Raisin Wine: A Boyhood in a Different MuskokaA warm, at times hilarious, yet dark childhood memoir from a bestselling author. This memoir recalls the boyhood years of Ontario’s future lieutenant-governor, living in a dilapidated old house complete with outdoor toilet and coal oil-lamp lighting. Behind the outrageous stories, larger-than life-characters, and descriptions of the mores of a small village in the heart of Ontario’s cottage country are flashes of insight from the perspective of a child that recall the great classic Who has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell. But why "a different Muskoka?" Because the boy was a half-breed kid. Visits to his mother’s reserve showed him that he was caught between two worlds. His mother’s fight with depression flowed from that dilemma. His father — the book’s main character — was a lovable, white, working class, happy-go-lucky guy who never had any money but who made the best home brew in the village — and his specialty was raisin wine. Like that raisin wine, this unusual book goes down easily and has a kick to it. |
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asked Barbara Ann Scott best friend Betty Grable big city boy's mother brother bush cabins Canada Canadian century Chippewa church comic books cottage customers dark door drinking dump dynamite face Family Herald father favourite fight fish front Georgian Bay girl Globe and Mail grandfather guests guys hand husband ice cream Indian Camp Indian River kids Lake Muskoka laugh listen lived looked Miss Sellers Muskoka Lakes native nearby town neighbours never newspaper night old couch old house Old Jack old-timers Ontario outhouse parents pigs pork and beans Port Carling pulled raisin wine reserve road scrap metal sell smell smiling snow someone soon stories stove street summer residents talk telling thought told took Toronto Daily Star Toronto Telegram tourist trees truck turn Vern village wait wanted wife young youngster