Terrence Rundle West

Not In My Father’s Footsteps (third book ,second novel) is scheduled to come out in 2010. Footsteps examines the social, religious, economic, cultural and linguistic forces that drive two young, Montrealers—one Jewish from the Main, the other French Canadian of upper-crust Outremont stock—out of Montreal and onto opposite sides of the Spanish Civil War. Progress on this work was interrupted in order to edit, Clayton’s Kids: Pioneer Families of Hearst Public School.

Not In My Father’s Footsteps

Terrence Rundle West

It’s the 1930s. In Montreal, tensions are running high. French vs. English. Jew vs Christian. Haves vs. have-nots. The city is swirling with unrest. From Outremont to St. Urbain Street, people are struggling to lift off the yoke of strife and despair  caused by the most devastating economic depression the world has ever experienced. For young, single men with no jobs, the option is to ride the rails. But that, too, is fraught with danger. For protection they form up in groups, sleep in hobo jungles  and challenge strangers. But it offers scant comfort. Police and local officials keep moving them along. Years drag on . They lose hope, drifting to Vancouver. Or labour camps where they’re paid twenty cents a day for meaningless work. Or maybe  Spain, to strike back at the fascists. What have they got to lose?


". . . superb historical fiction. Its skilfully-paced plot and multi-ethnic dialogue takes the reader into the vanished world of Depression-era Canada, and then to Canadians on the ground in the Spanish Civil War. With compelling characters located  convincingly in their historical context, this fine book delivers a rich and moving read."
—GEORGE EMERY, Emeritus Professor of History,University of Western Ontario


"West tells this story with a realism that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction."
—BILL WAISER, Professor of History and A.S. Morton Research Chair,  
    University of Saskatchewan


". . . bien ficelé et bien documenté. Quand on commence à lire, on ne veut plus s’arrêter.
  —OMER CANTIN, Éditeur, Le Nord