The year is 1849. It’s Michael Callaghan’s 16th birthday when he arrives in Toronto, an Irish immigrant with few prospects. He manages to find work as a carpenter at the Home District Gaol. One of his first duties: building the gallows for a condemned man. For most, that might be reason enough to seek other employment. But Michael stays on for nearly five decades, and encounters several high-profile murder cases. His diary is a record of stories that had a city hanging on every word.
To order:
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Riverstoryz: Conversations on the Humber
Books about the Humber River are often nostalgic or focused or the wonders of its ecology. This one is a gritty look at the only urban river to qualify for “Heritage” designation. Beyond the dark stories – of damage, neglect and crime – this is ultimately a work of praise and a call to action.
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BRICK by BRICK: Swansea Public School, 1890-2020
2003: A curious teacher enters a basement classroom of a nineteenth-century Toronto school, and finds a filing cabinet full of old documents and photos. Seventeen years later…