FERGUS – If you like feisty women of a certain age, you just might like The Newfoundland Lunch Party: A Sisters of the Soil Novel, with Recipes.
And you also might like Sonia Day, the feisty Fergus woman who authored the book.
Day wrote gardening columns for the Toronto Star and Canadian Gardening magazine for decades, along with numerous gardening books where she gained a loyal following.
New novel – Fergus writer Sonia Day has released her second novel in the Sisters of the Soil series: The Newfoundland Lunch Party. She’ll be holding a launch party on Nov. 23 at the Local Pieces Gallery. Submitted photos
As those gigs ended, she turned her sites to novels, and Newfoundland Lunch Party is the second in a three-part series.
The first, The Mexico Lunch Party: A Sisters of the Soil Novel, with Recipes, launched in 2022.
The third will likely be set in the Caribbean. Day spent her childhood in Jamaica and the Bahamas and landed her first journalism gig there, so her Caribbean roots run deep.
As a master gardener, garden writing came easily to Day. She always found the beauty of gardens, but her columns also pointed out the funny, the quirky and sometimes absurd happenings in the garden.
After a while, she missed the writing, she said, “but I love plants. I decided I wanted to develop a series of books with a garden theme.
“There are nice people in the gardening world. Gardening cuts through all levels of life. That’s what inspired the books.”
Day also wanted to write books with female characters. And after a visit to Newfoundland, Day decided this second book would be set there.
“It’s a fascinating place with lovely, warm-hearted people,” she said.
Day isn’t giving away too much of the plot of this book.
“It’s a good story though – not just gardens. And not depressing,” she said.
“I love creating characters who are different. I’m eccentric myself. It will be up to the reader to decide if I’ve done a good job.
“Endings are hard too,” she added. “I hope I have a good ending for this one.”
The Newfoundland Lunch Party: A Sisters of the Soil Novel, with Recipes is to launch at the Toronto Botanical Gardens on Sept. 12 and in Newfoundland on Oct. 8.
For local fans, Day is holding a local launch party on Nov. 23 from 3 to 5pm at Local Pieces Gallery, 126 St. Andrew St. W. in Fergus.
For more information visit soniaday.com.
