While on a study tour of the Soviet Union during the austere Brezhnev years, Jennifer, a Canadian student, is swept off her feet by a handsome Soviet man, Volodya. He is a discontented jazz pianist whose idol is singer Ella Fitzgerald—for him the symbol of everything mysterious and musical that can happen only in the west. Jennifer visits his haunts—and his bedroom—in Leningrad, and learns that he is under surveillance for consorting with foreigners.Jennifer refuses Volodya's desperate pleas to help him defect, and she leaves for the last leg of her trip, a Volga River cruise. But the romance is not over. Despite interference from her fussy professor, Chopyk, and a fierce tour guide, Natasha, Jennifer decides to risk it all."A richly layered, complex story of love and opportunism." –Betty Keller, author, A Thoroughly Wicked Woman and Better the Devil You Know.See Teaser - click hereOrder Now - click here
Jazz With Ella- Written by Jan DeGrassPrice: $23.00 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-1-926763-24-8
Na Pamyat - Remembering Russia
Elemental - An Anthology
Elemental – An Anthology is a collection of stories and poems by the Gibson's Landing Writers, published in 2013.Jan DegrassTheresa HuntlyGayle NeilsonStephen SellJoan Storey -WilcoxSheila WeaverOrder Now - click here
During the summers of 1973 and 1974 I visited Russia, then known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with a group of Canadian students who were studying Russian language and literature. I was young and daring; soon after I arrived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I met a man who would become the subject of this novel. Like my character, Volodya, he desperately wanted to leave the country. I hope he got his wish. Many of my adventures in that strange, foreign land behind the iron curtain have been recounted in Jazz with Ella, based on my own notes and those of the other students.
ELEMENTAL An AnthologyPrice: $18.95 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-0-9687770-1-5Forge Publishing
By Jan DeGrassPublished by Caitlin Press (March 2019)Foreword by Rick Scott, musician (Pied Pumkin, Pied Pear)“The Co-op Revolution is the story of a small tribe of people working to make their dreams and beliefs a practical reality. Times have changed, dreams have evolved, but it’s increasingly important to remember an era gone by that sourced so much of what we take for granted in our lives today. Get comfy, crack open a jar of your favourite preserves and enjoy this taste of history.” – Rick ScottVancouver Sun review (March 2, 2019)“Much has changed in the way we think about food, and Jan DeGrass, author of this charming memoir, helped create that change.... Most of the founders were, like DeGrass, young enough to be considered founding members of Vancouver’s counterculture as well as of the co-op enterprises celebrated in this fond remembrance of their early days.” - Tom Sandborn About The Co-op Revolution:Although I had been involved with pretty much every co-op in Vancouver during the 1970s, there was one in particular that had generated the most passion in me. I had been a founding member of CRS Workers’ Co-op, an organization that operated a cannery (Tunnel Canary), a food wholesaler (Brokerage Collective, later called Horizon Distributors), a beekeeping operation (Queenright) and a bakery (Uprising Breads). The work was difficult, yet it was a job I loved. My parents, my former teachers and my landlord could not understand my zeal for what seemed to be boring food wholesaling and retail sales employment. I couldn’t understand why they were satisfied with their lives. Education, entertainment and stimulating conversation were always on hand with my lively co-workers. We were performing socially useful work. We were not misguided hippies—we were on the right path. It was the rest of the world that was screwed up.The Co-op Revolution, Caitlin Press, March 2019. (caitlin-press.com) Foreword by Rick Scott, musician.195 pages, many black and white photos, $24.95 + $5 ShippingOrder Now - click hereSee Reviews - click here.
The Co-op Revolution- Written by Jan DeGrassPrice: $24.95 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-1-926763-24-8Order now - click hereSee Reviews - click here.
Latest Book - Winter of
Siege
Published by MW Books.In 1941 Anna Borisovna Leonova is eighteen and living in Leningrad, a major city in Stalin’s Soviet Union, while she dreams of studying botany at the institute. But Anna’s dreams are shattered when her scientist mother, Svetlana, disappears on a field trip into Finland, Russia’s enemy, and she is accused of treason. When Germany attacks the Soviet Union, Anna is hastily evacuated by her father, but she vows to return to the besieged city to find her mother, no matter what horrors await her. She is helped on her journey by cheeky Grigor and handsome Volodya, a truck driver. Citizens of Leningrad are dying of starvation during the harsh winter of 1941/1942 until Lake Ladoga, at the city’s back door, freezes over, allowing its brave truck drivers to transport provisions along the ice road—the Road of Life. Anna arrives in a city that offers no heat, no light, no food and little water. Thousands are dropping dead in the icy streets. But help comes from unexpected places, and she copes with the suffering while she continues the seemingly futile search for her mother. Luckily, she has a plan…
Winter Of Siege- Written by Jan DeGrassISBN: 978-0-9952778-3-0$20.00 CAD plus $15 shipping in Canada($17.50 U.S.) plus shipping TBD See Reviews - click here.
