• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 7

Middle grade historical fiction inspired by the real 18th-century shipwreck off Halifax Harbour, and the local boy who risked his life to save those on board.

It's 1797. Joe has lived with Gram ever since the crusty old midwife found him on her doorstep thirteen years ago. He must now earn his keep working as a fisher boy for her bad-tempered bully of a son, Eli. Joe loves the ocean, with its unpredictable moods and rolling waves. Could the Atlantic Ocean be his ticket to freedom? The battered, abandoned rowboat he finds could be his chance to break free from his miserable life and earn his own living. But mysteries surround the boat. The local carpenter is upset at the sight of it, and the initials carved on the boat match those on an old sea chest hidden in the back of Eli's shed. Could this have anything to do with what happened to Joe's parents?

Joe spends his time fixing up the boat and trying to solve these mysteries until a cold, stormy November day when a frigate wrecks at the mouth of the harbour. Joe's neighbours don?t dare launch their boats into the raging storm to save the survivors. Can Joe stand by and listen to the desperate cries of the exhausted sailors, or should he brave the wild Atlantic in his patched-up rowboat and attempt to rescue them?

Inspired by the true story of the shipwreck of the HMS Tribune on the Herring Cove cliffs and the heroism of a boy known as "Joe Cracker," this exciting coming-of-age adventure story is brimming with rich detail and captivating suspense.

For Jacqueline Halsey, growing up in post war London meant walking to school past numerous bombsites and listening to her mother's stories about food rationing and air raids. Consequently, she always admired the courage of women and children coping with the tasks of everyday life in wartime situations. This courage inspired Peggy's Letters, Jacqueline's first book.

After High School she went to art college in Worthing, Sussex and then much later obtained a BA degree at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, which she attended as a mature student.

Jacqueline loves traveling and has visited many countries, including South Africa where she lived in a sugar mill village for four years.
She currently works in the Alderney Gate library in Halifax. Her days are filled with books, rhymes, puppets and lots of children to share them with. Jacqueline lives with her husband Ray, her granddaughter Ashlee, two cats and a very old goldfish in a house by a lake in Nova Scotia - a very different place from Peggy's war torn neighborhood. She is part of the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia's 'Writer's in the School Program.' Her visits to schools are booked through them.

Jacqueline has a web page on the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia website: http://www.writers.ns.ca/Writers/jhalsey.html.
Peggy's Letters (Oct 2005) published by Orca Books.
Nominated for: Hackmatack 2007 Children's Choice award; Rocky Mountain 2007 Children's Choice award; Silver Birch (Express) 2007 Children's Choice award; Woozle's Battle of the Books 2007 list

The Gran Plan
Placed third in the 2003 Atlantic Writing Competition/ Joyce Barkhouse award for Children's Literature. (Un published manuscripts) Subsequently, it was published (Fall 2006) by Scholastic as part of their Literacy Place for the Early Years school reading program.

Jacqueline Halsey's profile page