New Release Books by Kevin Major

Murder in a quilt shop on scenic Fogo Island leads sardonic private eye Sebastian Synard from his quest for some R&R to a different kind of excursion altogether. Four for Fogo Island finds Sebastian Synard on a May 24th weekend getaway with his new significant other, Mae. (As he says, "what a difference a Mae makes.") When Sebastian and Mae arrive at a fabric shop, they discover the owner in a back room, lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed with a pair of antique quilting scissors. This propels the couple along a sequence of occasionally bizarre investigative paths to track down the killer. Sebastian has more than murder to deal with. A family get-together involving his son and ex-wife (and her partner, Frederick, a police officer) goes awry as Frederick inserts himself into the investigation. Mae on occasion outsmarts Sebastian on the investigative trails, but our private eye is rarely without his trademark sense of humour.

When Sebastian goes undercover in the theatre to find a killer, things get... dramatic. In Three for Trinity, the third book in the Sebastian Synard Mystery series, offbeat humour meets suspense as a nefarious crime unfolds. Trying to run a tour business in COVID times is tough, especially when you''re home- schooling a teenager. But with the creation of the Atlantic bubble, Sebastian can offer a tour of the scenic, historic Bonavista peninsula to a small group. On the last night of the tour, an actor collapses at a socially distanced theatre performance. Sebastian rushes to help, but Lyle Mercer has been poisoned. When Sebastian goes undercover as an actor to try to discover the killer, he''s taking a risk in more ways than one. Will it upend his romantic relationship with police inspector Ailsa Bowmore?

Sebastian Synard is back. It''s the off-season, and the Newfoundland tour guide introduced in One for the Rock has crossed the island with his spirited teenage son for a weekend exploring the wonders of Gros Morne National Park. But on a hike across the spectacular rockscape of The Tablelands, they discover the half-buried body of a murder victim. Life as a tour guide had its twists and turns, but now Sebastian--with his offhand, Scotch-enriched nature--is crossing a more dangerous landscape, on a path that will leave him face-to-face with a killer.

Hold Fast is the widely acclaimed story of a young boy''s struggle to survive in a new environment and his fight against those who stand as threats to his pride in himself and his way of life. Michael turned fourteen in May. By June, both his parents are dead, victims of a car crash. And for Michael, who has lived all his life in a small Newfoundland outport community, this means being suddenly uprooted and sent to live with relatives in St. Albert, a city hundreds of miles away. Hold Fast is the story of Michael''s struggle to survive in his new world. In vivid, honest prose, it depicts his fight against those who threaten him - the loud-mouthed Kentson who makes fun of the way he talks at school, and his uncle who tries to rule life at home with an iron hand. It is also the story of the friendship that develops between Michael and Curtis, his cousin, and of his new uncertain feelings for Brenda. The book was written, Kevin Major says, “out of love for a way of life and a people. It is an appeal for us Newfoundlanders to be like certain of the species of seaweed that inhabit our shores, which, when faced with the threat of being destroyed by forces they cannot control, evolve an appendage to hold them to the rocks, a holdfast.”

"Meticulously researched and seamlessly blended historical fact and Kevin Major''s fiction, Land Beyond the Sea was a great read.".

When Sebastian Synard leads a group of tourists along the cliffs of St. John''s harbour, one of them ends up dead. Is there a heartless murderer in Sebastian''s tour group? As a local police officer enlists him to help lush out the perpetrator, the mystery deepeds, and Sebastian finds himself on the edge.

Follows the lives of a Newfoundland family for several months as they deal with the father''s drinking and unemployment, the son''s poor choice of friends and subsequent problems, and general familial deterioration.

A novel of remarkable historical breadth, Found Far and Wide follows Sam Kennedy through the tragedy of the Great Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914, the horrors of The First World War, and the dangers of rum-running in Prohibition-era New York. And as Sam journeys through the turbulent first half of the twentieth century, carrying the ghosts of those he''s lost, he clings to his love for a woman he''s only ever seen in a photograph. Here, one of Newfoundland''s most celebrated authors offers a story of the irresistible historical forces that define our lives and the compelling private power that beckons us home.

Needing a change, Shannon Carew takes a job in the National Parks system in Newfoundland and Labrador. The journey brings her life full circle, returning her to the birthplace she abandoned years before. As she makes new connections, and unearths old ones, Shannon learns the land holds many memories, stories of Maritime Archaic, the Vikings, the Basques, the Beothuk, and the Europeans who came after. New Under the Sun is the work of a master storyteller.

Here is the dramatic and moving story of one child''s transformation from a normal, middle-class kid from the suburbs to an activist, fighting against child labor on the world stage of international human rights. Making headlines around the globe, Graig Keilburger and his organization, Free the Children, which he founded at the age of twelve, have brought unprecedented attention to the worldwide abuse of children''s rights. Free the Childrenis a passionate and astounding story and a moving testament to the power that children and young adults have to change the world, as witnessed through the achievements of one remarkable young man.

