Charlotte struggles to find her twin brother after the rest of her family is killed in the tragic Halifax explosion.
No Safe Harbour is set in the months before and after the December 6, 1917 Halifax explosion, which was the largest man-made blast in history until the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The explosion levelled most of the city and sent shards of glass and burning debris flying for miles. It left thousands dead, blinded or homeless.
Suddenly orphaned, Charlotte turns to her diary to help her cope with the events that killed her entire family - leaving her older brother, still fighting in the trenches of WWI, as her only surviving relative. This is an affecting story of loss and recovery, powerfully told by award-winning author Julie Lawson.
Julie Lawson's own grandfather was hospitalized in Halifax at the time of the explosion. He recalled the nurses running so quickly to tend to the wounded, "you could see their ankles" - a rare thing in 1917. Lawson is the award-winning author of Dear Canada: A Ribbon of Shining Steel, as well as many other picture books and novels for children. Her best known are White Jade Tiger, Fires Burning, A Morning to Polish and Keep, Kate's Castle and Too Many Suns, as well as the Scholastic picture book, Whatever You Do, Don't Go Near That Canoe!