The Golden Boy A Doctor’s Journey with Addiction
Publisher: Acorn Press$21.95Before opioids destroyed Grant Matheson’s career, he was a pillar of his community. Respected physician, loving husband, devoted father, and trusted friend. Grant was a straight-laced kid who grew up to be a clean-living adult. No drinking, no smoking, and certainly no drugs. It took everyone by surprise, most of all himself, when he became addicted to narcotics in his 30s. His story hit local press when he was found guilty of professional misconduct related to his addiction, including over-prescribing painkillers to patients so he could buy them back–an infraction that caused his physician license to be suspended.
Matheson’s memoir is a gritty account of his narcotic addiction and all that it cost him: various relationships, his career, and almost his life. The Golden Boy takes the reader from the very first day of Matheson’s drug addiction to that moment when he decided to rebuild his life through rehab and recovery.
The Grand Change
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95William Andrews’ first novel examines life in a small PEI communityin the 1940s and 50s as changes, so common in the restof the world, begin to take hold. Using a road as an allegory, heweaves a lyrical tale of simple country people, their strugglesand their joys. The story is told through the eyes of a boy calledJake: he is the witness to life on the Hook Road and the eventsthat change that life forever. The book is in some ways like along poem: the people and the world they inhabit are richlyand meticulously described, and the superb writing takes thereader to a world no one will ever see again.
The Keto Solution A Practical Guide for Living Your Low-Carbohydrate Life
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95At the age of 40, Angela Doucette was seriously overweight and starting to show signs of metabolic disease. She had developed high blood pressure, had some concerning numbers in my cholesterol/lipid profile and was about 50 pounds overweight. She felt miserable and frustrated having tried so many weight loss and exercise programs but nothing seemed to work long term. She switched to “Primal” eating and was finally able to shift the weight. Surprisingly, though, her blood pressure decreased naturally, her hs-CRP (an inflammatory marker) dropped significantly, and her lipid profile improved without medication! As a way to share the benefits, she started a weight loss and coaching program and offers workshops as well as online and in-person meetings. She has created a peer support network through the Keto Solution Facebook group, which continues to grow.
As Dr. Gary Fettke says, “Once you see the benefits, you can’t unsee them.” This journey has not only changed her professional outlook and career path, it has also given her hope for her future. With the knowledge and motivation to make the changes, she feels that other Maritimers can see these changes too. Packed with recipes and helpful hints, The Keto Solution is the only book you need for switching to a Keto lifestyle.
The Last Wild Boy
Publisher: Acorn Press$12.95This is a new young adult novel by P.E.I.’s Poet Laureate. It is a dystopic story about Nora who lives in the walled city of Aahimsa, anidyllic community of girls and women working together to make a peaceful life free of the brutality of the outsiders. As the companionof the mayor of Aahimsa’s daughter, Alice, she enjoys privileges that other women from the working class can only dream of.But when she and Alice find an outsider baby abandoned within the city walls, Nora starts to question whether the outsiders poseas much of a threat to her civilization as she’s been taught. With the baby’s life in danger, Nora must decide whether she’s willingto give up everything she has to save him, and who she can trust to help her.
The Little Book of Prince Edward Island
Photographer: John SylvesterPublisher: Acorn Press$19.95Award-winning photographer John Sylvester is back with a new book of stunning photography. Sylvester captures Prince Edward Island like no other photographer. With beautiful images of every corner of the Island in all seasons, The Little Book of Prince Edward Island is a charming and captivating look at the Island in all its colours. From the red dirt roads and green fields to the surrounding blue waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, John Sylvester’s imagery portrays the landscape that thousands of visitors from all over the world travel to see.
The Memory Chair
Publisher: Acorn Press$12.95Thirteen-year-old Betony has always hated going to her cranky great-grandmother’s house. It’s old and stuffy and boring and the woodstove in the kitchen is always burning too hot. But her Gram doesn’t have any other family living close by on the Kingston Peninsula, so Betony ends up being dragged along all the time.
She’d rather be pretty much anywhere…until one day Betony sits on her Gram’s favourite chair. She is suddenly transported into the past, and is experiencing her Gram’s life as if it were in her own memory. At first Betony is excited and curious, and begins to develop a close relationship with Gram, even learning to cook and quilt. But after she has experienced a few more of her great-grandmother’s memories, she realizes she is slowly uncovering a terrible, shameful family secret.
