First-time author Lucien Firman Cattrysse reaches back into his own boyhood summers spent in the tobacco fields of Norfolk County for his new historical fiction book Johnny Sandleaves.
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Cattrysse grew up the youngest of five boys in the heart of the tobacco belt — on his parents’ farm between Tillsonburg and Delhi — where hard work wasn’t an option.
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“Jobs were kind of handed to you from the get-go,” Cattrysse said during an interview while traveling from his home in Ottawa to a recent book signing in Norfolk. “There were no wages – you got dinner.”
But Cattrysse said he didn’t want to make his debut autobiographical novel but rather “invent some characters I kind of had experience with.” The book tells the story of five summer students of various ethnicities, including Giovanni Baci, a rookie who’s unable to keep pace during harvest, earning him the nickname Johnny Sandleaves in reference to the lowest leaves on the tobacco plant.
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Set in the late 1970s, each of the young crew members finds their own way to cope with the mental and physical challenges of getting through a season.
Cattrysse mixes dark humor and gritty reality as he explores the family history of his young characters by taking readers back to post-war Europe to discover the circumstances that brought them to the sandy soil of Norfolk County.
“It was fun to do the research, to reimagine their backgrounds.” said the author. “The main narrative is about the daily drudgery — and the characters get up to various things” on Peter DeVreker’s farm.
The book is full of dialogue typical to the period, and terms familiar only to those who’ve spent some arduous time reaping tobacco – primers, table gangs, kiln hangers, boat drivers.
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Cattrysse said the book has “poked some delightful nostalgia button” for some of his Norfolk friends who have posted old photos and reminiscences on his Facebook page. He said the book could appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction and anyone who has “vaguely fond memories because their back still hurts.”
A graduate of Delhi District Secondary School who earned a master’s degree in geography from the University of Waterloo, Cattrysse has been working as a management consultant for clients in Canada and around the work for the past 35 years.
He said that while he mentally sketched the chapter structure for Johnny Sandleaves a decade ago, he didn’t start writing until February of this year, finishing the book by July. It was published by Iguana Books just a couple weeks ago.
“I’ve been an author for about five minutes now,” Cattrysse joked.
Having learned from experience with his first novel, the fledgling author has already written another manuscript – about “a Belgian kid who goes traveling.”
“Writing is a hobby for me,” he said. “It’s a labor of love.”
Johnny Sandleaves can be purchased through Amazon, Kindle and Kobo.
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