Twenty-eight of Thirty: Sanctuary - the book and the place

I haven't written a book review since grade school. And certainly, this is not a formal one for sure.

But, I just finished devouring Deborah Carr's book "Sanctuary: The Story of Naturalist Mary Majka". From the Preface to the Postlude and Acknowledgements, I was captivated by both the story itself and the voice of the narrator.

Mary Majka's story is a fascinating and inspiring one. Deborah did her justice in the narration, drawing the reader in to the tale and developing a relationship with the forceful characters. Perhaps because my families hail from Albert County, from Alma to Shepody and beyond, I was absorbed in the story and graphic descriptions of flora, fauna, wildlife and shoreline of the area I visited several times in summer as a child - but less often in recent years.

Although the story is the biography of an amazing woman, it is also a chronicle of life in the rugged coastal Albert County on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. This book and its story are also important as an historical record of the evolution of environmental awareness, not only in Albert County and the tiny Province of New Brunswick, but in Canada and around the globe. Mary Majka and author Deborah Carr have proven, by their individual actions, that change is possible, even probable, if one person at a time takes action.

Thank you both for this amazing story that brought me to tears at times, laughter occasionally, and stimulated my soul.

My son, his wife and my grand children live in Vancouver. He has now lived there longer than he lived, growing up, in New Brunswick. Books like this one, given as gifts for birthdays and Christmases, help me to know that he and his children will remember their roots, their east-coast families, and the place I call home.