My Grandfather's House: Scenes of Childhood and Youth

Jerry McDonnell was a teacher and librarian the F.E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham, Ontario.

Charles Ritchie, who had a long career in the Canadian diplomatic service, has previously published in several volumes his diaries written during that career. In this book he returns by way of several essays to the people and places of his childhood. “Why should the famous be the only ones to be remembered?” he asks in the introduction. Ritchie feels that the grown-ups who surround us in childhood linger in memory long after many of our contemporaries. As such, these people, unimportant as they may be in the larger world, can have an important influence on us and deserve to be looked at.

The author had a childhood particularly rich in adult acquaintances and ranging from his grandfather in Halifax to a Russian émigré in Switzerland and to the masters at the English boarding school which he hated. All of these people played out their lives against the background of World War II and the approach of the next great conflagration. Also detailed here is Ritchie’s brief and ill-starred journalistic career which preceded his diplomatic service.

The author was fortunate in that his family had the means to take him on many travels and to support him through a long educational process. Because of this he met an extraordinary number of unusual and interesting characters. This book is well written and would be of interest to fans of Ritchie, as it explains why he became a diplomat, as well as to students of social history and life between the two world wars. The book is recommended for public library collections.