Overview

Roy MacGregor grew up in Huntsville, close to his beloved Algonquin Park, where he spent his childhood surrounded by stories of the famous painter. At the heart of it all was MacGregor’s relative, Winnie Trainor, the “old maid” too eccentric to be considered a romantic character, even if it was well known that Tom Thomson had once been in love with her. MacGregor’s fascination with the mysterious painter went deeper. Thomson had made friends in Northern Ontario, but also enemies. He liked to drink and canoe for days on end; he was also seen as a seducer. Be that as it may, the artist’s body was found in Canoe Lake in July 1917. The confusion surrounding his death and burial site was never resolved. In Northern Light (L’étoile du nord), MacGregor offers new leads and reveals previously hidden details of Thomson’s final days, as well as forensic data. Was Thomson a good-for-nothing womanizer or a visionary artist and gentleman? Did he drown accidentally or was he a victim of homicide? The myth of Tom Thomson has grown to obscure the reality of what happened, but the answers to many of these questions are finally revealed here.

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9782760337367

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"� L'histoire de Tom Thomson est l'une des grandes histoires du Canada, l'une des plus myst�rieuses, des plus fascinantes et des plus lancinantes. [...] Un livre indispensable. [...] De toute �vidence, personne, personne en vie aujourd'hui, n'a une telle connaissance du paysage de la r�gion, de ses traditions, de l'histoire m�me et de ses protagonistes que Roy MacGregor. �--David M. Shribman ""The Globe and Mail"" � La fin du peintre Tom Thomson est la plus grande histoire canadienne jamais vraiment racont�e. D�sormais, gr�ce � Roy MacGregor, c'est fait. �--David M. Shribman ""The Globe and Mail"" � Roy MacGregor, l'un de nos meilleurs auteurs, d�m�le ce qui est peut-�tre le plus grand myst�re canadien dans son dernier livre. [...] MacGregor tisse une trame convaincante. �--Toronto Star ""Toronto Star"" But the Tom Thomson story is one of Canada's best, one of Canada's most mysterious, one of Canada's most beguiling, one of Canada's most enduring. [...] Surely no one--no one alive--has as much familiarity with the landscape, the folklore, the story and even the principals as Roy MacGregor.--David M. Shribman ""The Globe and Mail"" This is the greatest Canadian story never fully told, a tale that combines the arts, sciences, maybe romance, maybe crime [...] Now, thanks to MacGregor [...] we--all of us who are drawn to Thomson's Jack Pine, all of us who are touched in an elemental and sentimental way by Summer Day--are about to set off again in the direction of Hayhurst Point, site of the memorial cairn in the artist's honour, and to visit all of the other landmarks in the Tom Thomson saga, including, we now know, almost for sure, the spot that is the Thomson gravesite overlooking Canoe Lake.--David M. Shribman ""The Globe and Mail"""

Author Information

Roy MacGregor is the author of several best-sellers, including Home Team: Fathers, Sons and Hockey (shortlisted for the Governor General's Award); A Life in the Bush (winner of the U.S. Rutstrum Award for Best Wilderness Book and the Canadian Authors Association Award for Biography); and Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People. His novels include Canoe Lake, The Last Season, and the volumes in the Screech Owls mystery series for young readers. A Globe and Mail columnist since 2002, MacGregor has received four National Magazine Awards and has been a finalist in the National Newspaper Awards eight times. His gift for storytelling has earned him Officer of the Order of Canada. Roy MacGregor has spent his life returning to the mystery surrounding Tom Thomson. He lives in Kanata, Ontario.

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