In the early 1970s, artist Gerald Squires moved, with his wife and two young daughters, into the abandoned lighthouse-keeper’s house in Ferryland, Newfoundland. Shortly after their arrival, they had a visitor who claimed to be the former constable of the area and regaled them with stories of the place and its previous occupants. A visitor, they soon learned, who was more than he appeared to be.
Using materials gathered in interviews with members of the family, Charis Cotter tells the tale of this mysterious visitor from the perspective of the youngest member of the Squires family. Cotter captures the delight of a curious young girl discovering her new landscape, the excitement of living in a lighthouse at the edge of the ocean, and the haunting mystery of the visitor himself.
Renowned artist Gerald Squires contributed already-existing paintings and several new drawings of the lighthouse and its surrounding landscape, as well as family photographs from the lighthouse years. The result is an illustrated storybook of great beauty—part family recollection, part art book, part ghost story.
"The Ferryland Visitor shines a beacon light on what it takes to feel at home in a new place, and what, in turn, that community expects from us. A warm and true book that revolves around family and belonging, beautifully told and illustrated, with a crazy mystery thrown in! Highly recommended." — Michael Winter