Strange, even deadly, encounters happen when young Tommy Caffrey is left alone with the Mi’kmaq tomahawk he found. Set in a mythical northern Cape Breton town, Where The Rivers Meet is a coming-of-age story told against the backdrop of religious and racial conflict that occurs when gold is discovered on Indian land.
Danny: I wrote a number of articles for magazines while I was living among tribal people in the Philippines. One was about a wild boar hunt. Another was about the organizing of a logging blockade to stop deforestation. It felt good and important to put these experiences into print.
Danny: Fifteen years ago, when I returned home to Antigonish, Nova Scotia, after many years of being abroad, my earliest memories came flooding back. I just had to write about them.
Danny: Completely freestyle. Interesting, because in the end I needed and created a very strong structure based on the passage of time. Twelve chapters: one for each month between August 1961 and July 1962.
Danny: The solitary nature of the task is a challenge. What was also difficult was not knowing if it would even be published despite the amount of time, creativity and life experience expended. Only once I knew it would be published did I really buckle down and make everything work together, to perfect the book. That was a tremendous motivation for me.
Danny: I took a picture of my novel sitting on the shelves at the Coles in the Antigonish Mall. It feels wonderful. It is very gratifying to know that readers will come to know my characters and, through some of them anyway, the real heroes and heroism they represent.
Danny Gillis has written for magazines and newspapers for more than two decades. He is a respected author and editor. Where The Rivers Meet is a special book by a special talent and will firmly establish Gillis as a master storyteller and one of the most important and engaging voices to come out of the region in years.