Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, July 23, 2007

HAY RIVER - Grace V. Mitts has published what she calls an unconventional trilogy.

"It's a real literary smorg," the long-time Hay River resident said of her first book Music, Mukluks and Mulligan Stew (A Trilogy).

Grace V. Mitts of Hay River has recently published her first book Music, Mukluks and Mulligan Stew (A Trilogy). - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The book is divided into three parts: selected personal memoirs of Mitts' life and family; a mix of essays, poetry and prose; and about 45 song lyrics.

Mitts, 78, explained the different aspects of the book are united by being entertaining, life-relevant and inspiring.

"It's a banquet for the soul," she said. "There is a mix of the sacred and the secular throughout the book."

Mitts came to the Hay River area in 1951 as a missionary with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

She first lived in the Old Village area of what is now the Hay River Reserve.

Mitts recounts her Northern experiences in short vignettes of what life was like back then, including her first impressions of the Old Village.

She writes about frontier conditions, such as what it was like to live in a log cabin and get water from a supply - the Hay River - flowing nearby.

The personal memoirs section of her book begins with the immigrant roots of her family, and growing up in the Okanagan Valley, on the West Coast and on the prairies.

One example of a recollection from her youth is her father buying her a harmonica. While she practised on the family farm, she noticed cows were drifting towards her to listen.

"I had an appreciative captive audience," she recalled. "I hadn't realized before that cows love music."

Throughout the book, Mitts offers her thoughts on spiritual matters.

"I feel in my heart and mind there is tremendous message in the book that's relevant to human beings anywhere," she said.

She said she aims to honour the ideals, virtues and values of the Christian faith.

"That's reflected throughout the book," she said.

However, she said not every story has a moral. "Some of it is just for fun."

Mitts began work on the book in 1999, after she ended her professional career as a piano teacher.

She noted she had written some of the material over the years, such as the song lyrics.

"It came to me why don't I organize it and put it into a book," she said.

Mitts self-published the book through a company in the United States.

The book is available at Emmanuel's Home and Gift Store in Hay River and also online at Amazon.ca.

Mitts said it is extremely satisfying to have written the book and to see it in print.

"It's special," she said. "It's fulfillment."

Mitts currently has no plans for another book.

"But I wouldn't rule it out," she said. "It's always a possibility."