Intervals of Hope, page 24
I reached into my knapsack and found my diary and that of my father, placing these transcriptions of affectedly rapid maturity, the growth of two boys into the hardship of manhood, in the sleeping Daniel’s arms.
Earlier, Jane had invited me into her house unreservedly. She now stood, closed the grate on the fire, picked up Daniel and the diaries from my lap and took me by the hand, putting Daniel to bed before leading me into her—our—bedroom.
-End-
Acknowledgements
I have had the great honour, privilege and blessing to know Gordon Schottlander who, at the age of 19, fought bravely with the 5th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment as a part of the D–Day invasion on June 6th, 1944. Gordon was trained as a British Commando and as a commissioned officer, and some of his story is incorporated into this novel. As with the main character, Gordon's father fought in the trenches of WWI. Prior to talking with me in multiple interviews, Gordon seldom talked to anyone about his war experiences. He reports that he has been much more open with his family and other people since then. Thank you so much, Gordon, for your service to our country. And thank you so much for fighting for the freedom we have enjoyed our entire lives.
John 15:13—Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
After the war, Gordon came to Canada with his wife Colleen, building a family that includes four sons, 16 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren. His many accomplishments include President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Burlington Planning Board, serving with the Knights of Columbus for many years, Chairman of the committee that raised over $1 million for the local YMCA, and being named Burlington’s Citizen of the Year in 1968. Gordon was awarded the first Key to the City for 2020. He lives in Burlington, Ontario and is 96.
My great–grandfather Wilfred Littlejohn fought with the First Battalion, First Canadian Regiment in the trenches of the Great War. He was one of 70 out of 1000 men in his regiment to have survived. A series of 85 letters sent home from the trenches, hospitals, and camps during World War I was recently discovered in a family attic. I would like to thank my Uncle Darrin Canniff, Mayor of Chatham–Kent, for supplying photographs and copies of these valuable letters, which form a portion of the novel and were very helpful with research.
During my initial research, I corresponded with George Sharp, who lived in London, England between the world wars and helped with some of the details of life in those times. He passed away in New Zealand. http://adplus4.20m.com/catalog.html
I would like to thank the Humber School for Writers, especially Antanas Seleika who retired in 2017 as Director and has always been very supportive. As of June this year, he told me he was working on another novel and continuing to read other writers’ works, so he is staying busy in retirement!
I would also like to thank my Writing Mentors David Adams Richards and MG Vassanji for their wisdom and guidance. I thank David for providing valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript, and for agreeing to provide a quote for the book.
And I thank Steven Heighton for his encouragement and support; I recently traded his novel Afterlands in exchange for my novel Poor Man’s Galapagos. In a note, he indicated that based on the jacket description, Poor Man’s Galapagos is in some ways a very similar book. I initially read with Steve at the Draft Reading Series in Toronto. Steve keeps busy these days and recently published/ released five projects!
I would also like to acknowledge the book For Freedom and Honour?: The Story of the 25 Canadian Volunteers Executed in the First World War by A.B. Godefroy , which assisted with research into James Wilson and other facets of Canadian deserters in WWI.
To my editor Shane Joseph, I would like to thank you for improving the manuscript immeasurably through your detailed, insightful and thought–provoking comments. And thank you to Blue Denim Press for publishing this work.
I would like to thank my wife Roxanne, the love of my life. We just celebrated our 20–year anniversary. Twenty wonderful years of love and laughter that started with me stopping to ask her for directions, and later proposing to her on a snowy bench. God had a wonderful plan for us that led to two amazing children, Colin, the intrepid explorer and outdoorsman, and Abigail, the wonderful artist, reader, and fitness enthusiast who have consistently taught me the value and enjoyment of fatherhood.
I would like to thank my parents Craig and Barb, my brother Ben and his wife Leigh-Anne, for their continued love, support, and encouragement throughout the years. Also Dave and Fiona (and Charlotte and Mabel too!), and Monica, as well as Mary of course, thank you for your love and friendship.
John 3:16—For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Author Bio
Christopher Canniff is the author of Poor Man’s Galapagos (Blue Denim Press, 2015, submitted for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize) and Abundance of the Infinite (Quattro Books, 2012, a finalist in the 2012 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest). Christopher has been mentored by two of Canada’s top writers, MG Vassanji and David Adams Richards, at the Humber School for Writers. David Adams Richards was his Writing Mentor for Intervals of Hope and Poor Man’s Galapagos, and said of Christopher Canniff’s writing: “...your description is as powerful as any writer I have ever had in this course.” Christopher is a Past President of the Canadian Authors Association Toronto Branch. Christopher’s short stories have been published in Descant Magazine (Issue 152, spring 2011) and in a Tightrope Books anthology (2006). He was shortlisted in the 2012 Ken Klonsky Novella Contest with Quattro Books, and in the 2010 Matrix Litpop Awards for Fiction. He won LWOT Magazine’s 3-Hour Novel Contest in 2007.
He wrote two radio scripts for Falcon Picture Group in Chicago, Illinois, USA for a nationally syndicated radio program. Christopher lived in Ecuador where he read over fifty books of world literature, learned a new language and culture, and taught English at an Ecuadorian university for WorldTeach, a non–profit and non–governmental organization based at the Harvard Institute for International Development. Christopher obtained a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1995 from the University of Toronto, and he is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario. He is married to the love of his life, Roxanne, and has two amazing children, Colin and Abigail.
He trusts in the Word of God as truth. Please find more information at www.christophercanniff.com.
End Notes
Notes
[←1]
https://poets.org/poem/dulce-et-decorum-est (From the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. This poem is in the public domain. Latin phrase is originally from the Roman poet Horace, 13BC.)
[←2]
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80033695 (Catalog number 33040)
[←3]
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80033693 (Catalog number 33038)
[←4]
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80033694 (Catalogue number 33039)
[←5]
The following essay indicates “the majority of the publications that the BUF had were published on leaflets and sounded like this.” Quote within the essay: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/history/fascism-and-anti-fascism-in-great-britain-history-essay.php?vref=1
This is also Quoted in Martin Walker, The National Front, Fontana/Collins, np, 1977, p. 25, as noted in the essay https://www.scribd.com/document/56764159/British-Fascism
[←6]
Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd., https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/06/second-world-war-declaration-chamberlain
Christopher Canniff, Intervals of Hope