Books
Jan DeGrass
Jazz With Ella
While on a study tour of the Soviet Union during the austere Brezhnev years, Jennifer, a Canadian student, is swept off her feet by a handsome Soviet man, Volodya. He is a discontented jazz pianist whose idol is singer Ella Fitzgerald—for him the symbol of everything mysterious and musical that can happen only in the west. Jennifer visits his haunts—and his bedroom—in Leningrad, and learns that he is under surveillance for consorting with foreigners.Jennifer refuses Volodya's desperate pleas to help him defect, and she leaves for the last leg of her trip, a Volga River cruise. But the romance is not over. Despite interference from her fussy professor, Chopyk, and a fierce tour guide, Natasha, Jennifer decides to risk it all."A richly layered, complex story of love and opportunism." –Betty Keller, author, A Thoroughly Wicked Woman and Better the Devil You Know.See Teaser - click hereOrder Now - click here
Jazz With Ella- Written by Jan DeGrassPrice: $23.00 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-1-926763-24-8
Na Pamyat - Remembering Russia
During the summers of 1973 and 1974 I visited Russia, then known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with a group of Canadian students who were studying Russian language and literature. I was young and daring; soon after I arrived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I met a man who would become the subject of this novel. Like my character, Volodya, he desperately wanted to leave the country. I hope he got his wish. Many of my adventures in that strange, foreign land behind the iron curtain have been recounted in Jazz with Ella, based on my own notes and those of the other students.
Elemental - An Anthology
Elemental – An Anthology is a collection of stories and poems by the Gibson's Landing Writers, published in 2013.Jan DegrassTheresa HuntlyGayle NeilsonStephen SellJoan Storey -WilcoxSheila WeaverOrder Now - click here
ELEMENTAL An AnthologyPrice: $18.95 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-0-9687770-1-5Forge Publishing
The Co-op Revolution
By Jan DeGrassPublished by Caitlin Press (March 2019)Foreword by Rick Scott, musician (Pied Pumkin, Pied Pear)“The Co-op Revolution is the story of a small tribe of people working to make their dreams and beliefs a practical reality. Times have changed, dreams have evolved, but it’s increasingly important to remember an era gone by that sourced so much of what we take for granted in our lives today. Get comfy, crack open a jar of your favourite preserves and enjoy this taste of history.” – Rick ScottVancouver Sun review (March 2, 2019)“Much has changed in the way we think about food, and Jan DeGrass, author of this charming memoir, helped create that change.... Most of the founders were, like DeGrass, young enough to be considered founding members of Vancouver’s counterculture as well as of the co-op enterprises celebrated in this fond remembrance of their early days.” - Tom Sandborn About The Co-op Revolution:Although I had been involved with pretty much every co-op in Vancouver during the 1970s, there was one in particular that had generated the most passion in me. I had been a founding member of CRS Workers’ Co-op, an organization that operated a cannery (Tunnel Canary), a food wholesaler (Brokerage Collective, later called Horizon Distributors), a beekeeping operation (Queenright) and a bakery (Uprising Breads). The work was difficult, yet it was a job I loved. My parents, my former teachers and my landlord could not understand my zeal for what seemed to be boring food wholesaling and retail sales employment. I couldn’t understand why they were satisfied with their lives. Education, entertainment and stimulating conversation were always on hand with my lively co-workers. We were performing socially useful work. We were not misguided hippies—we were on the right path. It was the rest of the world that was screwed up.The Co-op Revolution, Caitlin Press, March 2019. (caitlin-press.com) Foreword by Rick Scott, musician.195 pages, many black and white photos, $24.95 + $5 ShippingOrder Now - click hereSee Reviews - click here.
The Co-op Revolution- Written by Jan DeGrassPrice: $24.95 + $5 ShippingISBN: 978-1-926763-24-8Order now - click hereSee Reviews - click here.
Latest Book -
Winter of Siege
Published by MW Books.In 1941 Anna Borisovna Leonova is eighteen and living in Leningrad, a major city in Stalin’s Soviet Union, while she dreams of studying botany at the institute. But Anna’s dreams are shattered when her scientist mother, Svetlana, disappears on a field trip into Finland, Russia’s enemy, and she is accused of treason. When Germany attacks the Soviet Union, Anna is hastily evacuated by her father, but she vows to return to the besieged city to find her mother, no matter what horrors await her. She is helped on her journey by cheeky Grigor and handsome Volodya, a truck driver. Citizens of Leningrad are dying of starvation during the harsh winter of 1941/1942 until Lake Ladoga, at the city’s back door, freezes over, allowing its brave truck drivers to transport provisions along the ice road—the Road of Life. Anna arrives in a city that offers no heat, no light, no food and little water. Thousands are dropping dead in the icy streets. But help comes from unexpected places, and she copes with the suffering while she continues the seemingly futile search for her mother. Luckily, she has a plan…
Winter Of Siege- Written by Jan DeGrassISBN: 978-0-9952778-3-0$20.00 CAD plus $15 shipping in Canada($17.50 U.S.) plus shipping TBD See Reviews - click here.