Another Time, Another Place

Bob Forsey is the education officer at the Newfoundland Museum in St.
John’s.

In this book, Jack Fitzgerald, a popular Newfoundland writer, takes
readers back to a golden era in the history of St. John’s. Drawing on
his youthful experiences on Flower Hill, he evokes a simpler time when
neighbors were more sociable and supportive. Of the 1940s and 1950s, he
writes, “[t]hey were difficult and challenging times, but unlike today
people pulled together and were their brothers’ keepers.” It was
television, he observes, that pulled people from the corner stores,
playgrounds, streets, and porches and isolated them in their homes.

Fitzgerald attended a Catholic school and describes the daily religious
rituals, his favorite teachers, the classroom pranks, and the rewards of
extracurricular activities. He also recalls the special activities and
events that were particular to each season, highlighting the joys of
Christmas and the fun of summer and winter games.

Doubtless Fitzgerald is viewing the past through rose-colored glasses
in these colorful recollections. But why not? They are his memories,
after all; like a good neighbor, he is sharing the enjoyable ones.