Fiction Treasures by Maritime Writers

Book excerpt: Though little known today, from 1860 to 1940 Canadian novelists from the Maritime provinces were writing highly successful books which were widely read in Canada, the US, and Britain. Although today only Lucy Maud Montgomery is remembered and read, there were several dozen writers who enjoyed the same level of success and renown. This book brings these authors and their most successful books back into the spotlight of Canadian writing. In 2001, Canadian literature specialist Gwen Davies and Formac publisher James Lorimer set out to republish books by these largely forgotten Maritime authors. Readers can now discover 35 of their novels, all reprinted in Formac's Fiction Treasures series. For each book, series editor Gwen Davies commissioned an introduction by a contemporary scholar who offers a brief biography of the writer and a discussion of the text itself. As Gwen Davies notes, "These introductions not only capture new research in literary biography or publishing history, but also broaden our understanding of regional popular reading tastes from the era of Queen Victoria to the Second World War." This book brings these introductory essays together in a single volume so that readers can discover these writers and get an overview of their best works.