Harbour Of My Tomorrows by Valerie Wiseman

Nestled in the quiet waters of Notre Dame Bay sits the small community of Fortune Harbour, Newfoundland. As a young Irish lad from Ballygarvan, Ireland, John Gavin never imagined that he would leave his beloved Emerald Isle and find himself a livyer of this new land. Life had not been easy for John and his brother Luke.  Orphaned after the Great Famine of the mid nineteenth century, seventeen year old John Gavin vowed to never leave his little brother's side. Though they had been rescued from the Irish workhouses by their father's sister, heartbreak, poverty and the threat of starvation and disease was always at their doorstep. Eventually John's vow to protect Luke is shattered when, against his will, he is conscripted by the Royal Navy and sent overseas to fight in the Crimean War. Inspired by true events, Harbour Of My Tomorrows is the gripping tale of an ordinary boy from County Cork and his extraordinary will to survive tragedy and betrayal.

"Remember when people were dead in the ditches, an' that cold rainy day when Da defended our home till he couldn't any longer, an' the men wit' guns stormed in on horses and destroyed our cabin? We tried to help our mother but she kept fallin' in the cold mud. I t'ink back sometimes when she would sing and the days were so happy. Father Kelly says it's fine to remember the good t'ings, but how con we remember just the good t'ings? John, m'mind can't stop at just the good t'ings. I wish that our mother could walk on this bog right now an' hug me again."

Published in 2010 by Flanker Press Publications, Harbour Of My Tomorrows is the first novel for Botwood born author Valerie Wiseman. This story is an exceptional retelling of the remarkable life of John Gavin, the great grandfather of Wiseman's husband Joe. Readers are first immersed in the early life of John and his family and their struggles to survive the Irish famine that saw the starvation and death of nearly one million people. Though times were extremely harsh, readers of this novel will be comforted to read about the bright spots of happiness, young love, and toe tapping fun that relieved the monotony of daily heartbreak. Wiseman has done an excellent job at researching the events of this time and of the people of this area. Her characters speak with the Irish brogue characteristic of  that time and the details she uses to describe John's life at sea with the Royal Navy aboard HMS Valda are accurately shocking, especially the event that resulted in John severely beating the Lieutenant and deserting the Navy. But on the horizon, love and hope for a new life are found in the company of strangers who befriend John and accept him as one of their own in Fortune Harbour, Newfoundland. 

Memories flooded his soul as he thought of the many times he had glanced at the late-night skies over Ireland. Ireland had held heartaches, some too horrific to recall, but inevitably the gentle and joyful recollections would always prevail and the pining for home would return. When the want of sleep finally won over nostalgia, he headed back toward the path leading to the house. With the thick ocean aroma still filling his head, John took one more glance out over the water. For now, he would have to subdue his longing for home, for he believed that his future was charted. He had no way of knowing that he was gazing out over the harbour of all his tomorrows. 

Harbour of My Tomorrows is a wholesome truly enjoyable novel from cover to cover. This story will leave readers with an appreciation for the past and the personal hardship that many of our ancestors endured in their quest to make a better life for themselves and the generations that followed. This novel will inspire readers to dig deeper into their own genealogy as they seek to discover where they come from and why they are here. Harbour Of My Tomorrows is a Flanker Press publication.