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Biography & Autobiography Lawyers & Judges

Another Country, Another Life

Calumny, Love, and the Secrets of Isaac Jelfs

by (author) J. Patrick Boyer

Publisher
Dundurn Press
Initial publish date
Mar 2013
Category
Lawyers & Judges, Post-Confederation (1867-), Legal History
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781459708402
    Publish Date
    Mar 2013
    List Price
    $24.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781459708426
    Publish Date
    Mar 2013
    List Price
    $8.99

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Description

A young law clerk from England falls in love in 19th-century New York and reinvents himself in Canada.

Quiet Isaac Jelfs led many lives: a scapegoated law clerk in England; a soldier in the mad Crimean War; a lawyer on swirling Broadway Avenue in New York. His escape from each was wrapped in deep secrecy. He eventually reached Canada, in 1869, with a new wife and a changed name. In his new home — the remote wilderness of Muskoka — he crafted yet another persona for himself. In Another Country, Another Life, his great-grandson traces that long-hidden journey, exposing Isaac Jelfs’ covered tracks and the reasons for his double life.

 

About the author

PATRICK BOYER grew up using the Bracebridge Carnegie Library. His mother had once been the librarian and his grandfather chairman of the library board. Patrick has an MA in history from the University of Toronto and is author of some 18 books. Patrick Boyer, lawyer, author, teacher and former parliamentarian, is himself author of many books, including Just Trust Us (2003), Leading in an Upside-Down World (2003), Direct Democracy in Canada (1992), and The People's Mandate (1992).

J. Patrick Boyer's profile page

Editorial Reviews

. . . a rare gem about early Canadian pioneers.

Peter Mansbridge

This is a compelling life story, in terms of both history and mystery, with a richly drawn context about the fledgling province of Ontario in the early post-Confederation years.

The Bracebridge Examiner