New Releases by Farley Mowat

Farley Mowat''s youth was charmed and hilarious, and unbelievably free in its access to unspoiled nature through bird-banding expeditions and overnight outings in the dead of winter. The author writes of sleeping in haystacks for survival, and other adventures, with equal shares of Booth Tarkington and Jack London. He also brings back Mutt, the famous hero-dog of his classic THE DOG WHO WOULDN''T BE, and his pet owl Wol, hero of OWLS IN THE FAMILY. The tale of an outrageous and clever boy, BORN NAKED takes its place as the foundation of the Farley Mowat canon.

"We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be – the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than the reflected image of ourself." —from the Preface Never Cry Wolf is a brilliant narrative on the myth and magic of wild wolves and man''s true place among the creatures of nature. Hordes of bloodthirsty wolves are slaughtering the arctic caribou, and the government''s Wildlife Service assigns naturalist Farley Mowat to investigate. Mowat is dropped alone onto the frozen tundra, where he begins his mission to live among the howling wolf packs and study their ways. Contact with his quarry comes quickly, and Mowat discovers not a den of marauding killers but a courageous family of skillful providers and devoted protectors of their young. As Mowat comes closer to the wolf world, he comes to fear with them the onslaught of bounty hunters and government exterminators out to erase the noble wolf community from the Arctic.

When an 80-ton Fin Whale became trapped in a lagoon near his Newfoundland home, Farley Mowat rejoiced: here was a unique chance to observe one of the world''s most magnificent creatures up close. But some of his neighbours saw a different opportunity altogether: in a prolonged fit of violence, they blasted the whale with rifle fire, and scarred its back with motorboat propellers. Mowat appealed desperately to the police, to marine biologists, finally to the Canadian press. But it was too late. Mowat''s poignant and compelling story is an eloquent argument for the end of the whale hunt, and the rediscovery of the empathy that makes us human.

Following Farley Mowat’s bestselling memoir, Otherwise, the literary lion returns with an unexpected triumph. Eastern Passage is a new and captivating piece of the puzzle of Farley Mowat’s life: the years from his return from the north in the late 1940s to his discovery of Newfoundland and his love affair with the sea in the 1950s. This was a time in which he wrote his first books and weathered his first storms of controversy, a time when he was discovering himself through experiences that, as he writes, "go to the heart of who and what I was" during his formative years as a writer and activist. In the 1950s, with his career taking off but his first marriage troubled, Farley Mowat buys a piece of land northwest of Toronto and attempts to settle down. His accounts of building his home are by turns hilarious and affecting, while the insights into his early work and his relationship with his publishers offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a writer’s career. But in the end, his restless soul could not be pinned to one place, and when his father offered him a chance to sail down the St. Lawrence, he jumped at it, not realizing that his journey would bring him face to face with one of Canada’s more shocking secrets – one most of us still don’t know today. This horrific incident, recalling as it did the lingering aftermath of war, and from which it took the area decades to recover, would forge the final tempering of Mowat as the activist we know today. Eastern Passage is a funny, astute, and moving book that reveals that there is more yet to this fascinating and beloved figure than we think we know.

A Canadian icon gives us his final book, a memoir of the events that shaped this beloved writer and activist. Farley Mowat has been beguiling readers for fifty years now, creating a body of writing that has thrilled two generations, selling literally millions of copies in the process. In looking back over his accomplishments, we are reminded of his groundbreaking work: He single-handedly began the rehabilitation of the wolf with Never Cry Wolf. He was the first to bring advocacy activism on behalf of the Inuit and their northern lands with People of the Deer and The Desperate People. And his was the first populist voice raised in defense of the environment and of the creatures with whom we share our world, the ones he has always called The Others. Otherwise is a memoir of the years between 1937 and the autumn of 1948 that tells the story of the events that forged the writer and activist. His was an innocent childhood, spent free of normal strictures, and largely in the company of an assortment of dogs, owls, squirrels, snakes, rabbits, and other wildlife. From this, he was catapulted into wartime service, as anxious as any other young man of his generation to get to Europe and the fighting. The carnage of the Italian campaign shattered his faith in humanity forever, and he returned home unable and unwilling to fit into post-war Canadian life. Desperate, he accepted a stint on a scientific collecting expedition to the Barrengrounds. There in the bleak but beautiful landscape he finds his purpose – first with the wolves and then with the indomitable but desperately starving Ihalmiut. Out of these experiences come his first pitched battles with an ignorant and uncaring federal bureaucracy as he tries to get aid for the famine-stricken Inuit. And out of these experiences, too, come his first books. Otherwise goes to the heart of who and what Farley Mowat is, a wondrous final achievement from a true titan.

It seemed like a good idea. Tired of everyday life ashore, Farley Mowat would find a sturdy boat in Newfoundland and roam the salt sea over, free as a bird. What he found was the worst boat in the world, and she nearly drove him mad. The Happy Adventure, despite all that Farley and his Newfoundland helpers could do, leaked like a sieve. Her engine only worked when she felt like it. Typically, on her maiden voyage, with the engine stuck in reverse, she backed out of the harbour under full sail. And she sank, regularly. How Farley and a varied crew, including the intrepid lady who married him, coaxed the boat from Newfoundland to Lake Ontario is a marvellous story. The encounters with sharks, rum-runners, rum and a host of unforgettable characters on land and sea make this a very funny book for readers of all ages. From the eBook edition.

