Mazengah Island, 1890

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My fascination with Muskoka began in the 1960s when, as a teenager, I stayed for weeks every summer at my friend's cottage on Mazengah Island on Lake Rosseau. The cottage had been built by her great-grandfather in 1879, so a family compound developed around it over the next century. Hearing wonderful tales of the "old days", I knew then that one day I would write about that genteel time in legendary Muskoka. My deepest thanks to the Rev. Fay Patterson, her parents, Art and Isla Patterson, and their large, extended family for introducing me to Muskoka and a unique way of life. Thanks to Barb Mason for lending the impressive Mazengah history compiled by her father, Arthur D. Blachford.

Readers who enjoyed A Place To Call Home may be interested to know that descendents of Rowena O'Shaughnessy play major roles in the Muskoka novels, although these are not sequels to A Place To Call Home. Fans of Moon Hall will meet ancestors of Kit Spencer.

We all have soundtracks for our lives - the music we listen to at different times and stages and places, which remind us again and again of those times whenever we hear them. For me, summer in Muskoka will always be associated with the Beatles, amongst others. Dancing at the Kee to Bala, listening to a Boston radio station playing the Beatles late at night, partying on the dock, under the stars. But we also listened to the old favourites on the ancient gramophone; so we sang "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" as readily as "I Want to Hold Your Hand". That's why music is such a large factor in the novels and why I've created a soundtrack for this book. My thanks to Bill Edwards for making the soundtrack idea a delightful reality! The CD can be ordered directly from Bill's website.

Quintessential Edwardian Muskoka - family time on the veranda - photo by Frank Micklethwaite