“Farley and Claire is a love story, a biography, a Tale of Two Farleys, or perhaps three: the public one, the private one, and the secret one.”—Margaret Atwood The tumultuous, enduring love story between iconic writer Farley Mowat and his wife Claire, including excerpts from their passionate letters, published here for the first time. When Farley Mowat met Claire Wheeler in August 1960, the attraction was immediate, and within days they were lovers, despite the fact that Farley was already married. Their affair—partly aided and abetted by publisher Jack McClelland—included an extended correspondence until several years later, when Farley finally obtained a Mexican divorce and the two were married in Texas. They were together until Farley’s death 54 years later. Claire, a brilliant diarist, has given author Michael Harris complete access to her journals and letters, as well as Farley’s letters, and Harris has conducted extensive interviews with her and original research. The result is a literary love story for the ages, complete with photos of the couple who defied conventions of their time to be together. Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.

In 1957, Farley Mowat shipped out aboard one of Newfoundland’s famous coastal steamers, tramping from outport to outport along the southwest coast. The indomitable spirit of the people and the bleak beauty of the landscape would lure him back again and again over the years. In the process of falling in love with a people and a place, Mowat also met the woman who would be the great love of his life. A stunningly beautiful and talented young artist, Claire Wheeler insouciantly climbed aboard Farley’s beloved but jinxed schooner as it lay on the St. Pierre docks, once again in a cradle for repairs, and changed both their lives forever. This is the story of that love affair, of summers spent sailing the Newfoundland coast, and of their decision to start their life together in Burgeo, one of the province’s last remaining outports. It is also an unforgettable portrait of the last of the outport people and a way of life that had survived for centuries but was now passing forever. Affectionate, unsentimental, this is a burnished gem from an undiminished talent. I was inside my vessel painting the cabin when I heard the sounds of a scuffle nearby. I poked my head out the companionway in time to see a lithesome young woman swarming up the ladder which leaned against Happy Adventure’s flank. Whining expectantly, the shipyard dog was endeavouring to follow this attractive stranger. I could see why. As slim and graceful as a ballet dancer (which, I would later learn, was one of her avocations), she appeared to be wearing a gleaming golden helmet (her own smoothly bobbed head of hair) and was as radiantly lovely as any Saxon goddess. I invited her aboard, while pushing the dog down the ladder. “That’s only Blanche,” I reassured my visitor. “He won’t bite. He’s just, uh . . . being friendly.” “That’s nice to know,” she said sweetly. Then she smiled . . . and I was lost. —From Bay of Spirits

Claire Mowat and her husband, Farley, spent the first five years of their marriage living in an isolated Newfoundland outport. It was out of that experience that Claire Mowat was inspired to write her acclaimed memoir The Outport People. As Farleys writing career took off, they decided to return to Ontario, to be closer to the publishing world. Farley and Claire settled down to raise a family in the picturesque town of Port Hope, where Farleys mother was living. After the tragic stillborn death of their first and only child, Farley persuaded Claire to leave Port Hope and go with him to the Magdalen Islands to make a film with the CBC on lobster fishing. They immediately fell in love with the windswept islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Soon they had bought a house there, on the edge of one of the only English-speaking communities in the archipelago. Their Magdalen Island home became an exotic destination for friends and luminaries of the periodPierre and Margaret Trudeau arrived by helicopter one afternoon, although most visitors took the ferry from Prince Edward Island.With a nod to John Steinbecks Travels with Charley, Claire Mowat has crafted a second memoir as charming and insightful as the first, providing an intimate portrait of a marriage and a window on Farley Mowats writing life during the period in which he wrote A Whale for the Killing and Sibir, and began the research for Sea of Slaughter.

The northeastern seaboard of Canada and the United States, extending from Labrador to Cape Cod, was the first region of North America to suffer from human exploitation. Farley Mowat informs extensive historical and biological research with his direct experience living in and observing this region. When it was first published more than 20 years ago, Sea of Slaughter served as a catalyst for environment reform, raising awareness of the decline and destruction of marine and coastal species. Today, it remains a prescient environmental classic, serving, now as ever, as a haunting reminder of the impact of human interest on the natural world.