The Porridge is Up ! Stories from My Childhood Stories from My Childhood
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95The Porridge is Up! Stories from My Childhood is a collection of stories from those years–from a time when a secondhand bike or a brand new pair of pants were a big deal. But this is not the story of angels–as McIsaac hilariously recounts, he and his siblings courted their share of trouble. The Porridge is Up! is charming and laugh-out-loud funny; the tale of McIsaac’s strong desire for a box of Wagon Wheel cakes will make you laugh until you cry.
The Pup From Away
Artist: Christina PattersonPublisher: Acorn Press$9.95Dukes the pup is brought to rural Prince Edward Island from the city. He is used to the glamour of city life and isn’t sure what to make of life in the country. Over time, though, he begins to explore the fields and streams and finds that he loves it more than he could have imagined. When it is time to go home to the city, it is clear that Dukes is better off in his new home.
With a BFA and MBA, Shaun Patterson’s professional experience working in the creative field has taken him from designing multimedia collateral for Fortune 500 companies to creating art and producing video games for some internationally recognizable brands such as Six Flags, A&E and National Geographic. As a freelancer Shaun has produced high quality pieces of art and illustration ranging from children’s books, album covers, board game art and numerous private commissions. Shaun works both traditionally and digitally, and has a real love for doing genre work. Originally hailing from Barrie Ontario, Shaun and his wife Christina (also an artist) have made P.E.I. their home over the last five years and find the island to be a constant source of inspiration for them. Visit his website at www.shaunpatterson.com.
The Reluctant Detective
Publisher: Acorn Press$17.95A young widow, orphan and mother, Wilhelmina Anne Brown is just beginning to find some stability in her new home in Prince Edward Island when she is forced to deal with the death of her beloved uncle, Bill Darby. Darby, a Charlottetown private investigator, leaves Anne and her fourteen-year-old daughter a small savings account and his business, where Anne has worked as office manager for six years. What follows is Anne’s struggle to protect her family, find justice for her clients, and forge a new life for herself in this page-turning thriller.
The Rosary and the Rifle The Murder of Mary Ann MacKinnon
Publisher: Acorn Press$19.95On July 1, 1931, Mary Ann MacAulay married John Charles ‘JC’ MacKinnon at St. Mary’s Church in Souris, PEI. This mother of 12 children was a busy farmer’s wife, known for her optimistic outlook. Her optimism shone through her weekly column in The Charlottetown Patriot entitled “Mrs. Wiggs and Her Garden Patch”. Mrs. Wiggs’ writings not only identify her as an astute observer and chronicler of local events, educational issues, agricultural practices, and economic issues but also that Mary Ann was one of Mother Nature’s admirers and a person inclined to optimism where it could be found.
Mary Ann’s oldest child, Estelle, was 19 years old in 1951. A very attractive young lady, Estelle had graduated from Grade 11. Not long afterward, she was assaulted by an ex-boyfriend, Joey MacDonald, who was about to be tried for attempted rape. Before the trial, Mary Ann and family sat down to say the Rosary. About half way through, they heard glass breaking and first thought it was the chimney of the Aladdin lamp. Immediately when the sound was heard, Mary Ann swayed on her seat and fell backward. Her family members saw blood coming from behind her left ear and they then realized she had been shot. Mary Ann died on the second anniversary of her husband’s death leaving behind eleven orphaned children.
This is the story of the trial of Joey MacDonald and the family Mary Ann left behind.
The Sacred Space
Publisher: Acorn Press$25.95In this intimate collection of writing and art, Brian J. Francis invites us to explore the sacred space within.
The Sea That Sings To Me
Artist: Marla LesagePublisher: Acorn Press$13.95In this story an Island girl can hear music in the ocean — not as a metaphor, but as melodies, percussion, harmonies ringing from the waves. With lyrical words and beautiful illustrations, The Sea that Sings to Me is an ode to the special connection we have with the natural world.
the Whither Poems
Publisher: Acorn Press$17.95the whither poems is a poetry collection by Catherine Edward, a septuagenarian grandmother. “Whither is an oldish word, with a helpful attitude. I love it for that,” she says. “The overarching theme of the book is ‘that which cannot be’ while admitting to ‘what must be’. It is in the response to unanticipated, uninvited change that one’s mettle is revealed.”
The Year Mrs. Montague Cried
Publisher: Acorn Press$12.95Susan White was born in New Brunswick and moved from one New Brunswick city to another. As a teenager her family moved to the Kingston Peninsula and she only left long enough to earn her BA and Bed at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. Settling on the peninsula, she and her husband raised four children and ran small farm while she taught elementary school. Since retiring she is grateful to now have the time to work on her writing and the freedom to regularly visit her new granddaughter in Alberta.
