New Release Books by Hugh Brewster

Hugh Brewster captures the remarkable heroism, sacrifice, and victories of Canadian soldiers during the Great War. All was not quiet on the Western Front during the last years of WWI. Soldiers faced mud, trench foot, bombardments, barbed wire, snipers, and poison gas. Despite dreadful odds, the Canadian Corps moved forward, reaching deep inside enemy-occupied Belgium. The war cost Canada 60,661 of its finest citizens and thousands more who were wounded in body and mind. After their hard-won victory at Vimy Ridge, Canadians earned the admiration of the world -- and a reputation as soldiers who could get the job done. From that moment in 1917, Canadian soldiers proved themselves again and again on the bloody battlefields of Passchendaele, Lens, Hill 70, and Amiens, during the Hundred Day''s offensive. From Vimy to Victory is presented in an engaging and accessible scrapbook style, with facts and details accompanied by first-person accounts, letters describing life at the Front, wartime diaries, and numerous images, maps, and diagrams that bring World War I to vivid life.

Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage takes us behind the paneled doors of the Titanic’s elegant private suites to present compelling, memorable portraits of her most notable passengers. The Titanic has often been called "An exquisite microcosm of the Edwardian era,” but until now, her story has not been presented as such. In Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage, historian Hugh Brewster seamlessly interweaves personal narratives of the lost liner’s most fascinating people with a haunting account of the fateful maiden crossing. Employing scrupulous research and featuring 100 rarely seen photographs, he accurately depicts the ship’s brief life and tragic denouement and presents compelling, memorable portraits of her most notable passengers: millionaires John Jacob Astor and Benjamin Guggenheim; President Taft''s closest aide, Major Archibald Butt; writer Helen Churchill Candee; the artist Frank Millet; movie actress Dorothy Gibson; the celebrated couturiere Lady Duff Gordon; aristocrat Noelle, the Countess of Rothes; and a host of other travelers. Through them, we gain insight into the arts, politics, culture, and sexual mores of a world both distant and near to our own. And with them, we gather on the Titanic’s sloping deck on that cold, starlit night and observe their all-too-human reactions as the disaster unfolds. More than ever, we ask ourselves, “What would we have done?”

RMS Titanic takes us behind the panelled doors of the Titanic’s elegant private suites to present compelling, memorable portraits of her most notable passengers, including many prominent Canadians. Canadian historian Hugh Brewster seamlessly interweaves personal narratives of the lost liner’s most fascinating people with a haunting account of the fateful maiden crossing. Employing scrupulous research, he accurately depicts the ship’s brief life and tragic end, with the very latest thinking on everything from when and how the lifeboats were loaded to the last tune played by the orchestra. Among the many Canadians onboard were Harry Markland Molson, Lady Duff-Gordon, Charles Hays and Arthur Peuchen. With them, we gather on the Titanic’s sloping deck on that cold, starlit night and observe their all-too-human reactions as the disaster unfolds. More than ever, we ask ourselves, what would we have done?

Previously published: Toronto: Madison Press Books, 1998.

Historical fact and fiction blend in this riveting novel set aboard the Titanic. Fourteen-year-old Jamie Laidlaw is returning to Canada from England aboard the Titanic. In his four days on board, he busies himself with new friends, finding ways to explore the ship''s forbidden areas, and generally landing himself in trouble. When disaster strikes and the horrifying scramble for survival ensues, Jamie is on the front lines — struggling to help free the lifeboats and get people on board them. When a huge wave washes over the ship''s sloping deck, it''s time for Jamie to take action — and take his fate into his own hands. With hundreds of others, he dives into the sea, hoping he will find a way to survive. Since its launch in Fall 2010, the I Am Canada series has been praised for its accurate and energetic exploration of fascinating moments in Canadian history, through the eyes of young men who lived through them. In Deadly Voyage, award-winning author and noted Titanic historian Hugh Brewster draws from his vast knowledge of that fateful journey to create an enthralling tale of historical fiction — the ultimate adventure, whose terrifying end we know all too well.

A young soldier''s gritty account of "the bloodiest nine hours in Canadian military history" - the tragic Dieppe raid of WWII Alistair "Allie" Morrison lets his friend Mackie talk him into enlisting for WWII, even though he''s only 18. After months of endless training Allie''s eager for battle. But his first action is not just any battle... it''s the disastrous raid on the German-held port of Dieppe. He and his unit are under orders to take one of the main beaches, but they disembark from their landing craft onto a killing ground. As Allie gets his bearings and makes sense of the horror on every side, he witnesses friends advance into a massacre. All told, almost a thousand Canadian soldiers died that day. In the resulting chaotic evacuation, Allie and Mackie are captured as POWs and sent to Stalag VIIIB in Germany. Still shell-shocked from their fighting, the soldiers struggle to maintain their courage. Others, like Mackie, are determined to plot an escape and outwit their captors, at any cost. Historian Jack Granatstein vetted Prisoner of Dieppe to ensure historical accuracy.

Step on board the world''s most famous ship and follow the story of Frank Goldsmith, a young passenger. In this large-format paperback, Frank''s journey is illustrated with fascinating cutaways allowing readers to see right inside the ship, including a 4-pa

June 6th, 2004 will mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, when Canadians landed on Juno Beach. This outstanding book contains unpublished accounts of D-Day eyewitnesses and participants, and through their eyes we are able to see what it was like to live through the assault on Hitler''s Atlantic Wall and the massive invasion that followed. Captivating photographs and memorabilia bring these stories to life, and the topic of Juno Beach works directly with school curriculum

Provides a glimpse into the lives of the world''s most captivating princesses, including Mary, Elizabeth I, Marie Antoinette, and Anastasia.

The story of a little girl who takes part in the creation of John Singer Sargent''s well-loved painting.

Presents the life and accomplishments of Joseph Bologne, the racially-mixed son of a French aristocrat, who became a famous fencing champion, a violinist, composer, and a colonel in the French army in 1792, during France''s war with Austria.

April 9, 2007 marks the 90th anniversary of the pivotal World War I battle- one that many historians view as the battle that defined Canada as a nation. At Vimy Ridge, Canadian soldiers achieved what more experienced soldiers From Britain and France could not-taking the strategic position of Vimy Ridge from the Germans. It was the battle that helped a young country discover its national pride, as for the first time, Canadians fought as Canadians, and achieved a significant victory.The soaring Vimy Memorial in France is built on land ceded to Canada for achieving this stunning victory. The stunning memorial is being restored and will be rededicated in 2007. At Vimy Ridge is the perfect book for schools and libraries to mark this vital anniversary.

From Elizabethan England to the court of the last Tsar, from a maharaja''s palace to the place that Hawaii''s last queen was imprisoned, the stories in this book weave a rich historical tapestry. Read fabulous stories of golden coaches, magnificent palaces and glittering balls, of royal lives of privilege, opulence and adulations--and secrets of betrayal, treachery and revolution. Twelve royal stories that prove to be more spellbinding than any fairy tale.

When Bertie the badger visits his grandfather at a retirement home for magicians, he learns that his grandfather''s rabbit, Enigma, has disappeared along with everyone''s magical things, and the reader is invited to help break a code to find the items hidden throughout the book. Includes a built-in decoder.