Sunday, 10 November 2024

Book ~ "We Rise Again: More Stories of Hope and Resilience from Nova Scotia during the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2021) Len Wagg and Angela Mombourquette

From Goodreads ~ It's been more than a year since COVID-19 arrived in Nova Scotia. In the spring of 2020, then-premier of Nova Scotia Stephen McNeil implored citizens to "stay the blazes home" - and they did. 

But the full-scale lockdown is now a thing of the past. As wide-scale testing and vaccines begin to have an impact, many people have returned, in limited ways, to their businesses, their pastimes, and even their social lives. And although we are still in the thick of the pandemic, 

Nova Scotians, by necessity and by nature, have continued to step up to help one another through the ongoing crisis. Who are these heroes who, on a daily basis, have continued to risk their lives, their livelihoods, and their own well-being to help us get through this pandemic? How have Nova Scotia's front-line workers, business owners, support workers, healthcare workers - people from all walks of life - adapted to find ways not just to survive and help others survive but to thrive through it all? 

In the follow-up to his national bestseller Stay the Blazes Home, award-winning photographer and author Len Wagg, now with co-author Angela Mombourquette, brings dozens of compelling stories and powerful images of hope and resilience to light, illuminating the many ways Nova Scotians continue to serve as beacons of hope for all Canadians.

This book was published in the fall of 2021, a year after the world closed down because of COVID-19 and things were starting to open up again. Everyone was trying to figure out what they had to do to keep themselves and everyone else safe. Vaccines were now available (I had gotten mine as soon as I could and continue to do so) and social distancing rules were in place.

There are many pictures and stories of how Nova Scotians reacted and supported each other, with a focus on front line health workers. Because it was written during the second summer as we were all experiencing COVID-19, these aren't memories or recollections ... these are the experiences of people at the time as they were living through it.

The author did a good job in capturing the essence of the time and it's a good reminder of what we all had been through.

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