Genevieve Graham explores little-known Canadian history in novel Letters from Across the Sea
Real events featured include the Christie Pitts riot, a Canadian POW camp and a fearless Canadian journalist
Letters Across the Sea is a historical fiction novel set in Ontario by Canadian author, Genevieve Graham. From the desperate streets of Toronto to the embattled shores of Hong Kong, the story reveals the enduring power of love that crosses dangerous divides even in the darkest of times.
Graham is a historical fiction writer from Nova Scotia. Her other books include At the Mountain's Edge, Come From Away and The Forgotten Home Child. Graham grew up in Toronto and now lives in Nova Scotia.
Book columnist Tara Henley from Ontario Morning spoke to Graham about her new book.
One of the main plot points in the novel happens at Christie Pits Park in Toronto, involving the famed baseball game riot in August 1933. Tell us about that historic day.
There were probably about 4,000 or 5,000 people watching the game. That was during the Great Depression, so people were always looking for good free entertainment.
The ballplayers all jumped over the benches with their bats and it ended up being over 10,000 people fighting in the streets of Toronto for over six hours.- Genevieve Graham
The game went fine until the very end, when one of the members of the Swastika Club stood up and waved a huge flag. In reaction to that, the ballplayers all jumped over the benches with their bats. It ended up being over 10,000 people fighting in the streets of Toronto for over six hours. It was amazing to find out that nobody was really hurt.
During the Second World War, there was a German POW camp in Bowmanville in Toronto. In the novel, the main character Molly visits the POW camp and reports on it. How were the Canadian and German prisoners treated differently?
Over there, Canadian prisoners were tortured and underfed. Here in Bowmanville, German soldiers were fed such good food by nearby farms that some of the Canadians are complaining that the German POWs were getting better food than they were.
They had open grounds. They could go swimming if they wanted. They had their own little musician groups and plays. They were very happy here. A lot of the prisoners actually came back to Canada after the war and became citizens here.
The main character Molly is based on the Toronto journalist, Rhea Clyman. What's her story?
She was disabled. She was Jewish. She was born in Poland in 1904 and she moved to Toronto when she was two. When she was five, she lost part of her leg in a streetcar accident. She moved to New York, then London. She worked for all different newspapers.
For her to stand in the midst of the craziness that was going on at these rallies, it must have really been something.- Genevieve Graham
She went to some Nazi rallies to write about them, and that blew me away because Rhea was also Jewish. For her to stand in the midst of the craziness that was going on at these rallies, it must have been something.
You were able to travel back to Toronto for research. What did you discover about your hometown during the research process?
I went through a lot of photographs, journals and old articles about Toronto, about what it was like back then. That was really interesting.
But then to think about how all the antisemitism was happening in this place that I called home, was very disturbing.- Genevieve Graham
But then to think about how all the antisemitism was happening in this place that I called home, was very disturbing. It sort of felt like another city altogether than the one that I knew so well. It was strange, but it was very important.
This conversation was edited for length and clarity.
