Dennis T. Patrick Sears (1925-1976) at one time resided in Bexley Township, Kawartha Lakes. He is the author of three novels, two set in Kawartha Lakes (then known as Victoria County), The Lark in the Clear Air and Aunty High Over the Barley Mow, with the latter being published posthumously. His third book, Fair Days Along the Talbert, has been described as autobiographical tales of his early life in Saskatchewan and central Ontario, collected from his columns for the Kingston Whig-Standard.

His most famous words are the truncated and often unattributed: “Lindsay has the widest street and narrowest minds.” The full quote comes from his posthumously published novel: “Uncle Miles once said the inhabitants of Lindsay had the widest street and the narrowest minds of any town north of the Rio Grande.” (page 109, Aunty High Over the Barley Mow)

This phrase evolved into the misconception that Lindsay had the widest streets in Ontario (sometimes the claim extended for all of Canada.) While Kent and Victoria Streets are the widest in the town of Lindsay, spanning 100 feet compared to the others at 60 feet, this was actually common across many towns in Ontario. These wider streets tend to be located at the heart of town and were meant to allow “parking” for horses and buggies near the town squares. But in Kawartha Lakes, Sears’s description caught on and became a local myth.

Sears died in 1976 at age 51 of pneumonia following surgery in Kingston. Born in Vancouver in 1925, he was living in Saskatchewan until 1933, when his grandfather died and his family relocated to take over the Bexley township farm. Sears left school after Grade 8. He was a factory worker, merchant seaman, ranch hand, police officer, plainsclothes military police officer, and carpenter. He also served the Royal Canadian Navy.

In his review of Aunty High Over the Barley Mow, Bob Trotter (a journalist originating from Kawartha Lakes) said, “It is unfortunate that Dennis T. Patrick Sears will not write another novel. I love the magic of his fluent, mellow prose, ripe with the tang of earth and fresh air, right out of my childhood before the tourists came to corrupt. It is in the heart of the Kawartha Lakes, the vacationland for aliens from Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo. That rich array of real people have been changed by the times but brought back to lusty life by Sears.” (The Last Post “Victoria Co. before the city folk came”, volume 6, number 6, January 1978, page 47.)

Books:

The Lark in the Clear Air  (1974)

Fair Days Along the Talbert (1976)
Aunty High Over the Barley Mow (1977)

Articles: 

“Bluegrass: a fan’s notes”, Harrowsmith Magazine, issue 3/36.

“The Haunted 10th”, Harrowsmith Magazine, issue 2/16.

“The Raising of Long Paddy McNaney’s Barn”, Harrowsmith Magazine, issue 1/22.

Further Reading:

Interview with McLean’s magazine, 1975

Page at New Canadian Library

Jules Sobrian (born January 22, 1935 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago), is a medical doctor, competitive marksman and author, who immigrated to Canada at the age of 21 and resides in Omemee, Ontario. (from Wikipedia)

About the Book:
It is 1856 and Dr. Forsyth’s ambition is to save lives on the Canadian frontier. Fresh from medical school, and accompanied by Kitty, his beautiful bride and nurse, he sets up practice in a scenic village not far from an Indian nation. There he finds himself in competition with the reeve, who not only invents and sells cures for all known human and animal diseases, but exercises some mysterious control over the village council.

Much to his dismay, the public views the doctor’s every success as failure. One by one he inadvertently makes enemies among the local gentry.
When the reeve’s terrible secret is revealed Dr. Forsyth’s dream becomes his worst nightmare.
Kitty is betrayed by the law. Salvation comes from unexpected places, and she discovers that frontier justice is best served by Samuel Colt’s new invention.

White Lily

Local writer, Clint Cummings, produces a podcast of short stories on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/62cEtPSjNaNnZfwaKU1OXg

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Interview with Clint Cummings, contributor to Kawartha Lakes Stories

Ruth Waring is a local Christian writer in Lindsay, Ontario.

author website: www.ruthwaring.com

Harvest of Lies
Then Came A Hush
Come Find Me

Sharon Skinner writes as Shannon Skinner.

Sharon was born on 17 September 1944, in Winnipeg, where her father was a flying officer. When she was nearly one year old, the family moved to Guelph. She is the eldest child of her family with one brother and two sisters. She married in 1966 and later divorced.

After her marrying, she started to write more until it became an obsession. One of the first was an English mystery, Murder at Ashley Manor.

During the years from 1967–1991, she wrote many stories: “The Key,” “The Promise,” “The Legend of Death Valley,” “A Cry in the Dark,” “Never Say Good-Bye,” and White Dove and the Heirs of Falcon Ridge.

She now lives in the Kawartha Lakes area. 

Her book, White Dove and the Heirs of Falcon Ridge, is partially inspired by the Boyd family of Bobcaygeon.

Built on a young woman’s strength, love and her undying love for her husband and family, White Dove And the Heirs of Falcon Ridge is a fictional story that deals with this woman’s life in the 1800’s until the early 2000 period. Anne, who, at the age of ten, has been living with her mother and grandfather. Anne’s mother is abused by her father and beaten continually. Her mother’s dreams are of finding a better life for her daughter and herself. It is a story of a very unique family, their struggles, heartbreak, love, faith, and their strength to always draw the home where they would find hope, love, and honor.

Books:

White Dove and the Heirs of Falcon Ridge (2010)

Further Reading:

http://www.mykawartha.com/whatson-story/3720564-avid-writer-publishes-first-book/

https://www.facebook.com/White-Dove-And-the-Heirs-of-Falcon-Ridge

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4331401-sharon-skinner

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4410344.htm