Publish with FriesenPress
Learn how you can publish your book with the world’s only 100% employee-owned publishing services provider.
The Tale of Irwyn Tremayne
by
Frances Hern
Young Irwyn Tremayne is petrified at the thought of following the family tradition of working underground in the Cornish copper mines. He blames himself for the death of his brother and is afraid to share the dark secrets he learns about body snatchers. Irwyn’s widowed and depressed father needs a new start and books a passage for Irwyn and himself to Virgin Gorda to work in the copper mine there. Irwyn considers running away but wants to keep his promise made on his mother’s deathbed to take care of his father. The rough sailing passage across the Atlantic presents no end of adventure and trouble. Will Irwyn find his true courage at sea?
From page one, Frances Hern immerses readers in the authentic, fully imagined world of 1800s Cornwall, England with compelling characters and a gripping narrative. Building on her expertise as a writer of riveting histories and her sensibilities as a poet, Hern catapults her readers into a high seas adventure about a boy torn by grief, duty, and finding his own path in a new world. Highly recommended. -Susan Forest, Jan Markley & Shenaaz Nanji, members of the Kensington Writers Group. To read The Tale of Irwyn Tremayne is to delight in the adventure of perilous sea passage. Frances Hern writes with a flair for palpable detail and possibility. The result is a hair-raising account that will capture any young reader’s imagination. Young Irwyn Tremayne escapes his own secret and fear headfirst into a world of thievery, sailor’s knots, scurvy, opium, distant lands and even love. -Lisa Murphy-Lamb, author of Dinosaur Hunters and Jesus on The Dashboard
Born near Tolkien territory in Birmingham England in 1951, Frances came to Canada in 1973 on a year-long visit with her husband Keith and decided to stay. While bringing up her family, Frances made time for her other passions: writing and composing poetry and she received much recognition, including the Marg Gilkes Award in 1995 from the Calgary Writers Association. In part because she was not keen on history at school, she felt there was a need to present history in an easy-to-read format written for young adults, publishing three books in this genre: Norman Bethune: The Incredible Life and Tragic Death of a Revered Canadian Doctor. Canmore: Altitude Publishing, 2004. Arctic Explorers: In Search of the Northwest Passage. Surrey: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2010. Yip Sang and the First Chinese Canadians. Surrey: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2011. Her children’s book, Aunt Maud’s Mittens, was published by Scholastic (2007) Throughout the years, numerous poems of Frances’ have been anthologized in works such as Dear Tomato; And the Crowd Goes Wild; The Steampunk Shakespeare. She also had two essays published in Engraved, an anthology of Canadian Stories of World War One (2014). And an essay published in Brought to Light, More Stories of Forgotten Women (2015) For more information, see www. franceshern.ca
Contributors
- Author
- Frances Hern