See You in Le Touquet: A Memoir of War and Destinyby Romie ChristiePublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Toby A. Welch  $24.95 ISBN 9781927570845 If any book should be made into a movie, it’s this one! See You in Le Touquet reads like a gripping historical fiction novel but it is a true story. Retired Canadian journalist Romie Christie tells the story of her inspiring parents, Sandy and Dorothy, in this fascinating peek into their lives. As Christie points out in the About This Story section in the back of See You in Le Touquet, this is a work of creative nonfiction. “It is based on fact, with some creativity and imagination woven into the story… Throughout this book, I have endeavoured to stay as true to actual events as I was able.” For the parts of the timeline that Christie didn’t have firsthand knowledge of, she assembled the information via personal essays Sandy had written, Le Touquet history books, Dorothy’s diaries, photos, historians, and stories from the family members and friends of her parents.  The cast of characters in See You in Le Touquet is lengthy as many people weave in and out of Dorothy and Sandy’s lives. If you struggle to remember who’s who as I did,…

Tunnels of Tyrannyby Mary Harelkin BishopPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Michelle Shaw$19.95 ISBN 9781927570715 The tunnels of Moose Jaw are once again the backdrop for nail-biting excitement and adventure in the Tunnels of Tyranny, the fourth book in Mary Harelkin Bishop’s best-selling Moose Jaw Time Travel Adventure series. I am so delighted that the series has been relaunched. The books were originally published by Coteau Books which unfortunately closed in 2020. However, the series was still in demand and, when the 20th year anniversary of the books drew near, Mary Harelkin Bishop approached DriverWorks Ink to assist in updating the books and relaunching them. In this book, Andrea and Tony race to Moose Jaw when they hear that their grandfather is ill. He asks them to return to the past to retrieve a notebook. But when they return to 1920s Moose Jaw, they discover that the dreaded Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is in town. It’s a race against time as the children wonder if they will ever get back to the present or will have to stay in 1920s Moose Jaw for ever. Bishop’s research is fascinating, and she bases the events that occur in the book on historical facts….

Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Deathby Deana J. DriverPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Keith Foster$24.95 ISBN 9781927570821 There is a reason Reginald Wilfred Harrison earned the nickname “Crash.” He was in four bombers that crashed – first as co-pilot on a training mission; the last three as pilot. Amazingly, he survived all four. In Crash Harrison: Tales of a Bomber Pilot Who Defied Death, Deana Driver tells the story of Harrison’s experiences as a Canadian bomber pilot during World War II. Or rather, she lets him tell his story in his own words. It’s like he’s sitting right there beside you, telling his tales. Harrison developed an interest in flying at an early age, watching Harvard training planes flying overhead at his family farm near Finnie, SK. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and said that one of his proudest moments was when his commanding officer pinned the Pilot Wings badge on him. On reaching England in 1944, Harrison trained on Wellington and Halifax bombers. Following that, he was posted to the Canadian 431 Iroquois Squadron, which was called the Jinx Squadron. It suffered the highest loss rate in all of Bomber Command. Harrison’s…

Don’t They Kick When You Do That? Vol 2 More Stories of a Prairie Veterinarianby Dr. Gary HoiumPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Michelle Shaw$19.95 ISBN 9781927570814 An anxious Saint Bernard with a muzzle full of porcupine quills, four escaped buffalo that inadvertently crossed the international border into Canada and an escaped tomcat that resulted in an unusual “fishing” experience. These are a few of the heartwarming and quirky scenarios Dr Gary Houim relates in Don’t They Kick When You Do That? Vol 2 More Stories of a Prairie Veterinarian , the sequel to his popular 2021 memoir Don’t They Kick When You do That? For more than 30 years, Dr Gary Hoium was the owner of a mixed animal clinic in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Mixed animal is a simple way of saying that he treated everything in the surrounding areas from turtles to alpacas. Most of his day-to-day work of course was more routine – calving cows, caring for injured cattle and horses and the many small animal concerns and emergencies of a busy veterinary clinic. But never, ever snakes. And yes, there’s a story in that! Gary Hoium is a wonderful storyteller. He sets each scene with a vivid sense…

You Are Enough: Activate Your Angels & Magnetize a Soul-FULL Lifeby Lisa DriverPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781927570784 Every once in a while a book comes along that you didn’t know you needed but you do. You Are Enough is that book for me. In a very condensed nutshell, this spiritual guidebook covers how to get in touch with your angels so you can let go of your past and your current pressures in order to believe that you are loved and supported (and ultimately that You Are Enough.) Author Lisa Driver helps you accomplish this through the use of spiritual tools like meditations, exercises, and angel activations. It does make sense as you work your way through the book, I promise!  Driver mentions in her introduction that she worked on this book for almost four years and it shows. It is a dense read filled with a tremendous amount of information: that is a great thing for readers who like to delve deep into a topic. Fans of journaling will be pulling out their pens and notebooks as they go through You Are Enough. You’ll find journal prompts scattered throughout the book that are juicy…

