Ronald Tiessen

The Pel Harbour for Odd Birds Ronald Tiessen

The Pelé Harbour for Odd Birds takes place in an out-of-step sort of place on an island in the South of Canada. The narrator has embarked on a journey of discovery to find an Englishman of an earlier generation, and himself. Along the way an assortment of characters is encountered, mostly non-confirmists, who are enticingly reminiscent of his Englishman. The island reveals its own fingerprint of place of removal from the mainstream of society and of belonging and community of an eccentric sort. Altogether, because of island manners, ones shaped and blown off course by lake gusts, plagues and deprivation, the characters introduced in Pelé Harbour provide the ingredients for a rare yet delectable stew. The narration recalls the spirit of writer Raymond Knister (1899-1932) and the earlier quest of Oliver Warner for his Uncle Lawrence.