Returning to a childhood marred by the Second World War, this revealing ensemble revisits the streets, shore, and woods that belonged to the resort town of Scarborough. In clear, quick-moving colloquial poetry, each word explores how the war affected the townspeople—turning some into curmudgeons, others into compassionate heroes—and how the experience toughened the frightened women and children into survivors, waiting for their men to come home. Part novel, part memoir, part passionate recollection, this narrative presents characters as they were, caught in the heartbreaking hardship of wartime England.

Christopher Wiseman was born in Yorkshire, England and educated in Manchester, at
Cambridge University, and at the University of Iowa. He came to Canada in the 1960's.
Since then he has taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Calgary.
He was poetry editor of Dandelion, is poetry editor of Ariel, and a founding
member and past president of the Writers' Guild of Alberta. He has been the recipient of
several Alberta Poetry awards (1988, 1989).