On South Mountain : The Dark Secrets Of The Goler Clan

Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Penguin Putnam, 1998. Soft cover. As New. In Fair Condition, With No Rips. May Have Minor Shelf Wear To Edges. For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos. Imagine A Lush Green Valley, Dotted With Prosperous Farms And Towns. It Could Be Anywhere In North America-The Okanagan In B.C., The Niagara Orchards Of Ontario. In This Case It Happens To Be The Annapolis Valley In Nova Scotia. But On One Hill, South Mountain, Lives The A Clan Of Impoverished, Inbred Hillbillies, Ignored Or Shunned By The People In The Valley Below For Two Hundred Years. Few Have Much Schooling, Most Are Unemployed, And They Keep Almost Entirely To Themselves. Two Solitudes Side By Side, Until One Day In January 1984, Sandra Golder, Aged Thirteen, Burst Into Tears In Class. When Her Teacher Took Her Out Into The Hall To Ask Her Why She Was Crying, A Gruesome Story Of Incest And Sexual Abuse Began To Emerge. Within Hours The Story Had Spread To The Principal, A Social Worker, And Finally The Police. Within Weeks A Full-Fledged Scandal Had Been Unleashed On The Valley: Sixteen Adults-Men And Women-From The Mountain Were Charged With Hundreds Of Allegations Of Incest And Sexual Abuse Of Children As Young As Five. It Gradually Became Clear That This Had Been Going On For Generations, A Cycle Endlessly Repeated. This Book Tells The Amazing Story Not Only Of The Court Cases That Followed, But The Way The Valley Community Reacted. Dark Secrets Weren't The Exclusive Property Of The Golers: The Townspeople Had Their Own, Including The Fact That Some Of Them Had Known About The Abuse For Decades And Done Nothing About It.