Awasin, a Cree Indian boy, and Jamie, a Canadian orphan living with his uncle, the trapper Angus Macnair, are enchanted by the magic of the great Arctic wastes. They set out on an adventure that proves longer and more dangerous than they could have imagined. Drawing on his knowledge of the ways of the wilderness and the implacable northern elements, Farley Mowat has created a memorable tale of daring and adventure. When first published in 1956, Lost in the Barrens won the Governor-General’s Award for Juvenile Literature, the Book-of-the-Year Medal of the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians and the Boys’ Club of America Junior Book Award.

Every child needs to have a pet. No one could argue with that. But what happens when your pet is an owl, and your owl is terrorizing the neighbourhood? In Farley Mowat’s exciting children’s story, a young boy’s pet menagerie – which includes crows, magpies, gophers and a dog – grows out of control with the addition of two cantankerous pet owls. The story of how Wol and Weeps turn the whole town upside down is warm, funny, and bursting with adventure and suspense.

The popular sequel to his award-winning Lost in the Barrens, this is Farley Mowat’s suspense-filled story of how Awasin, Jamie and Peetryuk, three adventure-prone boys, stumble upon a cache of Viking relics in an ancient tomb somewhere in the north of Canada. Packed with excitement and with little-known information about the customs of Viking explorers, this story of survival portrays the bond of youthful friendship and the wonders of a virtually unexplored land.

The northeastern seaboard of Canada and the United States, extending from Labrador to Cape Cod, was the first region of North America to suffer from human exploitation. Farley Mowat, who has observed this region closely over the past forty years, informs the extensive historical and biological research with his direct experience of the natural world. When it was first published nearly twenty years ago, Sea of Slaughter served as a warning to humanity and a catalyst for environment reform, raising awareness of the decline and destruction of marine and coastal species. As timely today as it was on first publication, this classic is now available to a new generation of readers. Monumental in scope and chilling, Sea of Slaughter was and certainly still is required reading for anyone concerned with the increasingly precarious state of our world. (April 2003) This book is the first in The Farley Mowat Library. Forthcoming classic titles to be reissued include The Snowwalker, And No Birds Sang (Fall 2003.)

This is the story about a dog and his boy. The boy was the author and the dog was Mutt. Clearly, Mutt believed that he could do better than just be a dog. Dogs weren’t supposed to climb trees or ladders, but Mutt didn’t care about that. And dogs weren’t supposed to ride in the family’s open car wearing goggles either, but Mutt liked wearing them and even knew how to adjust them with a careful paw. Whether he was fighting off other dogs by lying on his back and bicycling in the air as hard as he could, or tangling with owls, or geese, or cows, or ducks, or even skunks, Mutt was always full of surprises. Farley’s mother originally bought Mutt as a puppy for only four cents. The adventures that Mutt brought to Farley, his mother and father and all of their friends, made him the biggest bargain of all time. His true story makes this a wonderful and very funny book for readers of all ages.

Mowat's eloquent record of several months of intimiate study of reputedly vicious wolves in the subarctic Barren Lands.

Reprint of a 1973 revision of the 1963 work (McClelland G. Stewart, Toronto). The third volume of the Top of the World trilogy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

On December 28, 1985 after eighteen years of research in the dripping rain forests of the Virunga volcanoes in central Africa, Dian Fossey was brutally murdered. Though not quite fifty-four years old, she had lived a life as remarkable and rewarding as that of any woman of our time. Dian Fossey went to Africa at the urging of famed anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey to study one of the rarest, most mysterious animals on earth: the wild mountain gorilla. She found the great, gentle apes threatened on all sides by zoo collectors, poachers, herdsmen and scientists. Slowly, she came to understand the magnificent creatures on their own terms, to understand and admire--even to love them. She became their greatest champion--and their greatest martyr. Virunga is the startling true account of Dian Fossey's life as told by Canada's favorite wildlife writer, Farley Mowat. Based on Fossey's private correspondence, journals, camp records, personal papers and interviews with her colleagues, friends and enemies, it is the story of one woman's inexhaustible passion for life--and the creatures who share it with us.

THEY COULD SURVIVE ANYTHING IN THE ARCTIC WILDERNESS--EXCEPT THE WHITE MAN. They were rich, the caribou were abundant. Their dogs were many and strong. The children in the tents were happy, and there was never any fear of going hungry. Then came the ruthless white man''s civilization. And with it came slaughter of the herds, starvation of the flesh, and torture of the spirit.

Farley Mowat se voit confier la mission d'étudier la vie des loups dans le Grand Nord canadien. Captivé par la tribu qu'il rencontre, et convaincu de l'intelligence et de la sociabilité des loups, Farley Mowat se prend d'une véritable passion pour eux. Il a tiré de cet ouvrage, une adaptation cinématographique : Un homme parmi les loups, présenté par Walt Disney Productions.

Ordeal by Iceis the thrilling account of the great Northern explorers: men who struggled, starved, and finally conquered the capricious forces of the bitter Northern winter in a centuries-long search for the Northwest Passage. The stories, compiled by award-winning author Farley Mowat and presented in gripping, firsthand narratives, capture both the stark drama of the struggle for survival and the breathtaking panorama of virgin Arctic lands.

These are tales of starvation, canibalism out of love, the giving of one body to another. You want to read them again and again.