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| 'The
Oatmeal Ark' is the book closest to my heart. It took four years - and in
a way four generations - to research and write.
I was born in Vancouver, son of a Scots-Canadian father who died when I
was a teenager. As soon as I was old enough I moved away from the
country and lived abroad for more than half my life. But as an adult I
realised that the anger which a child feels around the premature death
of a parent had become linked to aspects of my country. I needed to
examine my emotions and my past and try to understand the truth about
Canada.
The result is 'The Oatmeal Ark', a story of parallel journeys. On one
hand it recounts through the characters of my forefathers over two
centuries my family's search for a kinder, better world. On the other,
it follows the travels of a Scots-Canadian of about my age and about my
height, trying to rediscover the men who made him, and helped to make
his country - or countries.
In reliving my father's - as well as his father's and grandfather's -
life, by reading the many surviving family diaries and letters and by writing the
book, I came to know my father better, almost as if parts of him were
still alive; the man who death took away from me at too early an age.
'The Oatmeal Ark' was nominated for 1999 International IMPAC Dublin Literary
award and read on BBC Radio Scotland. In 2008 it is republished with a new introduction by Jan Morris.
'One
of the most original and innovative travel books for years.' Alexander
Frater, Observer
'A fabulous adventure story, wise, witty and never self-indulgent, as if
Jack London had - in a fit of absent-mindedness - joined forces with Jane
Austen.' Alberto Manguel
'a truly astonishing performance' Jan Morris
'Such a book as this rather marvellously explains why literature still
lives.' John Fowles, Spectator
'The Oatmeal
Ark' is republished by Tauris Parke in 2008. It was first published by HarperCollins UK and Canada in 1997.
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to buy in Canada
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