Rachna Gilmore will launch her newest book, THAT BOY RED, Saturday June 18 at 2:00pm at Confederation Centre Public Library. The novel set in P.E.I. during the 1930s, follows the adventures and misadventures of eleven-year-old Roderick “Red” MacRae and his large and lively family as they struggle through bad weather, plunging crop prices and more during a particularly turbulent year. THAT BOY RED traces the coming of age of a remarkable young lad, while celebrating the strength and spirit of a Canadian family living through the Depression

THAT BOY RED

It’s P.E.I. during the Depression – meet eleven-year-old Roderick “Red” MacRae, resourceful, pig-headed and impulsive, and his large and lively family, as they weather the challenges of farming through a particularly turbulent year.

Red never has much spare time. His parents insist that he go to school even if he and his older brothers are mocked as being all soft and sissy for studying instead of farming. After helping Pa with the chores, Red would much rather tinker with woodwork than do his homework, but his older sister, Ellen, is also his teacher and she simply won’t tolerate it. Red tries to be responsible, and yet all too often he lands himself in the midst of hair-raising – and hilarious – misadventures.

When Cat-less Grannie comes for her annual visit, Red doesn’t mean to start playing with her precious switch of red hair, a relic from her youth, but sometimes things get out of control. Especially when a bad-tempered horse, Flash, and cow dung happen to get in the way. Then there’s Bunch, Red’s younger sister, small, square and determined, who insists on tagging after Red, until he plays dead to throw her off – with dire results. Red muddles his way through many a catastrophe involving bad turnip crops, snowstorms, outhouses and even aeroplanes.

Then Red’s father is seriously injured, and the family’s situation looks dire. Red must step up to the challenge to finish the tobacco caddies that his Pa makes for barter at the local store.

An episodic novel, THAT BOY RED traces the coming of age of a remarkable young lad, while celebrating the strength and spirit of a Canadian family living through the Depression.