Broken Ground

Broken Ground is Jack Hodgins’s historical novel about a community of First World War veterans and their families attempting to build new lives in a soldier settlement on Vancouver Island. Set against a stubborn, recently cleared landscape, the story explores the lingering effects of war, the demands of settlement, personal loss, and the threat of a forest fire through the perspectives of several members of the community.

Published in 1998 by McClelland & Stewart as A Douglas Gibson Book, this hardcover is a first edition, first printing, with the complete number line beginning with 1. Broken Ground received the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and is a notable work of British Columbia historical fiction.

This copy is personally inscribed and signed by Jack Hodgins on the title page. The presentation is addressed to Beverly, dated September 1998, and accompanied by affectionate good wishes. There is also a separate previous-owner Christmas 1998 gift inscription to Mike and Brenda from the Gibson Gang; this second inscription is not an author signature.

The book retains its dust jacket, which is now protected in a removable clear plastic cover. The exterior shows light handling or edge wear in the supplied photograph. The pictured inscription page appears generally clean aside from the disclosed writing.