The Friendship

This epic, multicultural story describes the friendship between Cam Bedard and Abe Ginsburg. They meet as teenagers in wartime Montreal and the novel showcases the political and cultural dynamics between the French-the English and the Jewish Canadians of that era. The boys go on to participate in the liberation of Europe as members of the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment. Abe witnesses the atrocities in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and vows to help the remnants of his people. After World War II he decides to participate in the war for independance of the Jewish state in Palestine. Cam, after much thought, decides to join him. A sub-plot is the saga of Abe's grandfather, orphaned as a twelve year old by a pogrom in his native Russia and the adventures which led him to Scotland and ultimately to becoming a successful farmer in Saskatchewan. This colorful, strong, and optimistic man helped to shape his grandson's character.