Product Description

In 1959, just one step ahead of the law, Ian Ferguson's parents left the sophisticated big-city life of Edmonton for Fort Vermilion — once a fur-trapping frontier town, now a remote aboriginal settlement in northernmost Alberta. There, Ian and his six brothers and sisters grew up without indoor plumbing, electricity, central heating, or even a radio. Beginning with the dramatic events surrounding his birth (including a paddlewheel ferry heading for destruction, a legendary rowboat trip, and a life-and-death race against time), the richly recalled events of Ferguson's life and a vivid array of characters make for a taut and appealingly idiosyncratic tale.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #438206 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
You’ll laugh so hard while reading this book that you will temporarily be distracted from the bleakness between the lines. -- The Edmonton Journal

About the Author
An award-winning playwright and humourist, Ian Ferguson lives in Los Angeles where he is developing a series for American television. He is co-author of the runaway bestseller and Leacock Medal finalist How to Be a Canadian.

From AudioFile
Ian Ferguson considers himself born lucky, despite having grown up poor in far northern Canada and having spent part of his childhood in an iron lung because of the Thalidomide his mother took for morning sickness. His father is a con-man who passes himself off as a teacher in an Indian school in Fort Vermilion and who forgets to take his first-born son when rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth to a second son. Ferguson grows up to be a successful playwright. He expertly narrates the cast of odd characters, including his Indian friends, especially Lloyd Loonskin (who was lucky to be born). The author is an enthusiastic reader with a booming voice and impeccable comic timing. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

A memorable case of growing up among lovable misfits
Written and narrated by author Ian Ferguson, Village Of The Small Houses: A Memoir Of Sorts is an hilarious and highly recommended account of growing up poor in the far north when in 1959, just ahead of the law, Ferguson's con-artist father Hank headed up north in a delapidated Mercury Zephyr with his pregnant wife, Louise. Hank got as far as isolated Fort Vermilion where he passed himself off as a teacher at the "Indian school" and settled his ever-expanding family in a house devoid of plumbing and electricity. The lively recounting of a scrappy childhood, Ferguson interweaves truth, tall-tale exag-geration, and a memorable case of growing up among lovable misfits in this 2 CD, 2 1/2 hour autobiographical account.

Brilliant!
I loved every page of this book. The writing is excellent and the story flows really well. There are so many moving moments in this book that I shed a tear on a number of occassions. I also laughed my head off quite a bit. What more can one ask of a memoir? Well done Ian!

Small houses-big characters
I read Ian Fergusons `biography of sorts` on a recent visit to Canada.The book was un-put-down-able,such well shaped characters,such wonderfully evoked scenery. Full of humour and pathos. When does the movie come out?