Winner, Design Edge Regional Design Award
Shortlisted, Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award

Authentic. Original. Inimitable. Mary Majka was one of Canada's great pioneering environmentalists. She was best known as a television host, a conservationist, and a driving force behind the internationally acclaimed Marys Point Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve on the Bay of Fundy.

Sanctuary gives full expression to the intensely personal story of Mary's life. A daughter of privilege, a survivor of World War II Poland, an architect of dreams, Mary Majka became a passionate environmentalist intent on protecting fragile spaces and species for generations to come.

In this amazing story of determination and foresight, Deborah Carr reveals a complex, indomitable, thoroughly human being — flawed yet feisty, inspiring and inspired.

Deborah Carr's articles have appeared in Saltscapes, Progress, Nature Canada, Wildlife Canada, and Homemakers Magazine. As a child, she watched Mary Majka's television show, Have You Seen. Her first home as a married woman was on Caledonia Mountain, where she encountered the formidable Mary Majka more than twenty years ago.

Deborah Carr's profile page

• Short-listed, Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award

"Read this book for entertainment, for inspiration and for truth about what it means to be fully human."

Nature Canada

"Naturalist, educator, writer, and community activist, Mary Majka has done more to preserve the natural and cultural legacy of the Bay of Fundy than anyone in our time. Sanctuary is an engaging and clear-eyed portrait of her indomitable spirit — a celebration of a courageous life — and an important book."

Harry Thurston

"This important biography is an intelligent and unvarnished tribute to a life well-lived."

<i>Telegraph Journal</i>

"Deborah Carr's fabulous biography of the courageous life of one of Canada's great pioneering environmentalists goes a long way in demonstrating what a single individual can attain through the power of observation, understanding, and the application of findings to move decision-makers and governments on matters of environmental conservation and protection . . . The book is a must-read for everyone, a work that cannot fail to educate, inspire and ignite all of us!"

David Nettleship