Twelve-year-old Martin, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister's objections to the family's move to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen.

Twelve-year-old Martin Jessup, teller of tall tales and other untruths, cannot understand his sister’s objections to the family’s move from Winnipeg to small-town Ontario. With Dad in the military, moving is a fact of life. Settling into his new home, Martin is intrigued by a deserted house across the street and by an unfriendly neighbour, who seems to be waiting for something to happen. Martin and new friends Granger and Holly form a club that meets in the deep end of an empty swimming pool. The friends tell Martin that the deserted house is all that remains of the Govier estate and about an unsolved mystery — the disappearance years ago of Victor Govier. One night, Martin sees a light in the deserted house and the adventures of the Deep End Gang begin. This gentle small-town mystery will appeal to admirers of Peggy Dymond Leavey’s Silver Birch Award-nominated Sky Lake Summer.

When his military father is transferred from Winnipeg to a small town in Ontario, Martin Jessup and two of his new neighbors form a club called the Deep End Gang because they meet in an unfilled swimming pool, and investigate unexpected lights in an aband

"A fresh, funny, audacious debut novel about a Bridget Jones-like twenty-something who discovers that she may have simply been looking for love -- and, ahem, pleasure -- in all the wrong places (aka: from men)"--

Confined in a small space for months on end, subject to ship's discipline and living on limited food supplies, many sailors of old lost their minds – and no wonder. Many still do. The result in some instances was bloodthirsty mutinies, such as the whaleboat Sharon whose captain was butchered and fed to the ship's pigs in a crazed attack in the Pacific. Or mob violence, such as the 147 survivors on the raft of the Medusa, who slaughtered each other in a two-week orgy of violence. So serious was the problem that the Royal Navy's own physician claimed sailors were seven times more likely to go mad than the rest of the population. Historic figures such as Christopher Columbus, George Vancouver, Fletcher Christian (leader of the munity of the Bounty) and Robert FitzRoy (founder of the Met Office) have all had their sanity questioned. More recently, sailors in today's round-the-world races often experience disturbing hallucinations, including seeing elephants floating in the sea and strangers taking the helm, or suffer complete psychological breakdown, like Donald Crowhurst. Others become hypnotised by the sea and jump to their deaths. Off the Deep End looks at the sea's physical character, how it confuses our senses and makes rational thought difficult. It explores the long history of madness at sea and how that is echoed in many of today's yacht races. It looks at the often-marginal behaviour of sailors living both figuratively and literally outside society's usual rules. And it also looks at the sea's power to heal, as well as cause, madness.

Ages 9 years & over. After a rocky start to the summer in Turtle Narrows, things are starting to turn around for 13-year-old Joel Osler. He and his stepmother are finally hitting it off, and Joel has a dog of his own, a black Labrador retriever named Molly. The Osler family has just moved into the old Clifton House, with its unusual little rooftop room and the best view for miles. When Joel and Molly stumble upon suspicious activities at an empty warehouse, the little room becomes the perfect place from which to watch for further trouble. After discovering an artist's sketchbook filled with historical drawings, long hidden on the Clifton property, Joel learns that the house was once home to a famous artist. When he meets Adelaide Clifton, the former owner of the house, she tells him of its connection to the early lumbering days in the Ottawa Valley. Dropping in to his dad's shop one day, Joel overhears a mysterious stranger demanding money. Suddenly, it looks like they might lose the house and have to move back to the tiny flat over the shop. If that happens, Joel won't be able to keep his dog. He is desperate for a solution

Joel, trying to avoid the consequences when he is caught shoplifting, decides to spend the summer with his Dad in the small town of Turtle Narrows, and gets drawn into a mystery involving a treasure map and a secretive tourist.