This satirical and witty first novel is a high-spirited account of the 1866 Fenian 'invasion' of Canada near Ridgeway. Adding spice to the novel are the romances of the two leading men, a Toronto professor and an American reporter, who become involved with farmer's daughters.

Robert Barr (1850-1912) moved with his family from Scotland to Ontario when he was four years old and spent his formative years there. He moved to the United States in 1876 and was on the staff of the Detroit Free Press. In 1881 he moved to England and was co-editor until 1911 with Jerome K. Jerome of the The Idler. Although they have become relatively unfamiliar to contemporary students of Canadian literature, Barr's novels, short stories, and articles were well known and read in the latter nineteenth century, in Canada and elsewhere.

Robert Barr's profile page

In the spring of 2001, Douglas Lochhead received the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in English-language Literary Arts from the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, the recipient of honorary doctorates from several universities, Professor Emeritus at Mount Allison University, Senior Fellow and Founding Librarian at Massey College, University of Toronto, and a life member of the League of Canadian Poets. After beginning his career as an advertising copywriter, he became a librarian, a professor of English, a specialist in typography and fine hand printing, and a bibliographer, scholar, and editor — indeed, he has characterized himself as “an unrepentant generalist.” At Mount Allison University, he was a founder and the director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, and he held the Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Chair in Canadian Studies.

Douglas Lochhead's profile page