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Product Description
Review
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Globe and Mail Best Book
“Roy MacGregor, one of Canada’s top authors, unravels much of what is arguably the greatest Canadian mystery of all time in his latest book. . . . MacGregor has woven a convincing story.”
— Toronto Star
“Part history, part true-crime investigation and part memoir, Northern Light is both scrupulously even-handed and deeply personal. . . . [MacGregor] has crafted a beautifully realized picture of a time and place.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“It would be a shame to give too much detail from Northern Light because it is an intriguing, well-crafted piece of work blessed with all the natural elements of a great story: Fame, murder, lost love, shame, money, government deception and a drama played out against one of our country’s most magnificent natural backdrops. What more could a reader ask for?”
— Ottawa Citizen
“What happened to painter Tom Thomson is the greatest Canadian story never fully told. But now, thanks to Roy MacGregor, it has been.”
— David M. Shribman, The Globe and Mail (Best Book)
“The author does a masterful job of navigating through this thicket of possibilities, and comes to a conclusion that seems virtually unassailable.”
— Maclean’s
A Globe and Mail Best Book
“Roy MacGregor, one of Canada’s top authors, unravels much of what is arguably the greatest Canadian mystery of all time in his latest book. . . . MacGregor has woven a convincing story.”
— Toronto Star
“Part history, part true-crime investigation and part memoir, Northern Light is both scrupulously even-handed and deeply personal. . . . [MacGregor] has crafted a beautifully realized picture of a time and place.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“It would be a shame to give too much detail from Northern Light because it is an intriguing, well-crafted piece of work blessed with all the natural elements of a great story: Fame, murder, lost love, shame, money, government deception and a drama played out against one of our country’s most magnificent natural backdrops. What more could a reader ask for?”
— Ottawa Citizen
“What happened to painter Tom Thomson is the greatest Canadian story never fully told. But now, thanks to Roy MacGregor, it has been.”
— David M. Shribman, The Globe and Mail (Best Book)
“The author does a masterful job of navigating through this thicket of possibilities, and comes to a conclusion that seems virtually unassailable.”
— Maclean’s
Product Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
FINALIST 2011 – Ottawa Book Award for Non-Fiction
Roy MacGregor's lifelong fascination with Tom Thomson first led him to write Canoe Lake, a novel inspired by a distant relative's affair with one of Canada's greatest painters. Now, MacGregor breaks new ground, re-examining the mysteries of Thomson's life, loves and violent death in the definitive non-fiction account. Why does a man who died almost a century ago and painted relatively little still have such a grip on our imagination?
The eccentric spinster Winnie Trainor was a fixture of Roy MacGregor's childhood in Huntsville, Ontario. She was considered too odd to be a truly romantic figure in the eyes of the town, but the locals knew that Canada's most famous painter had once been in love with her, and that she had never gotten over his untimely death. She kept some paintings he gave her in a six-quart basket she'd leave with the neighbours on her rare trips out of town, and in the summers she'd make the trip from her family cottage, where Thomson used to stay, on foot to the graveyard up the hill, where fans of the artist occasionally left bouquets. There she would clear away the flowers. After all, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't there: she had arranged at his family's request for him to be exhumed and moved to a cemetery near Owen Sound.
As Roy MacGregor's richly detailed Northern Light reveals, not much is as it seems when it comes to Tom Thomson, the most iconic of Canadian painters. Philandering deadbeat or visionary artist and gentleman, victim of accidental drowning or deliberate murder, the man's myth has grown to obscure the real view — and the answers to the mysteries are finally revealed in these pages.
FINALIST 2011 – Ottawa Book Award for Non-Fiction
Roy MacGregor's lifelong fascination with Tom Thomson first led him to write Canoe Lake, a novel inspired by a distant relative's affair with one of Canada's greatest painters. Now, MacGregor breaks new ground, re-examining the mysteries of Thomson's life, loves and violent death in the definitive non-fiction account. Why does a man who died almost a century ago and painted relatively little still have such a grip on our imagination?
The eccentric spinster Winnie Trainor was a fixture of Roy MacGregor's childhood in Huntsville, Ontario. She was considered too odd to be a truly romantic figure in the eyes of the town, but the locals knew that Canada's most famous painter had once been in love with her, and that she had never gotten over his untimely death. She kept some paintings he gave her in a six-quart basket she'd leave with the neighbours on her rare trips out of town, and in the summers she'd make the trip from her family cottage, where Thomson used to stay, on foot to the graveyard up the hill, where fans of the artist occasionally left bouquets. There she would clear away the flowers. After all, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't there: she had arranged at his family's request for him to be exhumed and moved to a cemetery near Owen Sound.
As Roy MacGregor's richly detailed Northern Light reveals, not much is as it seems when it comes to Tom Thomson, the most iconic of Canadian painters. Philandering deadbeat or visionary artist and gentleman, victim of accidental drowning or deliberate murder, the man's myth has grown to obscure the real view — and the answers to the mysteries are finally revealed in these pages.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Assembled facts about Tom Thomson,
This review is from: Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him (Hardcover)
Roy MacGregor has done extensive research about Tom Thomson and his eventual demise. Put together in a journalistic form, I feel that it is the definitive word on Tom Thomson's life and death. And even though it is factual, it is an intriguing and satisfying read. If you are a paddler of a canoe in the Canadian wilderness and/or are inspired by Thomson's powerful images of mid-north country in all seasons, this a book for you.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Evidence,
This review is from: Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him (Hardcover)
This book satisfied many of my questions regarding Tom Thomson. While I have been interested in Thomson and fascinated by his work for over thirty years, it was not until earlier this year that I began reading in earnest about him.Northern Light not only complements what I had already read, it also provides extra information that was not contained in the other works about Thomson. Roy MacGregor must be praised for presenting the reader with Thomson the man: a man who happened to be an artist who eventually became a Canadian icon. MacGregor details the circumstances surrounding Thomson's death in a manner resembling a court case. He deftly intertwines previously argued beliefs with stunning new evidence in such a way that his readers need to think carefully about what is being told to them. We, as active members of a jury, must ultimately come to our own decision in the matter. Northern Light is well-written and thought-provoking; as well, it is sympathetic to its subject. I would highly recommend it to all readers.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enduring Mysteries Indeed!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him (Hardcover)
What a pleasure to read this first rate account of Tom Thomson and the woman who seems to have loved him. Only Roy McGregor, one of our most treasured journalists, and one who grew up in Thomson country, in and around Algonquin Park, could write so personally about the artist and his mysterious death. I like a book that gets me thinking. I wonder if one of Thomson's problems was the fact that every available woman, and some that are not available, thinks that every good looking and talented man should not have the luxury of remaining single? Now doesn't that sound like the opening of Pride and Prejudice, though I would never claim to write nearly as well as Jane Austen? Rae Fleming, author of Peter Gzowski, A Biography Peter Gzowski: A Biography
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