all these prime ministers and everyone knows exactly who they married and what they all did but what did you drink out of? Did you drink out of a tin cup? No, there were no tin cups. You had to carve [one]. All those details of life are what I found fascinating."
Filmmaker-turned-novelist Paul Almond takes us back to the untamed wilderness of Gaspé's Bay des Chaleurs in the early 19th century with his newest novel The Survivor.
It's the latest book in his Alford series, a fictional look back at two centuries of Quebec and Canadian history seen through the perspective of a pioneer family. The first novel in the series, The Deserter, introduced us to Thomas Manning, a young Englishman who joins the navy with a plan to jump ship and make a life for himself in the new world. He plunges into the icy waters of the Gaspé coast and swims to the shores of a wild Quebec, where he encounters an aboriginal tribe and learns to adapt to his rugged new home. In The Survivor, Manning changes his identity to James Alford and tries to win the hand of a much sought-after maiden, all while continuing to face life-threatening challenges -- including the worst famine in Canadian history.
Almond, who lives in Shigawake, Que., based the series on the history of his own Gaspé ancestors. He spent ten years researching and writing the books, relying on interviews with elder relatives and community members, trips to the Gaspesian British Heritage Village, and historical documents. Last year, McArthur & Company made the decision to publish all eight books.
"I wanted to know how the real people lived and it's hard to find out," Almond recently told All in a Weekend's Dave Bronstetter. "There are no books really about Canadian life on the Gaspé in the 1800s, so these are the first books which really give a picture of life on the Gaspé or in the Maritimes or New Brunswick."
Almond, who had an accomplished career in television and film before writing novels in his 70s, admits he wasn't much of a history buff before working on this series. But his experience researching the Alford saga, which he says was challenging, got him "hooked" on exploring the past, especially the more quotidian aspects of frontier life.
"It's not just click online and it's all there -- who online would have something about the Gaspé in 1800? Well, it's not there. It was very interesting to find out how to get these books written. There are all these prime ministers and everyone knows exactly who they married and what they all did but what did you drink out of? Did you drink out of a tin cup? No, there were no tin cups. You had to carve [one]. All those details of life are what I found fascinating."
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