Book 1 of
"The Muskoka Novels"

Cover photo by Melanie Wills

Research & Bibliography

As a former history and English teacher, I've long been fascinated by the rich but neglected social history of our country. As an avid reader of historical fiction, I was disappointed that there were so few good books available that would entertain and yet enlighten us about Canada's past.

Writing a good historical novel involves recreating life as accurately - and yet, unobtrusively - as possible. This is done through extensive and thorough research, finding out about every aspect of life from food to medicine, architecture to transportation, etiquette to morals, and then fitting all that seamlessly into an interesting plot.

In my research I use first person accounts, such as letters and diaries, biographies, sociological analyses, and scholarly tomes.

Trips to museums and the locations of events are invaluable. See below a photo of the restored Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium, which was mostly reduced to rubble during the Great War. Next to it is the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Tyne Cot, near Passchendaele.

Readers' comments are always appreciated at info@mindshadows.com

Bibliography for Book 1

Adams, Joan Crawford. Outline of Fractures. E. & S. Livingstone Ltd., 1965

Adie, Kate. Corsets to Camouflage: Women and War. Hodder & Stoughton, 2003

Ahlbrandt, Patricia Walbridge. Beaumaris. Boston Mills Press, 1989

Ainley, Marianne Gosztonyi. Despite the Odds: Essays on Canadian Women and Science. Vehicule Press, 1990

Anderson, Allan, and Ralph Beaumont. Postcard Memories of Muskoka. Boston Mills Press

Axelrod, Paul, & John G. Reid, ed. Youth, University, and Canadian Society: Essays in the Social History of Higher Education. McGill, Queen's University Press, 1989.

Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of Slang. Oxford U Press, 2003

Bishop, Major William. Winged Warfare. George H. Doran CO., 1918

Bishop, William Arthur. The Courage of Early Morning: The Story of Billy Bishop. McClelland & Stewart, 1965

Bliss, Michael. A Canadian Millionaire: The Life and Business Times of Sir Joseph Flavelle. Bart. 1858-1939. Macmillan of Canada, 1978

Bliss, Michael. A Living Profit: Studies in the Social History of Canadian Business, 1883-1911. McClelland & Stewart. 1974

Bothwell, Robert & J.L Granatstein. Our Century: The Canadian Journey. McArthur & Co., 2000

Bowyer, Chaz. Airmen of World War 1. Arms and Armour Press, 1975

Bowyer, Chaz. History of the RAF. Hamlyn, 1977

Boyd, William. With a Field Ambulance at Ypres. The Musson Book Co.,1916

Boyer, Barbaranne. Muskoka's Grand Hotels. Boston Mills Press, 1987

Brittain, Vera. Testament of Youth. MacMillan Co, 1933

Brown, Angus & Richard Gimblett. In the Footsteps of the Canadian Corps: Canada's First World War 1914-1918. Magic Light Publishing, 2006

Canada in the Great World War. Vol. 2, 3, 5, & 6, United Publishers, 1918-1921

Capuzzo, Michael. Close to Shore. Broadway Books, NY, 2001

Careless, J.M.S. Toronto to 1918. James Lorimer & Co. 1984

Condell, Diana & Jean Liddiard. Working for Victory, Images of Women in the First World War, 1914-18. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987

Carroll, Jacqueline. Muskoka Boathouses. Boston Mills Press, 1990

Cook, Sharon Anne, et. al, eds. Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the Twentieth Century. McGill University Press, 2001

Cooper, Lady Diana. The Rainbow Comes and Goes. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1958.

