Site Profile
About the Bookmark
On September 2nd, Owen Sound received a permanent literary tribute when Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners and author Terry Griggs unveiled a new plaque at the city’s waterfront. The plaque bears approximately 500 words from Terry Griggs’s novel Rogues’ Wedding (published by Random House of Canada in 2002), depicting a scene that takes place at the Owen Sound harbour, on the exact site where the plaque was installed.
The installation is part of Project Bookmark Canada, an initiative that is creating a series of permanent plaques—or "Bookmarks"—across the country, marking where the real and imagined landscapes meet.
Mayor Lovell Stanners says that Owen Sound is a fitting selection for the cross-Canada series. "Owen Sound is a very beautiful place that inspires a great deal of creative expression and inspiration," says Lovell Stanners. "Being part of this cross-Canada series means that even more people will learn about our city, its stories and its spaces."
Author Terry Griggs is also pleased to see her work displayed in situ in Owen Sound. "Project Bookmark is a fabulous initiative and I'm delighted that a work of mine has been selected for installation in Owen Sound," Griggs says. "Books can so easily disappear—and the central character in Rogues' Wedding certainly tried hard to disappear—but thanks to the generosity of everyone involved, both are to be given an unexpected prominence and permanence."
The Owen Sound Bookmark is the second in the national series.
About Owen Sound
Owen Sound is located on an inlet of Georgian Bay (named Owen Sound Bay) in a valley below the Niagara Escarpment.
In 1815, Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen and Lieutenant Henry W. Bayfield conducted a survey of the Lake Huron area and named the inlet “Owen’s Sound,” after Captain Owen’s older brother, Admiral Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen.
The city of Owen Sound was first settled in 1841 by Charles Rankin. It was originally known as Sydenham (Sydenham River cuts through the city and empties into Owen Sound harbour) but gained its current name in 1851. Before this time it was inhabited by the Ojibway people.
With its access to the upper Great Lakes and major railways, Owen Sound was, for many years, a major port city, known as the “Chicago of the North.” (The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway caused a dramatic decline in port duties.) It was also, by all accounts, quite a rowdy town—another one of its nicknames was “Corkscrew City.” Drinking, gambling, prostitution, and crime ran rampant and it is this rollicking historical Owen Sound that is depicted in Terry Griggs’ novel Rogues’ Wedding.
Today Owen Sound is known as the gateway to cottage country. It was named a Cultural Capital of Canada in 2004 and boasts an impressive arts scene, a number of museums, and several exciting festivals.
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Landmark curated by Cailey Cavallin and Lindsey Shaw.
Cailey received her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Ottawa and just completed the Creative Book Publishing Program at Humber College. She loves literature, travel, and history and is therefore thrilled to be a part of this project.
Lindsey received her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Toronto and has recently completed the Creative Book Publishing program at Humber College. She is excited to be part of such an important initiative that promotes literature and travel in Ontario. She loves reading, writing, music and yoga.
As the Ontario Read It Here editorial and marketing interns, we are excited to travel across our fine province to promote the stunning works of literature that have come out of the region. It is our goal to draw national and international attention to the amazing, talented authors that this country has produced.
Author Profile
Terry Griggs is the acclaimed author of the historical novel Rogues’ Wedding. She is also the author of Quickening, a book of short stories nominated for the 1990 Governor General’s Award, and the bestselling Young Adult series, the Cat’s Eye Corner Trilogy. She won the Marian Engel Award in 2003.
Griggs knew early on that she wanted to be a writer: “I wasn't a voracious reader, being your active type, but language and story thrilled me nonetheless. While happy with my island life, literature opened up a whole new fascinating terrain, and perhaps I got the idea that not only could I spend time exploring it, but I might just contribute something to it.”
Born on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, where her parents owned a fishing lodge, Griggs considers Southern Ontario her “beat.” As a teenager, she moved with her family to London, Ontario, which is where the opening scenes of Rogues’ Wedding are set: “I lived in London, Ontario for many years, and at one point did some research on the old hotels for a story I was writing, so that's where I begin the novel, in the old Belvedere Hotel.”
The novel is an exuberant romp across Victorian Ontario that showcases Griggs’ extraordinary skill as a storyteller and brilliant use of language. “Sometimes it surprises me,” says Griggs, “how I write, and likely surprises those who meet me as well (am not half as mad), but it's the voice that shows up when I go about this scribbling business.”
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“However a reader interprets Rogues’ Wedding, Griggs’ talent for creating engaging characters, both major and minor, her inventiveness with language, her mischievous humour and her refreshing sense of the absurd are sure to please and delight.” —The Kitchener/Waterloo Record
Book Profile
Rogues’ Wedding opens in 1898 in London, Ontario on Grif Smolders’ wedding night. As he prepares to meet Avice, his bride, in the bedroom, he is fearful that her sexual knowledge might exceed his own. Moments later, he is startled when a ball of lightning comes in through the window and begins chasing his around the room, singeing his heels. Grif decides that it is an omen—a sign that he should never have married Avice. So without even stopping to put on his shoes, he hops out the window and escapes into the night.
Author Terry Griggs’ inspiration for this strange and intriguing opening scene came from a newspaper article: “Inspiration tends to come in a variety pack—a shred of this and a twist of that—but the very first snippet, if I remember correctly, was a brief newspaper article I read about globe lightning. Among other historical incidents cited, the article mentioned that the mistress of Henry II of France was chased around her bedroom on her wedding night by this crackling, burning ball of light. Mysterious, symbolically ominous, and funny—I adapted it for the opening scene in the book.”
After escaping the hotel and his new bride, Grif heads north and begins a fanciful journey across Victorian Ontario, finally ending up in a small hotel on Manitoulin Island. He encounters many strange characters along the way and at one point finds himself in Owen Sound. Says Griggs, “Owen Sound was a natural destination for my character, plot-wise, as he was intent on disappearing and it was the place to go in 1898 if you wanted to head out via Lake Huron into the unknown--lumber camps on the north shore, the prairies for free land, the Yukon for gold. Owen Sound itself was a rough and ready port town, full of transients, large enough for Grif to melt into, and all told a location irresistibly full of character and characters.”
Rogues’ Wedding is a lively and magical piece of historical fiction set in the rich landscape of Southern Ontario. Griggs spins a strange and wonderful tale full of engaging characters and outrageous situations that is at moments dark, at others quite hilarious, but always a joy to read.
The novel was shortlisted for the Rogers Fiction Prize and appeared on the 2002 best books of the year list in The Globe and Mail.
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“The result is both high drama and comedy, rolling into one. Rogues’ Wedding is a hoot, a wonderful shaggy dog story, and, for the readers around Georgian Bay, a book full of the familiar. It is part farce, part quest, and wildly comic.” —The Sun Times (Owen Sound)
“In Rogues’ Wedding Griggs hones her voice, creating an unforgettable historical picaresque that paints Victorian Ontario as anything but stodgy and dull. This book is a carnival, filled with freaks and wonders. The narrative is preposterous, the characters fabulous, drawn sharper than life, coloured more brightly, yet after you put the book down, you see them everywhere.” —The Ottawa Citizen