This is an interesting, slightly confusing yet enjoyable combination of fact, fiction and something in between set in a real but fictional place within the Canadian Shield called Flin Flon. Each chapter tells a different story or set of stories relating the history of the Canadian lakes, their towns and mining communities wrapped up like fireside stories told by grandparents and great aunts and uncles. The stories are based on truth but added to with fiction set in real and imaginary places making the morales and feel of the stories the focus rather than the places themselves. Similar stories have been woven around the hearths of the Welsh valleys and gives more of an appreciation and sense of an area than entirely true stories ever could. Having said that, I think I missed out on a lot of what this book can offer as I'm not a local in any sense of the word so some kind of context somewhere might have helped somewhat. Or maybe it has been written as a bit of inside joke or story, aimed at those who know...