Gower Street

Gower Street is Nix Wadden’s charming memoir beginning with his growing up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in the 1930s and 1940s. His tale is sprinkled with dry wit, highlighting the friendly invasion of American and Canadian servicemen on Newfoundland soil during the Second World War, during which time he attended St. Bonaventure’s College under the strict tutelage of Christian Brothers. Between summering in Kelligrews with his family and beating the streets of downtown St. John’s, Nix Wadden and his boyhood friends chased one adventure after another: hitchhiking across the province on a whim, cross-country skiing with the Newfoundland Hiking Club, playing intercollegiate sports—particularly hockey—and joining up with the First St. John’s Boy Scout Troop. From there he leads into the 1950s and his university years, followed by his first job as a newspaper editor and eventually becoming one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s pre-eminent journalists. At times a wistful remembrance of days gone by, while at others a laugh-out-loud recollection of a sometimes misspent youth . . . We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the engineers, We can, we can, we can, we can demolish forty beers! . . . the story of Nix Wadden’s formative years is a veritable who’s who of Newfoundland in the years leading up to and immediately following Confederation.