Tunnels of Treacheryby Mary Harelkin BishopPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Michelle Shaw$19.95 ISBN 9781927570692 Time travelling tunnels, thrilling, heart-stopping adventures. It must be a Mary Harelkin Bishop book! Tunnels of Treachery is the third book in Mary Harelkin Bishop’s well known Moose Jaw Time Travel Adventure series. This is the 20th anniversary edition of the series, and the book has been updated with shorter chapters, illustrations, historical notes and new resources, as well as a gorgeous new cover by illustrator Wendi Nordell. I think it’s much less well known than the first two books so I’m delighted that more readers will get a chance to enjoy it. In Tunnels of Treachery, Andrea’s friends Kami and Eddie Mark accidentally fall into the time travelling tunnels below Moose Jaw. They discover that Chinese immigrants are being forced to work in terrible conditions in the tunnels until they can pay the government-imposed Head Tax. Kami and Eddie are of Asian descent and don’t have documentation to show that they can legally be in Canada. They are forced to work as indentured labourers in the tunnels. Will Andrea and her brother Tony manage to help them escape and find their way back to the…

Miss G and Meby Jennifer S. WallacePublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Michelle Shaw$18.95 ISBN 9781927570753 Weaving together poems, journal entries, anecdotes and personal essays, Miss G and Me is a beautifully written memoir as well as an exploration of identity, culture, family and place. Jennifer Wallace grew up knowing the basics of her mother’s life. Ruth Williamson was born and grew up in Jamaica. She came to Saskatchewan to work as a nurse and married. But slowly Jennifer began to suspect that there was a lot more to her mother than she’d thought, especially when her sister answered the phone one day to hear a voice asking for Miss G. Jennifer has pieced together her mother’s story through countless interviews with family and friends and research into a myriad of topics. Vividly colored vignettes slip back and forwards through time and place as the book moves between Jamaica, London and Saskatchewan from 1948 to the present. Ruth was just 17 when she left her family in Jamaica to study nursing in London, England in 1961. She qualified as a State Registered Nurse (SNR), and then went on to specialize in midwifery. After finishing her training, she headed to Canada. There…

Don’t They KICK When You Do That? Stories of a Prairie Veterinarianby Dr. Gary HoiumPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$19.95 ISBN 9-781927-570746 While conducting author visits in schools over the decades, I’d often ask students what they wanted to be when they grew up, and, invariably, veterinarian was a top response. I understand that. Who doesn’t love animals? Interestingly, Dr. Gary Hoium—veterinarian and author of Don’t They KICK When You Do That? Stories of a Prairie Veterinarian—never intended to become a vet. It was “never a goal or an ambition of mine while I was growing up in rural Saskatchewan,” he explains in his just-published collection of experiences as a mixed-animal veterinarian and clinic owner in Weyburn. Instead, Dr. Hoium had his hopes set on an NHL career, but when that and medical school admission attempts failed, he applied to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and was soon on his way to becoming a vet for the next 36 years. His conversational stories about animal patients (and their humans) are shared over 41 short chapters, many of them humourous. The cover image of this conversationally-toned book shows a smiling Dr. Hoium at work: left hand holding up…

Tunnels of Terror: Moose Jaw Time Travel Adventure #2by Mary Harelkin BishopPublished by DriverWorks Ink and emmbee inkReview by Michelle Shaw$19.95 ISBN 9781927570678 It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since the Moose Jaw Time Travel adventure series was first published. Tunnels of Terror is the second book of the series to be rereleased and updated and will definitely captivate a new generation of readers. Tunnels of Terror takes place about a year after the events in the first book, Tunnels of Time. The book begins with Andrea and her younger brother Tony on the bus to Moose Jaw to spend some time with their grandparents and Great Aunt Bea. The last thing Andrea wants to do is return to the city where she was catapulted back in time and forced to deal with the dreaded Al Capone and his gangsters in the underground tunnels. But Tony has been ill and Andrea is persuaded that her parents really need a break so Moose Jaw it is. She’s uneasy though because she’s been having unsettling nightmares about being trapped in the tunnels and captured. Tony, meanwhile, has been desperate to learn what happened to his sister in Moose Jaw…

Fun on the Farm 3: True Tales of Farm Life!Compiled and edited by Deana J. DriverPublished by DriverWorks InkReview by Michelle Shaw$17.95 ISBN 9781927570630 Growing up on a farm on the Canadian prairies is a unique experience, especially in the days before cellphones and GPS. In Fun on the Farm 3, 20 prairie writers, including Mary Harelkin Bishop and Deana Driver, share some of their treasured memories. The book is full of all kinds of fascinating stories. There are tales of pet calves, malevolent bulls, and piglets like Arnold who was pushed around in a doll carriage. Laurie Lynn Muirhead shares the story of her brother plucking the feathers off the turkeys’ butts to make wings so he could fly. There are stories of learning to drive, usually before the driver could see over the dashboard, and the annual spring ritual of picking rocks in the fields before and after seeding. As Brad Hauber puts it … “This job was made specifically with farm kids in mind.” Mary Harelkin Bishop tells of the time her three-year old brother got stuck in the mud – literally – in the middle of the soggy, muddy garden one very wet spring, and Marilyn…