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Jack in
Pemberland
FriesenPress,
Altona 2024 |
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A comic fable with a
political edge, new from Herschel Hardin
Here it is finally, Jack in Pemberland, the
extraordinary story of the hidden city of 100,000 people in
the Cayoosh Range in British Columbia.
Follow Jack as he
gets to know what makes the city tick. Discover how Pemberland provides
housing at so low a cost that nobody has to even think about it. Learn
what lies behind their population not rising above the 100,000 mark and, even
more astonishing, how committed the residents are to keeping it that way. Find out the secret recipe for their enjoying all the doctors and nurses they
need without taking them away from other places.
Meet the
main characters as you go along: former concrete-truck driver Jack Lewicki himself, now on his way to
becoming a nurse; Bark Lady (store owner and savvy Pemberlandian); Dindonkey
(Director of Housing), Yogi Rasputnik Goorvonovitch (no description would do
him justice); Sebastian O’Reilly (Pemberland’s so-called Minister of Finance),
Ready-Mix Straightarrow (City of Pemberland General Secretary of Finding a
Job), Sir Willgraph Reesy (creator of The Graph Factory and expert on global
warming), and Ma Shen Li-ping (chef extraordinaire).
You'll likely end up wanting to move to Pemberland, but other than a
modest number of refugees, only a few people are allowed in
every year: Don't forget that population limit! Well,
you can't have everything...or can you?
Jack in Pemberland is now available via the usual online
retail platforms and through your local bookstore.
Ebook edition $6.99, paperback $18.99, hardcover $33.99.
For more on Herschel Hardin and his work, please explore
this website,
www.herschelhardin.ca.
Connect with
Herschel at
herschel@herschelhardin.ca.
"A really imaginative
romp" and more:
A really imaginative romp. ... Lots of fun!
...
Wish
I could get to Pemberland myself.
– Bill Rees,
Vancouver
B.C.
The
book is such a fun read, and a welcome difference of tone
from all the omnipresent, overwhelming talk about the
housing crisis! A slyly amusing and satiric utopian
vision is always a great refresher. – Barbara Gordon,
Toronto,
Ontario
Quite a page turner, lively and kept my interest up – Janet
Upward, Solihull U.K.
I enjoyed your book immensely. It is funny and
irreverent. And a wee bit scurrilous in places! The message
is good and useful. Growth is not all it’s cracked up to be.
It keeps the industrial wheels turning but at what cost? We
seem to have made such a mess of what we were given. Climate
change looks like it may be the ultimate existential threat,
although many (in the U.S. in particular) will not fully
appreciate this until the air conditioners are switched off.
Your little tale of unrestrained growth in the Lower
Mainland is a cautionary story. I salute your literary and
comic talents in producing this tale of a better place
somewhere in the Cayoosh Range!
–
Keith
Johnston, North Vancouver B.C.
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