Charlie Wilcox

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Young Charlie is the 14-year-old son of a prominent sea captain in
Brigus, Newfoundland. Like most maritime lads his age, he wants to go to
sea to prove himself and escape the drudgery of shore life in a small
outport town. Unfortunately, Charlie was born with a club foot. This
birth defect not only makes him a target for abuse by some local
bullies, it has caused his parents to become extra protective of him.
Both his mother and father ignore his pleas to go to sea and instead
send him to St. John’s to study for university. Determined to prove
that he is fit to follow in his father’s shoes, Charlie stows away on
a boat he thinks is bound for the annual seal hunt on the pack ice. To
his surprise, he finds himself stranded on a boat heading across the
Atlantic for Europe where World War I is raging.

“Truth is a nice thing, but don’t let it get in the way of a good
story,” writes award-winning author Sharon McKay at the end of the
book. The quote comes from Charlie Wilcox, the real-life person on whom
this novel is loosely based. McKay has obviously taken great pains to
follow the real Charlie’s advice. Her fertile imagination has made the
story a lively and often hilarious one to read. At the same time,
careful research and a good ear for dialect has helped her accurately
re-create life in early 20th-century Newfoundland. Highly recommended.