Smuggling also highlights the irony that a fluorspar mine in a Dominion of Britain might not have been developed without the illegal ability to bring in machinery and equipment tariff free from small islands belonging to France.
The relationship between the two places was not just around smuggling. A shared religion meant there were plenty of marriages between people from Saint Pierre and people from the Burin peninsula. There were strong business ties during and after Prohibition. As always, soccer remained a unifying force.
But my favourite part of this story is that my father and his first wife found fellowship where they least expected it. They found themselves among people who experienced joy even when life was not going according to plan. They found themselves among people who worked hard to make their lives as rich as possible. That is a gift, one passed down to many Newfoundlanders. I’m so very happy that I count myself as one.
Adele Poynter was born and raised in Newfoundland but also has strong American family ties. After living in other countries, she returned to Newfoundland in the mid 80s where she has worked as a geologist and an economist. Dancing in a Jar is her first novel.
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