' A captivating tale....Claire Mowat writes with warmth and sensitivity.' -Winnipeg Free Press Claire Mowat and her husband, Farley, arrived in Baleena by schooner. There were no roads, no cars and no telephones. The tiny village that nestled among the rocky hills of Newfoundland's desolate southern coast had existed for generations with ancient customs and patterns of speech that still endured-while the modern world waited impatiently in the wings. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand experience-the Mowats lived in the outport community for five years-Claire Mowat has written a fictional memoir that beautifully recreates an almost vanished world. A world where life revolved tightly around the home and neighbours watched over one another. A world where one's kitchen was open to anyone who might drop in, day or night. A world that Claire Mowat grew to love.

Walking on the Land brings Mowat's writing full circle, and will stand as a testament to his lifelong passions and unparalleled career."--BOOK JACKET.

Awasin, a Cree Indian boy, and Jamie, a Canadian orphan living with his uncle, the trapper Angus Macnair, are enchanted by the magic of the great Arctic wastes. They set out on an adventure that proves longer and more dangerous than they could have imagined. Drawing on his knowledge of the ways of the wilderness and the implacable northern elements, Farley Mowat has created a memorable tale of daring and adventure. When first published in 1956, Lost in the Barrens won the Governor-General’s Award for Juvenile Literature, the Book-of-the-Year Medal of the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians and the Boys’ Club of America Junior Book Award.

Prostitution, Trafficking, and Traumatic Stress documents the violence that runs like a constant thread throughout all types of prostitution, including escort, brothel, trafficking, strip club, and street prostitution. The book presents clinical examples, analysis, and original research, counteracting common myths about the harmlessness of prostitution. It explores the connections between prostitution, incest, sexual harassment, rape, and battering; looks at peer support programs for women escaping prostitution; examines clinical symptoms common among prostitutes; and much more.

A radiant, unforgettable memoir of one woman’s 450 days spent in captivity, and her defiant refusal to have her humanity stripped away. When Edith meets Luca in a small Northern town, the two connect instantly. Under the Northern Lights, they develop a deep friendship over their shared passions: travel, living off the land, a bohemian life. In search of wanderlust, they embark on an epic road trip from Italy to Togo, where they will join their friend’s sustainable farming project. Upon arriving on the African continent, they change their itinerary and drive through Africa’s Sahel region, a haven for militant groups, where they are surrounded and captured. Little was known about Edith’s and Luca’s fate until they reappeared in Mali more than one year later, having mysteriously escaped their captors. Now, Edith shares her harrowing story with the world for the first time—complete with the poems that became a lifeline for her in captivity, which she wrote in secret with a pen borrowed from another hostage. Against the stunning but cruel backdrop of the desert, Edith recounts her months as a hostage: the oppressive heat, violent sandstorms, constant relocations, hunger strikes, and her eventual heart-pounding escape. Separated from Luca early on, she finds solidarity and comfort with a group of other female hostages, who lend her a pen to write poetry, a creative outlet that helps save her life. Edith is steadfast in her will to remain sane: she reveals her dedication to her art, and her striking ability to unsettle her captors and identify their vulnerabilities. A compelling descent into a strange, brutal universe, The Weight of Sand is ultimately a life-affirming book and a poetic celebration of one woman’s resilience.

Exuberant, mercurial, melancholic, gregarious and generous—Farley Mowat, one of our most beloved writers, is brought to life in this remarkable biography Bestselling author James King has created a masterful and intimate portrait of this many-layered man: his failed relationships, his wanderlust, his compassion for the underdog, his lasting marriage to his second wife, Claire. At the heart of this story is Farley’s intense love-hate relationship with his father, a framework, as King points out, for the writer’s successes—and failures. Granted unprecedented access to Farley’s large circle of family, friends, colleagues—and even a few enemies—King has succeeded in creating a literary biography that entertains, illuminates and captures perfectly the elusive spirit of Canada’s most successful writer.