author

Harry Pick

A little-known author who turned a real prairie colonization fiasco into a lively semi-historical adventure. His surviving work looks back at the Barr Colonists’ difficult journey into western Canada with humor, sharp observation, and a strong sense of the absurd.

1 Audiobook

Next year : a semi-historical account of the exploits and exploitations of the far-famed Barr Colonists, who, led by an unscrupulous Church of England parson, adventured deep into the wilderness of Canada's great North-West in the early days of the twentieth century

Next year : a semi-historical account of the exploits and exploitations of the far-famed Barr Colonists, who, led by an unscrupulous Church of England parson, adventured deep into the wilderness of Canada's great North-West in the early days of the twentieth century

by Harry Pick

About the author

Very little biographical information about Harry Pick could be confirmed from reliable sources available during this search. He is known for Next Year, a semi-historical account of the Barr Colonists and their troubled early-1900s attempt to settle in what is now Saskatchewan.

The book was published in the early twentieth century and has been preserved by Project Gutenberg, which credits Pick as its author. In it, he mixes historical material with a lively, ironic storytelling style, focusing on the ambitions, misjudgments, and hardships surrounding the colony’s trek into the Canadian Northwest.

Because dependable author records were scarce, it is safest to view Harry Pick as an obscure writer remembered mainly through this one surviving work. Even so, Next Year gives him a distinct voice: amused, skeptical, and very alert to the gap between grand promises and life on the ground.