Nonfiction
Hopping
first published in 2009 (Fourth Estate)
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In 1953 the Canadian government forcibly relocated three dozen Inuit from their flourishing home on the Hudson Bay to the barren, High Arctic desert of Ellesmere Island, the most northerly landmass on the planet, a place where winter temperatures routinely drop to -50C and it is dark twenty four hours a day for four months of the year.
Among this group was Josephie Flaherty, the half-Inuit son of filmmaker Robert Flaherty, director of Nanook of the North. In a narrative rich with human drama, Melanie McGrath follows three generations of the Flaherty family to bring this extraordinary tale of deception, survival and, after thirty years, redemption.
first published in 2009 (Fourth Estate)
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In 1953 the Canadian government forcibly relocated three dozen Inuit from their flourishing home on the Hudson Bay to the barren, High Arctic desert of Ellesmere Island, the most northerly landmass on the planet, a place where winter temperatures routinely drop to -50C and it is dark twenty four hours a day for four months of the year.
Among this group was Josephie Flaherty, the half-Inuit son of filmmaker Robert Flaherty, director of Nanook of the North. In a narrative rich with human drama, Melanie McGrath follows three generations of the Flaherty family to bring this extraordinary tale of deception, survival and, after thirty years, redemption.
The Long Exile
first published in 2006 (Fourth Estate)
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In 1953 the Canadian government forcibly relocated three dozen Inuit from their flourishing home on the Hudson Bay to the barren, High Arctic desert of Ellesmere Island, the most northerly landmass on the planet, a place where winter temperatures routinely drop to -50C and it is dark twenty four hours a day for four months of the year. Among this group was Josephie Flaherty, the half-Inuit son of filmmaker Robert Flaherty, director of Nanook of the North. In a narrative rich with human drama, Melanie McGrath follows three generations of the Flaherty family to bring this extraordinary tale of deception, survival and, after thirty years, redemption.
first published in 2006 (Fourth Estate)
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Read an excerpt and reviews
In 1953 the Canadian government forcibly relocated three dozen Inuit from their flourishing home on the Hudson Bay to the barren, High Arctic desert of Ellesmere Island, the most northerly landmass on the planet, a place where winter temperatures routinely drop to -50C and it is dark twenty four hours a day for four months of the year. Among this group was Josephie Flaherty, the half-Inuit son of filmmaker Robert Flaherty, director of Nanook of the North. In a narrative rich with human drama, Melanie McGrath follows three generations of the Flaherty family to bring this extraordinary tale of deception, survival and, after thirty years, redemption.
Silvertown
first published on 06 May, 2002 (Fourth Estate)
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An East End Family Memoir: The story of one East End family, across three generations, living on the fringe of the Thames. Silvertown itself is a ribbon of marshland that sits beside the King George VI dock near Bow Creek. In 1944 Melanie McGrath's grandfather Lenny, bought the Cosy Cafe in Silvertown. From here Lenny, his mistress, his wife and his daughter served egg and chips, liver and bacon, eels and jellied custard to the passing trade from the thriving docks. Business was good. By the late 1940s Lenny was the only Cafe owner in the East End to drive a Cadillac.
Like many others on the fringes of the Thames in East London, the story of Melanie McGrath's family is a tidal one. Originating from other parts, her family spilled into the area to take advantage of the docks and, having made a little money spilled back out to the West again. 50 years on, Silvertown stares the Millennium Dome square in the eyes. In the past half-century the Docklands terrain has been bombed, rebuilt, renovated, slum-cleared and finally razed pending "regeneration". Overlooked by successive enterprise projects that have created the City Airport, Canary Wharf and the Dome itself, the waters of Silvertown sleep, awaiting a future that remains undecided. In this book Melanie McGrath has, through the story of her family, recaptured this slip of land from its post-industrial depression, and with it the traditional heartlands of East London before each fades quietly from memory.
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first published on 06 May, 2002 (Fourth Estate)
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An East End Family Memoir: The story of one East End family, across three generations, living on the fringe of the Thames. Silvertown itself is a ribbon of marshland that sits beside the King George VI dock near Bow Creek. In 1944 Melanie McGrath's grandfather Lenny, bought the Cosy Cafe in Silvertown. From here Lenny, his mistress, his wife and his daughter served egg and chips, liver and bacon, eels and jellied custard to the passing trade from the thriving docks. Business was good. By the late 1940s Lenny was the only Cafe owner in the East End to drive a Cadillac.
Like many others on the fringes of the Thames in East London, the story of Melanie McGrath's family is a tidal one. Originating from other parts, her family spilled into the area to take advantage of the docks and, having made a little money spilled back out to the West again. 50 years on, Silvertown stares the Millennium Dome square in the eyes. In the past half-century the Docklands terrain has been bombed, rebuilt, renovated, slum-cleared and finally razed pending "regeneration". Overlooked by successive enterprise projects that have created the City Airport, Canary Wharf and the Dome itself, the waters of Silvertown sleep, awaiting a future that remains undecided. In this book Melanie McGrath has, through the story of her family, recaptured this slip of land from its post-industrial depression, and with it the traditional heartlands of East London before each fades quietly from memory.
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Hard, Soft & Wet
first published on ? (Flamingo)
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Looks at the first generation of people to take the information age for granted, in particular their dreams, ambitions, aesthetics and assumptions.
first published on ? (Flamingo)
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Looks at the first generation of people to take the information age for granted, in particular their dreams, ambitions, aesthetics and assumptions.
Motel Nirvana
first published on ?, (?)
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A book about the New Age movement and its American heartland. It concerns the author's travels around the south-western United States of Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, and her encounters with some of that region's most unusual communities and individuals.
first published on ?, (?)
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A book about the New Age movement and its American heartland. It concerns the author's travels around the south-western United States of Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, and her encounters with some of that region's most unusual communities and individuals.
