​Kincardine part of summer series book launch for Gwen Lamont’s memoir

For more than 30 years, Gwen Lamont (above) kept the memories of her childhood buried beneath a protective gauze of forgetting.

Her recently-released memoir, “The View From Coffin Ridge: A Childhood Exhumed,” is a remarkable story about what happens when we are forced to reconcile with a long-forgotten past and with the characters who shaped it.

No one knew of her poor, chaotic family. No one knew she had been a child bride, or of her close brush with death at the hands of a man who claimed to love her. She had promised never to tell. As the years went by, the weight of her past became too much for her to bear and she began to write her younger self home.

Canadian author and activist Maude Barlow, describes Lamont’s story as, “One courageous woman’s memoir of overcoming violence and trauma that looks straight into the heart of darkness to find the light.”

Plum Johnson, best-selling author of “They Left Us Everything,” says of the book: “This remarkable coming-of-age story is a Canadian ‘Glass Castle’ with a chilling twist, one that will haunt you long after you have been spell-bound.”

Two sold-out book launches took place Friday, May 31, and Sunday, June 2, at Coffin Ridge Winery, northeast of Owen Sound.

Five locations will be part of the summer book launch series, including Kincardine, Goderich, Parry Sound, Southampton and Lion’s Head.

The Kincardine event takes place Thursday, Aug. 22, from 7-9 p.m., in The Industry Room at the Walker House. Tickets are $50 each which includes a signed book, author reading, question-and-answer period, a bottle of “Into the Light White” wine, a drink of your choice and nibbles. Tickets are available at www.coffinridge.ca.

“The View from Coffin Ridge: A Childhood Exhumed” is available for purchase in person or on-line at Ginger Press Books, www.gingerpress.com; and Coffin Ridge Winery www.coffinridge.ca.

Lamont who didn’t finish Grade 9, now holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, a Master’s Degree in Social Work, and a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts.

Her thesis, “The Subjective Experience of Men Who Murder Their Intimate Partners,” took her into prisons and into the minds of men who murder.

In 2023, she was one of 30 writers long-listed from 2,300 submissions to the CBC Creative Non-Fiction Prize for “Survivor’s Guilt” which explores themes from her book.

Lamont lives on a vineyard between two ghost towns in rural Annan, northeast of Owen Sound. She is also managing partner of Coffin Ridge Boutique Winery.

For more information, visit www.gwenlamontauthor.ca/.