Muskoka by the Book

Thumbnail reviews by J. Patrick Boyer

Of the many ways to know Muskoka, one of the most rewarding is through all its books, patiently waiting like a long line-up of friends to share their information and entertain us with their stories.

No Return

A novel of the Canadian election that vanished in Muskoka’s backwoods

Gordon Aiken

ISBN 9781926577043

Blue Butterfly Books, 2010

Paperback, 317 pages, $24.95

The second election after Confederation in 1872 produced elected representatives from every constituency in Canada but one – the District of Muskoka.

Years later Gordon Aiken, who represented the same district in parliament, unearthed the strange tale of Muskoka’s returning officer Richard Bell who refused to declare Liberal candidate A.P. Cockburn elected even though he won most votes. This ground-breaking event led to Bell being ordered to give an accounting of himself before the bar of the House of Commons, the first time a Canadian was so summonsed. It was also the first and only time in Canadian history an MP would be elected to parliament directly by members of the Commons itself. The episode also contributed to reforms of Canadian election law, such as introduction of the secret ballot.

Old Muskoka

Century Cottages & Summer Homes

Liz Lundell

Boston Mills Press, 2003

Hardcover, $49.95

Muskoka’s mystique is drawn from its natural setting, its special accommodations, and the sense of escape without ever having to go very far from the populous south. In Old Muskoka, Liz Lundell introduces specific instances of just how this is so.

A Life in the Bush

Lessons from My Father

Roy MacGregor

Penguin Canada, 1999

ISBN 9780143053316

Paperback, 374 pages; $16.00

When Dunc MacGregor died and was buried in Huntsville in 1995, his entire wardrobe on five hangers and his meager life savings in a single bank account, it was the end of the line for a man who lived as close to nature as any contemporary Canadian could.

Ghost Towns of Muskoka

Andrew Hind and Maria Da Silva

Dundurn, 2008

ISBN 9781550027969

Softcover, 272 pages, includes 50 photos and maps; $24.99

Have you ever been to Emberson, Muskoka Mills, or Hoodstown? How about Lewisham, Millar Hill, or Jerusalem (Muskoka, that is)?

The early promise of a number of Muskoka settlements was never to be realized.

Tree Fever

Karen Hood-Caddy

Rendezvous Press, 1997

ISBN 9780929141534

Paperback, 240 pages, $18.95

Muskoka’s pioneer days pitted loggers against settlers but tree wars and land-use conflicts are hardly a thing of the past. Anyone dismayed by recent eyesores of clear-cutting knows the fever that caused Jessie Dearborn to place her own body between beloved century-old trees and a condominium developer’s rapacious chainsaw.

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