In this tender, humorous and moving tribute, former journalist and broadcaster Mike McCardell brings his sharp eye and sense of compassion to the story of his fifty-eight-year marriage to his late wife, in an unforgettable expression of love, loss and the solace of memory.

Mike McCardell’s gift for revealing deep, heartwarming significance in the details of everyday life has made him one of BC’smost popular public voices. In his regular segments on Global TV and CTV and in his bestselling books, the renowned journalist and broadcaster proved that everyone has a story to tell, full of poignancy, simple truth and charm.

Now, with that same blend of unconventional style and compassionate insight, McCardell turns to the touching story of his own life after the passing of Valerie, his wife of fifty-eight years. Girl on the Roofis unsparing in its rendering of grief and pain, but—true to the humility and humour that have always powered his writing—these experiences seem only to sharpen his ability to portray this unique, fiercely independent woman.

Throughout the story—from Valerie’s Jamaican childhood to their early days together in the turbulent New York City of the 1960s and the life they eventually led together on Canada’s West Coast—she returns here as a presence of ageless energy,whether in the tranquillity of a garden or in the commotion of a kung-fu class. “I was married to an adventure,” McCardell writes. “It has been a year since she left and the memories are the medicine that works.”

With its intensely personal expression of love and loss, Girl on the Roof is sure to be regarded as the most moving example of McCardell’s life-affirming skill for finding the universal in the individual, and for showinghow ordinary people rise to meet extraordinary challenges.

Girl on the Roof

$38.95