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A Time to Disappear (2023)
It’s 1939 and Jari Hoivuniemi, Finn Immigrant to Northern Ontario (Hearst), is rushing back to his homeland to fight off the invading Russians. The two brutal wars that follow—the Winter War and the Continuation War (WWII)— leave Jari wounded, shell-shocked, and disillusioned. Recuperating in Helsinki in 1944, and with the war all but lost, he resolves to go AWOL. Objective? Return to Canada to heal and claim the woman he loves—Kerttu.After a harrowing escape from Europe via Sweden, Jari finally makes it back to Canada, albeit with bogus papers and a using a false name. Foremost on his mind, however, is Kerttu’s reaction to his current condition. What if she’s repulsed by the emotional state he’s in, and rejects him? What if she sees through the façade of normalcy and detects that under it lies a war-conditioned temperament too quick to violence? Terrified, he decides to disappear into the bush to heal. Not forever, he assures himself, just long enough to get his feet back on the ground.
But progress is slow, survival in the subarctic winter challenging, and new dangers emerge—poachers intent on robbing him of the few furs he's been able to trap; the Finn traitor who had fought on the Russian side (a man he had once sworn to kill); the escaped German POW who shows up at his shack with the RCMP hot on his tail; discovery by the police and deportation to Finland where he faces charges on crimes committed.
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The Methodist Man (2017)
It’s 1840 and Robert Terrill Rundle—dispatched from England to Christianize the wild Indians of the Canadian plains—is stepping into a harsh world. The whites cling to isolated forts, while two powerful First Nations groups—the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Plains Cree Alliance—struggle for control of the diminishing buffalo herds.Enter Rundle, a Methodist missionary armed solely with the Bible. When he realizes that only a handful of Indians ever come to the forts he decides to risk his life by going to them. The Hudson’s Bay Company is beside itself at the risks he takes. It’s been getting bad press in England and a dead missionary will not improve their status with the English public. Meanwhile, Rundle, refusing to be locked up in Fort Edmonton, continues to risk death by starvation, prairie fire, freezing temperatures, thin river ice, and warring tribes.
“Close your eyes and go back 180 years. Now try to picture the Canadian Prairies of the day. Most of us can’t do it. John Wayne movies get in the way. We only see the American West.” “West opens a wide window on the times and people.”
—Margaret L. Leake“ . . . unexpected subplots draw the reader irresistibly into life and death struggles on the Canadian plains.”
—George Emery, Emeritus Prof. of History, University of Western Ontario“. . . truly a great Canadian novel! I never knew how little I knew about the Plains Indians, their diversity and their fate.”
—Ian McKercher, author -
Not In My Father's Footsteps (2011)
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 St., people are struggling to lift off the yoke of strife and despair caused by the great depression. Unemployed men like Marty Kellenberger—downtrodden, shut out, disillusioned, forced to ride the rails year after year—have two options: They can sift through the isms in search of a political solution—socialism, communism, anarchism, corporatism—or, hit back at the capitalist enemy by going to Spain to fight the fascists. What have Marty and his ilk got to lose?Dollard Desjardins might go to Spain, too, but for different reasons. As a budding reporter born into a wealthy Montreal family, he longs to get the scoop on the great political, economic and social reforms Franco is introducing with the help of Hitler and Mussolini. Like Marty he’s a product of the University of Montreal but he’s never seen the inside of the sweatshops, nor understood the plight of young girls forced to put up with unspeakable abuse in order to hold onto their jobs. For Dollard, unions are a cancer to be exorcised at all costs.
The two men will meet in Spain in conditions neither of them could ever have imagined...
“Compelling! This book is what good historical novels are made of.”
—Harvey Davey, Renaissance mag.“Historical fiction aficionados crave two things—a riveting story and historical accuracy. West seems to have delivered both.”
—Vicki Gilhula, Sudbury Star“. . . bien ficelé et bien documenté. Quand on commence à lire, on ne plus s’arrêter.”
—Omer Cantin, éditeur, Le Nord“West tells this story with a realism that blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction.”
—Bill Waiser, Prof. of History Univ. of Sask. -
Run Of The Town (2006)
Canadians make two mistakes when they picture small towns of the mid twentieth century—they assume they are untouched by world events and that the people there were largely the same then as they are today. Wrong on both counts. These seventeen factual stories chronicle life and times in a small Northern Ontario resource town in the years between 1940 and 1965.The stories are seen through the eyes of R.J. Martin as he matures from youth to manhood. R.J. grows up over the family hardware store on the main corner of town. Little escapes his eye.
Inasmuch as they touch on the world events of the day, each story is a mini history lesson: a telegram that arrives at a home with two sons at war and a mother who can’t bring herself to open it; German prisoners of war loose on the streets of town; displaced Japanese students from the West Coast unwelcomed at school; hobos in the jungle by the tracks; the terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis; French and English communities living side by side but in different worlds. In one story, “All For the Love of Dusty Miller,” R.J. stumbles onto the meaning of true love. The last story, “In From the Cold,” R.J. now a civil servant facing retirement in Ottawa, struggles to renew friendship with the childhood chums he’s ignored for decades.
“West has evoked with first-hand loving care the raw, individualist, sensual, sub-arctic bush town persona . . . a fine achievement.”
—BRIAN DOYLE, NSK Neustadt International prize, from World Literature Today“Stories that are ‘rampant with memory’ . . . sensitive, thoughtful, funny, sometimes sad, but always honest: reading them creates a movie in the mind.” —PAT HOLLOWAY, Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa
“A pure delight . . . timeless accounts to be treasured by youth and adults alike. A wonderful addition to Canadian literature.”
—SUSAN ANNE NOUVET, educator -
Run Of The Town - FREE Recording
FREE LISTENING as PLAYED ON CBC RADIO!Eight of these award-winning short stories have been recorded and are available here at no cost to you. Three of these were played on CBC Radio.
Sit back, close your eyes, and rekindle the joy of being read to. If you find the experience a positive one please pass on the opportunity to others—friends, shut-ins, people with failing sight.
“Thank you so much for these stories. Listening to them helped my husband get through countless hours of cancer treatment.”
—Audrey Stiles
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Ripe For The Picking (2004)
With Quebec separatists poised to win the referendum the Canadian
economy is in free fall, and the Yankees are coming to plunder lucrative
industries. Although American financier, Benoit Lefebvre, disagrees with the
ethics, he acts as point man on a massive takeover raid for a U.S. consortium.
His instructions are to avoid the ensuing political mess “up there”. But as he
acquaints himself with old friends—influential Canadians from both sides of
the cultural divide—he comes to understand the forces fueling their passions.
His meddling results in tumultuous consequences for the Canadians, his
consortium and his marriage.
“strong engaging characters . . . meaningful dialogue . . . a page turner. Looks like Canada has found itself a new master of the political thriller.”
—Prof. John Trent, Univ. of Ottawa, Past Sec.-Gen, International Political Science Ass.. . . a complex and carefully plotted ride through Canadian politics and corporate America.”
—Catherine Jenkins, author, Swimming in the Ocean“Un roman haletant, don’t l’intrigue est menée de main de maître.”
—Frѐdelin Leroux, author, Mots de tête