Nine Bells for a Man a novel Author:Peter Unwin With inspiration drawn from a Ripleys Believe it or Not comic book, Peter Unwins novel, Nine Bells for a Man, is a superb parable for changing times. On November 12, 1912, the Mayflower sank beneath the night skies of Ontario and the icy waters of Lake Kaminiskeg. Three men survived the disaster one of Canadas largest in-land marine acci... more »dents saved by a body transported from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, in an air-tight coffin and deal box. Saved, as well, when they reached land, by a newfangled device a cigarette lighter, able to withstand water. How these men came to be the survivors they were is the story of Unwins first novel and second major work of fiction. Robert Pachal, a prairie farmer, family man, church goer, and upstanding citizen, takes it upon himself to accompany the body of his brother-in-law on its final return home, to Schutt, Ontario. On his journey by train, from the Canadian prairie to the Canadian shield, he discovers the modern urban, sophisticated and sometime not-so-sophisticated world of dissipated drinkers, down-and-out workers, and travelling salesmen. These puzzle him, as does his brother-in-laws mysterious death on the open prairie. Pachal experiences the very moment when the Canadian economy and the way of life it created shifts from resource-based productivity to sales and service-based activity. The last great log boom as big as a city and just as lit up by night has been floated down the Ottawa River. Huge tracts of forest have been reduced to fields of stumps. Beech trees, too large for saws, have been dynamited, making way for the new growth of spindly trees. Nine Bells for a Man is beautifully rendered in language that reflects its changing times and the people whose perceptions and thoughts are confronted and challenged by circumstances beyond their ken. This literary novel will engage, inform and delight. After a close reading, our own rapidly changing times will not seem so strange, nor will the changes seem so new.« less