The first wave of settlers came with the fur trade, the second with the railroad. A flood of settlers including the gandy dancers, the builders and maintainers of the steel rails became dependent on the railroad for survival as they struggle to claim a piece of the surrendering land.
The Gandy Dancer and the girl who chose to share his passion for the land test their love and strength to the limit as together they chase their dreams through the Depression and World War Two that stole the men from their land and their families.
This is the sequel to Mewassin: The Good Land and the story of the next generation to John and Lucy Lenny. John and Lucy's daughter Caroline and her daughter, Mary, who married the Gandy Dancer, survive life in the Convent and find that life on a homestead is not as free and independent as they hoped it would be.
Excerpt
"To Hell with them! The CPR can keep Strathcona. There is nothing there at the end of the line but a bunch of gandy dancers leaning on their nine pound hammers."
Being a farmer means being able to do many jobs - some that take almost super human strength, and some that mean figuring out how to do a job with fine skill and brain power. He could not believe how many skills it took, and you were on your own for most of it.
"She was waiting behind the door huddled in the corner with a butcher knife, thinking she was protecting herself from me!"
Professional Reviews
Black Hat Publishing
Gandy Dancer is an excellent historical novel which provides the reader with sometimes sombre and sometimes joyous insights into the lives of the Alberta homesteaders of the late 1800s and early 1900s
Freda Herbert
Your books are a wonderful and accurate record of a way of life that has all but disappeared. Thank goodness for people like you. You are preserving a piece of history for future generations.
Available Now! Rated 5 ***** by readers and listeners.
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