Lost in Cabbagetown

A Memoir of Surviving Boyhood in 1960s Toronto

By: Terry Burke

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Paperback | 27 April 2023

At a Glance

Paperback
296 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.5 x 13.9 x 2.5

Paperback

$42.75

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Burke takes us back to a boyhood shaped by hunger, pain, love, and loss, on the streets of Toronto's Cabbagetown.

When the Burke family left Ireland, in 1959, they thought they were leaving the trials and tribulations of the Dublin slums behind. Instead, Molly, Bill, and their nine children found the same poverty and hardship awaiting them in the east end of Toronto.

For their sixth born son, Terry, growing up in Cabbagetown was a daily struggle to survive. Whether it was the bullies on the street or the gangs in Regent Park, fights were an everyday occurrence. School should have been a refuge, but some of the priests and nuns were more terrifying than any street bully. The only escape for Terry was to find his way down into the Don Valley, where he could search the river for muskrat or imagine himself escaping on one of the freight trains, chucking north, up the valley floor.

But a childhood in Cabbagetown didn't seem to last very long, and soon, like all his older brothers, Terry needed to contribute to the family and work after school, delivering groceries and helping out in the local drugstore.

In this touching memoir, Terry Burke pulls no punches, providing a poignant story of hunger, pain, love, and loss, and the enduring bond of family.

Industry Reviews

Reading Lost In Cabbagetown is a powerful experience. Terry Burke transports you back in time, giving you an intimate glimpse into life in the laneways of Cabbagetown in the days before it became one of Toronto's most affluent neighbourhoods. It's a vital and timely reminder of the harrowing stakes involved in carving a place out for yourself as a new arrival in the city, an unvarnished tale of love, loss and determination. * Adam Bunch, author of The Toronto Book of Love *

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