Mystery, betrayal, and murder are key ingredients in this early 20th-century love story set in rural New Brunswick. Novelist H. A. Cody has created a cast of sympathetic characters to tell the story of a pauper auction -- an extraordinary and authentically-described local custom where local residents bid against each other to earn money by taking in poverty-stricken orphans, seniors and others. In Codys novel, the auction has its ironic aftermath. Not only does the reader have an entertaining story to enjoy, but there is also a universal lesson to be learned.

Under Sealed Orders is the latest addition to the Formac Fiction Treasures series. Under the overall editorial direction of Gwen Davies, the series now encompasses 32 novels by Canadian authors from the Maritime provinces published in the last decades of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th centuries. All titles in the series were bestsellers in their era, and many of the authors were successful enough to make writing their fulltime profession.

HIRAM ALFRED (H.A.) CODY was a clergyman and novelist. He was born in Codys, New Brunswick, a town named after his family, in 1872. While more commonly recognized for his work in the ministry than for his writing, H.A. Cody was still one of Canada's most widely read authors. His publications were amongst the first to be mass-produced in North America due to their accessibility, Christian themes, and appeal to a broad audience. Cody died in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1948.

H.A. Cody's profile page

Retired schoolteachers and local historians Ted and Anita Jones have written extensively about Fredericton. Ted is the author of Both Sides of the Wire, a two-volume history of the Fredericton internment camp; he also writes the “Fredericton Flashback” column in The Daily Gleaner. Both Ted and Anita have contributed to The Officers’ Quarterly, the official publication of York-Sunbury Historical Society. Fredericton And Its People is their first collaboration.

Ted Jones' profile page