Stardust Beach Studio is proud to bring you the astonishing true stories of The Lewis Family of Pennywell Road, told through annotated diaries and ship logs previously guarded for generations. You can buy it now on Amazon:Buy eBook on Amazon
A young child Jessie Lewis, a prolific diarist wise beyond her years, shares heart-wrenching and inspiring personal accounts of family loss through disease and war, shipping tragedies like the S.S. Newfoundland sealing disaster of 1914 with its 78 dead, and the aftermath for Newfoundland outports' starving and abandoned widows and orphans.
Jessie's personal stories and those of her ancestors reveal forgotten secrets of Newfoundland's history - class and economic struggles between the ruling, enriched merchants and deprived working-poor sealers and fishermen - violent and sometimes gruesome clashes between religious groups and marauding gangs - Captain John Lewis' account of struggles between indigenous 'savages' and colonists in the "New-Found Land". These true stories, and the apparent lack of accountability of local government, will have you call into question whether the rule of law and civility existed in some parts of Canada 100 years ago.
Jessie's diaries chronicle her coming of age, her selfless sacrifice and life-long dedication to helping others, and outspoken devotion to changing the views of merchants and government toward society's most vulnerable and forgotten. She is supported on her journey by her father, Charles Noble Lewis - a man of strong character and prominent chief engineer - who risks his position among St. John's elite by supporting his daughter and questioning the status quo that neglects so many for the benefit of the few.
Last but not least, is the true story of Jessie's secret and forbidden romance and undying love - a love that remained strong, even decades after more tragic loss.
The Lewis Family of Pennywell Road contains extensive research to complement the annotated diaries. This research includes a Lewis Family tree and details surrounding the family members and places described in the diaries and ship logs. This includes the "Fever Hospital" where so many lives were lost to disease, including baby brother George succumbing to diphtheria with his favourite toy train in hand. This is the same hospital where Jessie had her cherished but quarantined diaries painstakingly copied through the window to preserve for generations to come.
Options on the book may be available (contact us for details). Transcribed diaries are 129,000 words in total and include historical ships logs from Jessie's father, Charles Lewis, and other seafaring ancestors. Significant portions of The Lewis Family of Pennywell Road have already been licensed for publication, with 4000 copies in print at the time of this post.