• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 6

John Wilson has created a compelling story based on the folk hero, Albert "Ginger" Goodwin, also known as "Red" Goodwin from the colour of his hair and his radical social ideas. Goodwin was originally a miner from the north of England, who came to Canada and took up the cause of the working man during the Trail smelter strike and at the coal mines on Vancouver Island. His ideas were eventually considered so dangerous that a special constable was hired to hunt him down in the forest nearCumberland.

Wilson tells the story of a young boy, Will Ryan, sent out from England after his father was killed in WW I, to live with his uncle, a mine manager, at Cumberland. Through a chance meeting in the forest with Red Goodwin, young Will has all his ideas turned upside down, especially when he sees first-hand how the miners are treated in the community and at the pit face. He becomes friends with a Chinese boy who introduces him to the racism in Canada, where "Chinks" are seen as expendable. Will is also deeply smitten by a beautiful Scottish girl, the daughter of a miner, who is working to help Goodwin and others hiding out in the forests.

Soon Will finds himself caught between the demands of his uncle, his loyalty to the memory of his father, and the new vision of Goodwin who argues that the European war between Britain and Germany has parallels with the war between the mine owners and the mine workers. In an exciting story, filled with sudden turns and tragic events, youngWill discovers that he must make a choice, a choice that will change his life forever.

John Wilson was born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his early growing up on the Island of Skye and in Paisley, near Glasgow. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the University of St. Andrews where he took an Honours B.Sc.. in Geology and never played golf once. He took a position with the Geological Survey of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In his two years there, he mapped rocks, dodged land mines and watched the country sink ever deeper into civil war. Shortly before he was due to be called into the army, John retreated back to Britain on his way to the safety of Canada. He settled on Calgary where geology was booming and the only danger was freezing to death in January. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to take up a post with the Alberta Geological Survey. In 1988 he sold a feature article to the Globe and Mail. This fueled a smouldering mid-life crisis and he took up freelance writing full-time. With some success, John mined the experiences of his travels for articles, journalism and photo essays. He even began to express himself poetically and, with a young family, began writing children's stories. He moved to Nanaimo and then Lantzville on Vancouver Island. John has been widely published by a number of Canadian presses, with his acolades including a shortlisting for the Governor General’s Award.

John Wilson's profile page

Red Goodwin

In this book readers are introduced to the issues of labour strife, racism and police corruption through the eyes of an orphaned protagonist, Will, who is placed in the middle of the historical tragedy of activist/union organizer Ginger Goodwin's murder. After Will’s father dies in the trenches during World War I, Will is sent to live with his Uncle, a coal mine manager in Cumberland. Trying to make sense of his new life through the conflicting views put forth by his Uncle, two classmates and Ginger Goodwin himself, proves difficult. Through a chance meeting with Goodwin, Will is introduced to alternate world views that challenge then-popular oversimplifications of world politics and economics.

Knowledge of labour history and WWI would be helpful in contextualizing this story.

John Wilson’s books have been nominated for numerous awards.

Caution: explicit description of a murder

Red Goodwin

Young Will must make a choice that will change his life forever. A compelling novel, filled with turns and tragic events, about one of Canada’s true folk heroes – Ginger Goodwin.