Welcome Home: Travels in Smalltown Canada

Susan Ash, formerly a teacher and librarian, is a travel agent in
Thompson, Manitoba.

Stuart McLean is well known for his appearances on CBC’s
“Morningside” with Peter Gzowski. In Welcome Home he explores seven
small Canadian towns—towns that everyone has encountered: “You might
have seen the sign pointing towards town and wondered who could possibly
live there, and what they could possibly do.” The towns featured are
Maple Creek, Sask. (an old-fashioned “cow-town”); Dresden, Ont. (one
of the destinations of the Underground Railroad); St. Jean-de-Matha,
Que.; Sackville, N.B. (a university town); Foxwarren, Man. (a
hockey-loving town); Nakusp, B.C. (the new home of disenchanted city
dwellers); and Ferryland, Nfld. (a fishing village).

Each town McLean visits tells the reader about Canada’s rich and
often forgotten history, as well as about its present. He paints an
attractive portrait of life in a small town, but not an idealistic or
unrealistic one. The reader sees different generations living and
working together, and is introduced to many extraordinary characters,
each with a unique view of life in a small town.

Providing more background information are notes, which would have been
more conveniently placed at the close of each section rather than at the
end of the book. Similarly, a table of contents would have been useful.
But overall this is an excellent book.