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The River Otonabee of My Boyhood

by Vincent Joseph Barnes

133 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); black and white images; catalogue #05-2641; ISBN 1-4120-7745-1; US$13.75, C$15.81, EUR11.29, £7.91

Growing up, from birth to young adult, during the Great Depression. It's history! In the age of horses and wagons, steam engines, outhouses, and no telephones or TVs.

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About the Book

About the Author

Excerpts

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About the Book

Vincent's story, as seen through the eyes of a boy, takes you into his youth during the hard times of the late 1920's and 1930's. He tells of his mother and father and their struggle to raise a large family during the Great Depression. Mother's first washing machine, their first telephone and electric lights, of the horse and sleighs, and the steam engines on the railroad.

The River became a most important part of his life as it gave him entertainment and good fishing. It is where, in his mind, great adventures happened. First in a house of spirits, and in the summer when the river teamed with fish, and where he learned to swim. The weather grew cold as winter came on and the river froze, sometimes to a depth of twelve inches. Skiing became a favorite pastime.

The frosted windowpanes, snow forts and igloos, of a snow tunnel and a roof of pure ice. How the children walked to school in the freezing cold. The time when the fields were ploughed with horses, the blacksmith shop that made shoes for the horses. Milk and bread were delivered to your door by horse and sleigh or wagon.

He tells of his first job at 13 years of age, in a bowling alley for $2.50 a week. Finding summer wok at 75 cents a day, picking tomatoes and what a thrashing was. Because of poverty, began working in a carpet mill at 15 years of age, what it was like to watch the great looms working. At 16 years of age, what his older brother Len, thought he should know to be a mane. He worked as steel fitter when he met a young lady. How his life changed from his youth to that of a young adult.

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About the Author

Vincent Barnes was a columnist for a union newspaper, The Voice of the Worker where he wrote the "Doings From Davenport" column for ten years. Topics he covered included grievances, safety, health problems, why workers should join a union. Because of his nose for news, his column was the most read in the newspaper. Then, Barnes put his writing and research interests on the back burner until 1994 when he bought a computer. Since then he has written a proliferation of slice-of-life short stories, poetry and books. His short story, "Frozen roots", was published in the Wordscape 4 Anthology and his poem, "The Beauty of Writing", was published in Wordscape 2.

Vincent's first published book is co-written with his wife: Our Long Road To Happiness, by Dianne and Vincent Barnes, published by Trafford, Victoria, British Columbia and can be ordered at www.trafford.com. Second book, The River Otonabee of My Boyhood. Third book also published by Trafford, What Was That War All About, Anyway? About the army life of Vincent Joseph Barnes in World War Two, 1939 - 1945.

Soon to be published, a book of short stories and poems. Also book two, co-written with Dianne, Adventure on a Frozen Island.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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