Cowill-Maddock, Marion Frye. Diary of Fanny Colwill Calvert. 1981

Cruikshank, Tom, photos by John de Visser. Old Toronto Houses. Firefly Books, 2003

Dendy, William. Lost Toronto. McClelland & Stewart, 1978

Dennison, John. Micklethwaite's Muskoka. Boston Mills Press, 1993

Dreiser, Theodore. The Financier. The World Publishing Co., 1912

DuVernet, Sylvia. L.M. Montgomery & the Mystique of Muskoka. U of T Press, 1988

Eaton, Flora McCrea. Memory's Wall: The Autobiography of Flora McCrea Eaton. Clarke, Irwin & Co. Ltd., 1956

Ellis, John. Eye-Deep in Hell: Trench Warfare in World War 1. Pantheon Books,1976

Filey, Mike. Toronto, Reflections of the Past. Nelson, Foster & Scott Ltd. 1972

Fleming, R. B. The Railway King of Canada: Sir William Mackenzie, 1849-1923. UBC Press, 1991

Foreman, John, & Robbe Pierce Stimson. The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspirations 1879-1901. St. Martin's Press, 1991

Fraser, Helen. Women and War Work. G. Arnold Shaw. 1918

Fredette, Major Raymond. The Sky on Fire: The first Battle of Britain 1917-1918 and the Birth of the Royal Air Force. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966

Grahame-White, Claude. Aircraft in The Great War. T. Fisher Unwin, 1915

Graves, Diane. A Crown of Life: The World of John McCrae. Vanwell Publishing, 1997

Greenhous, Brereton. The Making of Billy Bishop. Dundurn Press, 2002

Greenhous, Brereton. The Rattle of Pebbles: The First World War Diaries of two Canadian Airmen. Canadian Government Publishing Centre, 1987

Grinnell-Milne, Duncan. Wind in the Wires. Arno Press, 1980

Groom, Winston. A Storm in Flanders. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002

Gwyn, Sandra. Tapestry of War. Harper Canada. 1992

Kealey, Gregory S. Hogtown: Working Class Toronto at the Turn of the Century. New Hogtown Press, 1974

King, Paul. Cottage Country. Discovery Books, 1991

Lauriat Jr., Charles E. The Lusitania's Last Voyage. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1915

Lawson, Eric & Jane. The First Air Campaign: August 1914 - November 1918. Combined Books, 1996

Leacock, Stephen. Arcadian Adventures With the Idle Rich. McClelland & Stewart., 1914

Lundell, Liz. The Estates of Old Toronto. Boston Mills Press, 1997

Lundell, Liz. Old Muskoka: Century Cottages and Summer Estates. Boston Mills Press, 2003

Lynch, Gerald. Stephen Leacock: Humour & Humanity. McGill-Queen's University Press, 1988

Martin, Sandra & Roger Hall, ed. Rupert Brooke in Canada. PMA Books, 1978

Martyn, Lucy Booth. Aristocratic Toronto: 19th Century Grandeur. Gage Publishing, 1980

Martyn, Lucy Booth. Toronto: 100 Years of Grandeur. Gage Publishing, 1978

McQueen, Rod. The Eatons: The Rise and Fall of Canada's Royal Family. Stoddart, 1999

McKee, Alexander. The Friendless Sky: The Story of Air Combat in World War 1. Souvenir Press, 1962

Moritz, Albert & Theresa. Stephen Leacock: his remarkable life. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2002

Newman, Peter C. Titans: How the Canadian Establishment Seized Power. Penguin, 1998

Paris, Michael. Winged Warfare. Manchester University Press, 1992

Partridge, Eric. Slang: Today and Yesterday. Barnes & Noble, 1970

Phelan, Joseph. Aeroplanes and Flyers of the First World War. Grosset & Dunlap, 1973

Priestley, J.B. The Edwardians. Sphere Books, 1970

Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. Norton & Co. 1997

Pound, Reginald. The Lost Generation. Constable, 1964

Prescott, John F. In Flanders Fields: The Story of John McCrae. Boston Mills Press, 1985

Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Walker & Co., 2002

Read, Daphne, ed. The Great War and Canadian Society: An Oral History. New Hogtown Press, 1978

Rhondda, the Vicountess (Margaret Haig). This Was My World. Macmillan & Co. 1933

Robinson, Derek. War Story. Cassell Military Paperbacks, 1987

Ross, Judy, Photos by John de Visser. Muskoka. Boston Mills Press,1989

Ross, Judy, Photos by John de Visser. Muskoka Souvenir. Boston Mills Press, 1995

Ross, Judy, Photos by John de Visser. Summer Cottages. Stoddart/ Boston Mills Press, 1991

