Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Willows
By Sylvia Barnard
Hurtling up Highway 69 toward Sudbury in her VW bug, Kate Dumont Walker decides she’s going to keep her baby. After all, it’s the 1980s. That is, until she is unexpectedly plunged 100 years into the past, without her Amelia, to the early days of her Northern Ontario community. Unable to return to her own time, she eventually learns to stop living as a visitor and settles into life with Claude, the devoted single father who lives in a log cabin that stands on the same property as Kate's present-day family home. And yet, she is caught between two times and the fear she will lose everything again if she is drawn back to the future.
Still, knowledge of another tragedy consumes her––the Spanish River Train Disaster of 1910. Just a few miles from Nairn Centre, the train jumped its tracks, telescoped in the middle of the bridge, and sent the second and third cars over the edge and through the ice like a bullet. Almost all of the passengers were lost. Was it the screeching of the train she heard ringing in her ears as she travelled back in time?
Puzzled by the connection between her family and the devastating derailment, she tries to shift the proposed Trans-Canada Railway route west of Sudbury. Will she be able to change history to prevent the tragedy, and at the same time save her family?
Still, knowledge of another tragedy consumes her––the Spanish River Train Disaster of 1910. Just a few miles from Nairn Centre, the train jumped its tracks, telescoped in the middle of the bridge, and sent the second and third cars over the edge and through the ice like a bullet. Almost all of the passengers were lost. Was it the screeching of the train she heard ringing in her ears as she travelled back in time?
Puzzled by the connection between her family and the devastating derailment, she tries to shift the proposed Trans-Canada Railway route west of Sudbury. Will she be able to change history to prevent the tragedy, and at the same time save her family?
~ Winner of the B.R.A.G. Gold award ~
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Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Willows is available now from these following retailers online.
Books may be purchased directly from Sylvia at one of the Coming Events listed on the Events and Media page or by a request on the Contact page.
What Readers are Saying
Kay in Seattle: "Who hasn't imagined being a time traveler? Sylvia Barnard weaves an intriguing tale of one woman's journey between present and past, finding love and motherly love, proving a purpose can be found, if even a 100 years in the past."
Vickie in Sudbury: "This is the first novel I've read that includes a historical treatment of events where I live. A great first novel combining history, family relations, and time travel."
Connie in Dunnville: "The mark of a good book is that you can't put it down. Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Willows is that kind of book. Characters spring off the page. A real privilege to read."
Maralyn in Pembroke: "The kind of book that leaves you feeling lonely when it's over. The characters are alive, the story compelling."
Geoff in Nova Scotia: "It's a well-written page turner. Highly recommended."
Vickie in Sudbury: "This is the first novel I've read that includes a historical treatment of events where I live. A great first novel combining history, family relations, and time travel."
Connie in Dunnville: "The mark of a good book is that you can't put it down. Rhubarb, Strawberries, and Willows is that kind of book. Characters spring off the page. A real privilege to read."
Maralyn in Pembroke: "The kind of book that leaves you feeling lonely when it's over. The characters are alive, the story compelling."
Geoff in Nova Scotia: "It's a well-written page turner. Highly recommended."
Ballad of the Spanish
By Ron Whitman and Sylvia Barnard
"The Ballad of the Spanish" was written to accompany the novel. Music written by singer/songwriter Ron Whitman, lyrics by Sylvia Barnard. The song becomes a favourite of Kate and her family as they travel by horse-drawn wagon from their homestead on the Spanish to Nelsonville.
Listen to Ron perform the song on SoundCloud below.
Listen to Ron perform the song on SoundCloud below.
Up north of Biscotasing
The mighty river is born
Through rock cuts, o'er lowlands
Her southward path is worn.
Home to beaver, geese, and otters
Ducks, bass, pike, and the bear
Paddlers love her beauty
You can hear the loon call there.
Chorus: Loggers may have jammed her
Miners they have dammed her
But the Spanish keeps rollin' along
Her tea-waters mirror
Birches, pines and poplars
And the Spanish keeps rollin' along.
"One car telescoped—remained on bridge burned, cremating passengers—other half dropped into river."
- Toronto Daily Star, January 22, 1910.
- Toronto Daily Star, January 22, 1910.
