A Wilderness of Water

Ben Robicheau is a retired Jack-of-all-trades now living in Hamilton, Ontario. For several years he contributed regularly to Passages, the monthly newsletter of Long and Brier Islands, where he grew up. This column consisted of personal childhood reminiscences, adventures, and historical events unique to growing up on those islands at the end of Digby Neck.His next contribution to Passages was a collaboration with fellow islander and author of over twenty books, Jim Prime. Gurrey and Grime of The Digby Neck and Island Fish-Gutting Service and Detective Agency was a monthly series of fictional stories relating the wildly-improbable adventures of a pair of aged island residents. In 2017 Ben and Jim again joined forces and wrote a play, "Funeral Sandwiches", based on the Gurrey and Grime characters, that was chosen as 'The People's Choice' at the annual King's Shorts Ten-Minute Play festival at King's Theatre in Annapolis RoyalIn 2020, Ben and Jim compiled these stories into a book for Moose House Publications, Fish and Dicks: Case files from the Digby Neck & Islands Fish-Gutting Service & Detective Agency.The following year, Ben wrote and Moose House published Two Ferries Out: growing up on Brier Island. This became the best-selling book for 2021 for Moose House.