A01=Terry Burke
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Allan Gardens
An immigrant Christmas in Canada
Author_Terry Burke
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Being Catholic in Cabbagetown
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=BM
Category=DNC
COP=Canada
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
Dermott Place
Don River Valley
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eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
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Going to the Saturday matinee
Irish priests and nuns
Language_English
Making money delivering groceries
Mixed nationalities in Cabbagetown
PA=Available
Parliament Street
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
Riverdale Park
Saint Martin's School
School overcrowding
Sneaking on to the Yonge Street Subway
softlaunch
Sunday at Kew Beach
The Dublin slums
The gangs in Regent Park
The homeless in Cabbagetown
The Saint Martin'
Tobogganing in Riverdale Park
Product details
- ISBN 9781459750784
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 139 x 215mm
- Publication Date: 27 Apr 2023
- Publisher: Dundurn Group Ltd
- Publication City/Country: CA
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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A poignant memoir of a rough-and-tumble boyhood on the streets of Toronto’s Cabbagetown.
When the Burke family left Ireland, in 1959, they thought they were leaving the trials and tribulations of the Dublin slums behind. Instead, Molly, Bill, and their nine children found the same poverty and hardship awaiting them in the east end of Toronto.
For their sixth-born son, Terry, growing up in Cabbagetown was a daily struggle to survive. Whether it was the bullies on the street or the gangs in Regent Park, fights were an everyday occurrence. School should have been a refuge, but some of the priests and nuns were more terrifying than any street bully. The only escape for Terry was to find his way down into the Don Valley, where he could search the river for muskrat or imagine himself escaping on one of the freight trains, chucking north, up the valley floor.
But a childhood in Cabbagetown didn’t seem to last very long. Forced into adulthood and driven from home in the wake of tragedy, Terry struggled to survive on his own and find a way back to his family.
In this touching memoir, Terry Burke tells a poignant story of hunger, pain, love, and loss, and the enduring bonds of family.
When the Burke family left Ireland, in 1959, they thought they were leaving the trials and tribulations of the Dublin slums behind. Instead, Molly, Bill, and their nine children found the same poverty and hardship awaiting them in the east end of Toronto.
For their sixth-born son, Terry, growing up in Cabbagetown was a daily struggle to survive. Whether it was the bullies on the street or the gangs in Regent Park, fights were an everyday occurrence. School should have been a refuge, but some of the priests and nuns were more terrifying than any street bully. The only escape for Terry was to find his way down into the Don Valley, where he could search the river for muskrat or imagine himself escaping on one of the freight trains, chucking north, up the valley floor.
But a childhood in Cabbagetown didn’t seem to last very long. Forced into adulthood and driven from home in the wake of tragedy, Terry struggled to survive on his own and find a way back to his family.
In this touching memoir, Terry Burke tells a poignant story of hunger, pain, love, and loss, and the enduring bonds of family.
Terry Burke immigrated to Toronto’s Cabbagetown in the late 1950s. His two previous books, Cold War Soldier and Under the Blue Beret, deal with his time in the military. He is retired and living in London, Ontario.