The end of his senior year finds Lorne the leader of a school strike, at the mercy of his passionate feelings for his new girlfriend, and tempted into wild escapades by his friend Trevor, in a mature and graphic treatment of early manhood.

Set in Newfoundland, "Eating Between the Lines, is the story of Jackson, an adolescent, plagued with some very adolescent problems at home and at school. His parents'' marriage seems to have reached a low point, and he is infatuated with Sarah, a new girl at school who isn''t taking him too seriously. Other broader social issues perplex him too. When he discovers he can magically enter into the imaginary world of the books he reads, he fins solutions to his many dilemmas. Through a unique combination of realism and fantasy, Kevin Major succeeds in depicting the universal trials and tribulations of growing up.

Aunt Olga shares Christmas postcards with Anna.

On July 1, 1916, the best and the brightest of a generation of Newfoundland men were virtually wiped out. From every bay and cove and town, from fishing stage to merchant''s home, they marched off to the Great War, proud members of their very own Newfoundland Regiment, never suspecting what one terrible morning of treachery would bring. The Battle of Beaumont Hamel is considered the greatest tragedy in Newfoundland and Labrador''s history. Beyond the trenches were lovers and mothers and others who held them dear. The soldiers were part of the immeasurable turmoil of war, yet as they travelled to dangerous and distant lands they were never without the spirit and humour they brought from their homeland. Adapted for stage from the novel of the same name.

Inspired by her royal namesake, a young Newfoundland girl decides to write her autobiography.

Jesse and his mother face the challenges of making a new life in a small town. But it''s hard. Jesse has no friends, and his mother''s carved wooden Santas aren''t selling. Will there even be a Christmas? Jesse wonders. But before the season is out, Jesse and his mom discover the true spirit of Christmas.

Seventeen-year-old Ann Harvey is one of the great unsung heroes of maritime history. In 1828, off the Newfoundland fishing village of Isle aux Morts, Ann Harvey, her father and younger brother, came upon the wreck of the Despatch, an Irish immigrant ship originally destined for Quebec City. In thick fog and fierce wind it had run aground. Ann''s courage and strength at the oars of the rescue boat were largely responsible for saving more than 160 dirt-poor passengers stranded amid the raging storm, left "like seabirds clinging to the rocks." Ann''s courageous feat along the isolated south coast of Newfoundland has been all but forgotten. Ann and Seamus brings the remarkable story of Ann Harvey to today''s readers. In a poetic and powerful retelling, Kevin Major portrays the shy young woman thrust into extraordinary circumstances. It is the story of dramatic rescue, but it is also the story of dreams and fate, of a hard life and young love. For also at its center is Seamus, a young Irishman who had set sail with hopes of a new life in America. Ann and Seamus is historical fiction that sweeps across ages and nationalities. In rich yet accessible narrative verse, it draws the reader into the drama of sea rescue without losing the tender and impetuous voices of youth at the core of the story.

Words beginning with each letter of the alphabet accompany illustrations evoking the culture and heritage of Canada.

Canadian Children''s Book Centre Our Choice Citation, Starred Selection Mr. Christie''s Book Award Nomination Ruth Schwartz Award Nomination Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children''s Literature Nomination Amelia Frances Howard_Gibbon Award Nomination Alberta Trade Book of the Year Nomination Alberta Children''s Book of the Year Award From Arctic, Bonhomme and Imax to kayak, Ogopogo and zed, Eh? to Zed takes children on an alphabetic, fun-filled tour of Canada. Set in tightly linked rhyming verse, the words for this unique book resonate with classic and contemporary images from every province and territory in the country. Included are place names from Cavendish to Yarmouth and icons that will prompt discussion of Canada''s many regions, and its culture, discoveries and heritage. Accompanying the inventive text is a visual feast via the colorful palette of well-known illustrator Alan Daniel. He provides a witty mixture of folk art paintings, toys and models that leap from the page with a whimsical energy that delights the imagination. A treasure for families, a desirable souvenir for visitors to Canada, and a perfect resource for schools and libraries, Eh? to Zed celebrates what makes us truly Canadian, eh.

Gaffer is a surreal, haunting novel of a young man tied to a place, but able to explore the depths of the sea and swim freely across the tides of time. Living in a dying outpost town and haunted by the memory of his father''s death aboard the doomed Ocean Ranger, Gaffer is obsessively drawn to the sea. Miraculously, he is transformed into a fish-like creature capable of taking to the ocean, where he experiences episodes from Newfoundland''s past, and is granted a dark vision of its future. With a master''s grace, Kevin Major weaves the distinctive language of Newfoundland into a narrative that is both poetic and profoundly moving.

Jesse''s unemployed mother tries to make a new start for them by moving to a rural home where she hopes to foster a business carving figures for the Christmas season.