No Safe Harbour

Elisabeth Anne MacDonald-Murray teaches English literature at Brandon
University in Manitoba.

Like the other titles in Dear Canada series, No Safe Harbour is written
as the personal diary entries of a young girl who describes her
experience of a particular period in Canadian history from her own
perspective.

Charlotte Blackburn has been sent a new diary for her 11th birthday by
her older brother, Luke, who is stationed in the World War I trenches of
France. The year is 1917, and she begins her entries by recounting
everyday life in Halifax. But everything changes for Charlotte on
December 6 when her North End neighbourhood is flattened by the
explosion of a munitions ship in the harbour. From then on, her entries
become both a record for Luke of what has happened to her, her family,
and her community, and Charlotte’s own attempt to recall and become
reconciled to the events of that terrible day.

Lawson portrays the feelings and experience of one of the many lost and
orphaned children who were left by the explosion with great honesty and
sensitivity. Charlotte’s diary entries convey both grief and hope as
she attempts to carry on with life in the stricken city and search for
what remains of her close-knit family. Carefully researched,
Charlotte’s diary is accompanied by photographs and maps of the
devastated city, and a historical account of the explosion in the
harbour. As with all the Dear Canada books, this volume will be a
valuable educational resource for preteen readers. Highly recommended.