In April 2021 I got this email about Cardinal Divide from Joan Baxter — and saved it of course.
For those who don’t know, Joan Baxter is the author of “The Mill: 50 Years of Pulp and Protest” (2017) as well as volumes of extraordinary in-depth reporting about (among many other things) forestry and gold-mining. She teases apart the layers of excessive complexity these industries use to swaddle themselves from public oversight. Those of us trying to protect the natural world from the ravages of extraction capitalism would be lost without her.
Cardinal Divide made my whole weekend
Hi again, Nina …. I finished your wonderful novel, read through it obsessively this weekend, the first time I’ve done such a read in a long time. The characters are still with me, and I came to love them. I was also grateful for the ending. So much tragedy on those pages, but you turned it around into something positive and encouraging because of the characters and their kindness to each other, their wisdom, and – I hate using this word because it is so abused, but it fits – resilience.
It is a masterful piece of writing and storytelling. We are very fortunate that you chose to live here in Nova Scotia, not just because of your efforts to save (what is left of) our forests from the forestry cabal, but also because of your literary talents.
Looking forward to the memoir!
Best wishes,
Joan