Overview

In this frank and moving memoir, the author recalls growing up in a poor and alcohol-ridden neighborhood of a small city before and during World War II. Following his experiences after the war, the narrative relates the shattering of his mother’s dreams and his own inability to bridge the gulf between himself and his alcoholic father, casting a dark shadow over his childhood. The account reveals how the protagonist never permitted his rocky beginnings to affect his hope for the future, portraying his survival in a bleak environment and of the early road traveled in becoming a man of honor, reputation, and respect as a judge of the Superior Court of Ontario. Also featuring a diverse selection of the author’s poetry, this anthology reflects not only the author’s experiences on the bench but the empathy and compassion for the underdog that he learned while growing up on Simcoe Street.

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9781550962604

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Reviews

It is every writer's dream: you give a workshop, someone hands you a manuscript, you read it right away, you can't put it down. It's raw. Driven. There's a fresh voice. A perspective you never considered. You laugh. Weep. It's so good you know you can recommend it to your publisher. -Susan Musgrave, Vancouver Sun [The author] is a careful and precise recorder of the dramas and tragedies . . . [He] reminds the reader of Alden Nowlan at his finest. -George Fetherling, Vancouver Sun Sensitive, humane . . . written in a spare, graceful style where only what's necessary makes it to the page. -Toronto Star

It is every writer's dream: you give a workshop, someone hands you a manuscript, you read it right away, you can't put it down. It's raw. Driven. There's a fresh voice. A perspective you never considered. You laugh. Weep. It's so good you know you can recommend it to your publisher. -Susan Musgrave, Vancouver Sun [The author] is a careful and precise recorder of the dramas and tragedies . . . [He] reminds the reader of Alden Nowlan at his finest. -George Fetherling, Vancouver Sun Sensitive, humane . . . written in a spare, graceful style where only what's necessary makes it to the page. -Toronto Star

“It is every writer's dream: you give a workshop, someone hands you a manuscript, you read it right away, you can't put it down. It's raw. Driven. There's a fresh voice. A perspective you never considered. You laugh. Weep. It's so good you know you can recommend it to your publisher.” —Susan Musgrave, Vancouver Sun “[The author] is a careful and precise recorder of the dramas and tragedies . . . [He] reminds the reader of Alden Nowlan at his finest.” —George Fetherling, Vancouver Sun “Sensitive, humane . . . written in a spare, graceful style where only what's necessary makes it to the page.” —Toronto Star

Author Information

James Clarke is the author of Dreamworks, Forced Passage, How to Bribe a Judge, L’Arche Journal, A Mourner’s Kaddish, The Raggedy Parade, Silver Mercies, and The Way Everyone is Inside. He is a former Superior Court judge and his judgments have been published extensively in legal journals. He lives in Guelph, Ontario. Roy McMurtry (Introduction) is a former Ontario chief justice, attorney general, and Canadian high commissioner to the United Kingdom. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

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