Books
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Take Me to Tomintoul
“A beautifully written emotionally resonant story of a woman who discovers her true self as she uncovers the secrets of the past. Her journey touched my heart.” Natalie Zellat Dyen, author of Locked in Silence.
Recently widowed Shivonne Barclay Harris doesn’t think life could get any worse. She battles not only grief, but guilt; the love she once had for her husband, Andrew, died long before he did. A dutiful wife for years, Shivonne is unable to move on until she fulfills Andrew’s deathbed request. So, armed with a hand-drawn map, an urn, and a suitcase, she travels to Tomintoul, Scotland.
However, Andrew’s final resting place is on private property, and the owner, Ian, a crotchety, reclusive old bachelor forbids her entrance. Not giving up without a fight, Shivonne prolongs her stay. But the more time she spends in Tomintoul, the countryside’s stark beauty, not unlike her home province of Newfoundland, evokes childhood memories. With increasing insight, she revisits her layered past, embarking on a journey of self-understanding, and as she worms her way into Ian’s life, she awakens to life’s beauty and surprising possibilities.
Take Me to Tomintoul is available for purchase online through Amazon.ca.
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My Mary
“Rich and intriguing, My Mary is a compelling look into clinical depression, the trauma of being a Barnardo Home Child, and the heartbreaking story of enduring love.” -Renee Cronley, author of Burnout
Teetzel delivers a powerful historical narrative, brimming with idyllic scenes and beautiful imagery of life on a Canadian family farm. This epic tale and enduring love story spans some seventy years and shines light on one woman’s life journey as a Barnardo Home Child.
January, 1945, Rural Ontario. It’s another bleak winter for Mary Thistle. When she receives two successive pieces of bad news, she spirals into a deep melancholia, believing herself a burden to her family. After a failed suicide attempt, Charles, Mary’s husband, the one she loves and trusts the most, commits her to a psychiatric hospital. With a timeline of three months looming, Mary rallies, determined to prove herself cured and return home.
However, confronting the memories of her past is more difficult than she had expected. And when therapy is paired with electroconvulsive treatments, Mary is left with an outcome she did not bargain for.
My Mary is available for purchase online through Amazon.ca.
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Paradise Acres
April 1, 2021 In this deeply touching memoir, Dawn Beecroft Teetzel returns to her childhood in the countryside, retracing the roots of a life-altering friendship with a rough-around-the-edges, old bachelor, Earl Brush. Though life has been kind to her—she’s happily married with two beautiful daughters—a nagging sensation stirs memories of peaceful afternoons spent with Earl as a young girl. As Dawn fondly chronicles her childhood and Earl’s dream to build himself a cabin in the woods, she confronts the possibility of past lives and what never was but could have been.
Brimming with tenderness and imbued with the calming sounds and sights of the woods, Paradise Acres is an uplifting account of growing up, family bonds, friendship, and how one person can leave a tremendous, lasting impression on another, even long after death. It is a heartwarming coming-of-age story that tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a weathered, elderly farmer, proving age is just a number and that love does indeed span generations, perhaps even lifetimes.
Written purely for personal reasons, Paradise Acres is not available to the public.