Coming Ashore

A Memoir

by Catherine Gildiner

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

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Pub Date Oct 14 2014 | Archive Date Oct 14 2014

Description

Picking up her story in the late ’60s at age 21, Cathy Gildiner whisks the reader through five years and three countries, beginning when she is a poetry student at Oxford. Her education extended beyond the classroom to London’s swinging Carnaby Street, the mountains of Wales, and a posh country estate.

After Oxford, Cathy returns to Cleveland, Ohio, which was still reeling from the Hough Ghetto Riots. Not one to shy away from a challenge, she teaches at a high school where police escort teachers through the parking lot, trying to engage apathetic students and tussling with the education authorities.

In 1970, Cathy moves to Canada. While studying literature at the University of Toronto, she rooms with members of the FLQ (Quebec separatists) and then with one of the biggest drug dealers in Canada. Along the way, she falls in love with the man who eventually became her husband and embarks on a new career in psychology.

Coming Ashore brings readers back to a fascinating era populated by lively characters, but most memorable of all is the singular Cathy McClure.

Picking up her story in the late ’60s at age 21, Cathy Gildiner whisks the reader through five years and three countries, beginning when she is a poetry student at Oxford. Her education extended...

Advance Praise

"Travel in time with irrepressible all-American girl Cathy McClure as she collides with the English class system, celebrates the lunar landing in a Welsh pub, inspires a class of disaffected Cleveland teenagers with poetry, shares living quarters with members of the FLQ, meets Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon and Bill Clinton, and finds true love. This is one unforgettable trip down memory lane — a journey told with warmth, humour and insight." —Judy Fong Bates, author of The Year of Finding Memory
"Writing about a time of social transition and cultural upheaval, Catherine Gildiner's voice — charming, affable, unflappable, dryly funny and keenly perceptive — guides us through seven years of her eventful, extraordinary journey on this planet," —Wayne Johnston, author of The Son of a Certain Woman
"This big-hearted book unfolds like a conversation over wine with your funniest, most insightful friend. It's a wonder Catherine Gildiner survived her daredevil years, but what a treat to relive them with such a vivid storyteller." —Rona Maynard, author of My Mother's Daughter and former editor of Chatelaine
"An absolute delight from start to finish. The tale of Cathy McClure Gildiner's unusual life during the social upheaval of the 1960s and '70s is told with her unfailing wit and wise observations. Don't miss it." —Claire and Farlet Mowat
"Cathy Gildiner's delicious memoir about her youth in the 1960s and early 1970s is as much fun as eating hash brownies. It's also a fascinating, cool-eyed portrait of a chaotic, revolutionary time because Gildiner never idealizes or trivializes the '60s and its communal values." —Susan Swan, author of The Western Light
"Part travelogue, part book of secrets, Catherine Gildiner's Coming Ashore captures an era of unrest with honesty, humour and enticing detail. Grab your backpack, don your tie-dye and see the world through Cathy's eyes. You're in for an amazing ride." —Ami McKay, author of The Virgin Cure

"Travel in time with irrepressible all-American girl Cathy McClure as she collides with the English class system, celebrates the lunar landing in a Welsh pub, inspires a class of disaffected...