Rubio, Mary and Elizabeth Waterston. The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery: Vol. II: 1910 - 1921, Oxford University Press, 1987

Rust-D'Eye, George. Cabbagetown Remembered. Boston Mills Press, 1984

Shortt, S.E.D. (ed.) Medicine in Canadian Society: Historical Perspectives, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1981

Strong-Boag, Veronica. A Woman with a Purpose: The Diaries of Elizabeth Smith 1872-1884. U of T Press. 1980

SummerTimes, Boston Mills Press, 1994

Tatley, Richard. Steamboating in Muskoka. Muskoka Litho, 1972

Tatley, Richard. The Steamboat Era in the Muskokas, Vol 1. Boston Mills Press, 1983

Tatley, Richard. The Steamboat Era in the Muskokas, Vol 2. Boston Mills Press, 1984

Taylor, Cameron. Enchanted Summers: The Grand Hotels of Muskoka. Lynx Images Inc., 1997

Taylor, Kendall, Sometimes Madness is Wisdom: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, A Marriage. Robson Books, 2002

Ward, Irene. F.A.N.Y. Invicta. Hutchinson. 1955

Wedd, Andrew. Killiecrankie 1886-1986. (privately printed) 1986

Wharton, Edith. The Custom of the Country. Oxford University Press. 1995 (orig. pub. 1913)

Wills, Gerald Berkeley, F.R.I.B.A. M.C. Personal Narrative. (family publication)

Woodward, Sir Llewellyn. Great Britain and the War of 1914-1918. Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1967

Videos:

Kohanyi, Julius. Muskoka - A Look Back

Lewis, Jonathan, Producer & Director. People's Century: 1900 - PBS

Lynx Images Inc., Enchanted Summers: The Grand Hotels of Muskoka.

NFB. Aces: A Story of the First Air War

Nova. Who Killed the Red Baron?

Stroyman, Molly. Canada & WW1

The Day of the Steamboat: Muskoka Ontario

World War 1: 1914-1918

Yaccato, Bruce, Writer and Director. Wilfred Laurier & The Romance of Canada.

Miscellaneous:

Eaton's Catalogue, 1914

The (London) Times - various dates throughout 1914 - 1916

The New York Times - September 1914

Torontonensis - 1914 & 1915 - University of Toronto Students' Year Book

The Toronto Star - various dates throughout 1914 - 1916

University of Toronto Calendars, 1914 & 1915

Links to Interesting and Informative Internet Sites:

Here is just a sampling of the hundreds of websites I have visited. I'll be adding more over the next few weeks. Please watch this page for regular updates.

Find out what songs were popular in 1914 (and other eras). You can hear that music and see the lyrics at this fun and informative site: http://www.perfessorbill.com/index2.htm

Edwardian life in England: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/countryhouse/edwardianlife/index.html

For fascinating accounts of the sinking of the Lusitania, and survivors' stories see this site: http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/articles/lusitania.php

Find out more about spectacular Coney Island on this extensive and impressive site: http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland/index.html

Here's a guide to Jazz Age Slang: http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm

Plenty of information about American Cultural History, 1910-1919, can be found here: http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade10.html

If you're not already aware of Wikipedia, visit this awesome free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

There's an amazing amount of information on the web about the First World War. Here are some sites: http://www.firstworldwar.com/index.htm

http://www.canadianletters.ca

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?

http://www.cefresearch.com/phpBB2/

http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/war-military/index-e.html

http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/cwme.asp

http://www.1914-1918.net/

http://www.theaerodrome.com/

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub.cfm?source=history/firstwar

http://facultystaff.vwc.edu/~dgraf/military.htm

http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/L/lostgeneration/homefront/resources1.html

http://www.fany.org.uk/history/ww1/ww1_page_01.html

http://www.vlib.us/medical/

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/adami/camc/camc.html

http://www.scarletfinders.co.uk/