View from My Mother's House

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island and an honorary chief of the Mi’kmaq of Prince
Edward Island.

Mark Twain once said, “I know how a boy looks ... and I know how he
feels, for I have been there.” So has Carl Leggo. In View from My
Mother’s House, Leggo, having in adulthood responded to the “lure of
the West,” looks back on his formative years of growing up in Lynch
Lane, Cornerbrook, Newfoundland. Lynch Lane has since disappeared under
urban redevelopment, but as Leggo notes wistfully, “stored in my eyes
/ are memories.” Such memories are the substance of this book: so many
characters, so many local happenings. Leggo’s style is that of the
experienced raconteur: deadpan delivery, cryptic one-line statements,
simple vocabulary, droll humor, no overt moralizing. When it comes to
yarning, no one beats a Newfoundlander. Thanks to this fine collection,
Lynch Lane will long be remembered.