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Last Resort
In 1966, when his parents abandoned their suburban Toronto split-level to buy Green Acres, a cottage and trailer resort in Ontario’s Kawartha Lakes region, eleven-year-old Linwood Barclay’s life took an unexpected turn.
No more rec-room train sets. Now Linwood was hauling fish guts to the woods for burial, answering distress calls from women in the ladies’ room who found themselves without toilet paper, and standing in leaky chest-waders pounding dock posts into the lake bottom.
The chores weren’t so bad, especially when he could help his father, who had been a commercial artist before he bought his way into the tourist business. And in other ways, it was a good life for a boy. He had wheels (a John Deere riding mower), a small aluminum boat with a 9.5-horsepower outboard and only one speed (fast), and Chipper, a dog that chased boats the way other dogs chase cars, sometimes with catastrophically comic results. Linwood also had access to The Chart, a cottage reservations list that was, for him, a guide to the arrivals and departures of the guests’ teenaged daughters. Summer romances could be as intense as they were heartbreaking.
When he was sixteen, an unexpected tragedy changed Linwood’s life again. His older brother, Rett, helped out as best he could, but he was wrestling with demons of his own – often withdrawing into his own complicated inner world. Linwood found an extended family in the resort’s guests, who lent him a hand, and shaped him into the man he would become.
His mother’s eccentricities (she quit driving to shame the police for having given her a ticket) made Linwood’s new responsibilities heavier than they might otherwise have been. When he finally decided to move away from Green Acres to make a separate life, she made it as difficult as possible for him.
In the midst of all this, Linwood found his vocation, and mentors, too, in Margaret Laurence, and in Kenneth Millar, who (under the pen name Ross MacDonald) wrote a highly successful series of detective novels.
In this memoir, Linwood Barclay looks back with humour, sadness, and affection on the singular circumstances of his coming of age.
No more rec-room train sets. Now Linwood was hauling fish guts to the woods for burial, answering distress calls from women in the ladies’ room who found themselves without toilet paper, and standing in leaky chest-waders pounding dock posts into the lake bottom.
The chores weren’t so bad, especially when he could help his father, who had been a commercial artist before he bought his way into the tourist business. And in other ways, it was a good life for a boy. He had wheels (a John Deere riding mower), a small aluminum boat with a 9.5-horsepower outboard and only one speed (fast), and Chipper, a dog that chased boats the way other dogs chase cars, sometimes with catastrophically comic results. Linwood also had access to The Chart, a cottage reservations list that was, for him, a guide to the arrivals and departures of the guests’ teenaged daughters. Summer romances could be as intense as they were heartbreaking.
When he was sixteen, an unexpected tragedy changed Linwood’s life again. His older brother, Rett, helped out as best he could, but he was wrestling with demons of his own – often withdrawing into his own complicated inner world. Linwood found an extended family in the resort’s guests, who lent him a hand, and shaped him into the man he would become.
His mother’s eccentricities (she quit driving to shame the police for having given her a ticket) made Linwood’s new responsibilities heavier than they might otherwise have been. When he finally decided to move away from Green Acres to make a separate life, she made it as difficult as possible for him.
In the midst of all this, Linwood found his vocation, and mentors, too, in Margaret Laurence, and in Kenneth Millar, who (under the pen name Ross MacDonald) wrote a highly successful series of detective novels.
In this memoir, Linwood Barclay looks back with humour, sadness, and affection on the singular circumstances of his coming of age.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
48 people are currently reading
842 people want to read
About the author
Linwood Barclay
83 books7,171 followersLinwood Barclay is the #1 internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels for adults, including No Time for Goodbye, Trust Your Eyes and, most recently, A Noise Downstairs. He has also written two novels for children and screenplays.
Three of those seventeen novels comprise the epic Promise Falls trilogy: Broken Promise, Far From True, and The Twenty-Three. His two novels for children – Chase and Escape – star a computer-enhanced dog named Chipper who’s on the run from the evil organization that turned him into a super-pup.
Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film.
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed by three more Zack Walker thrillers: Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, and Stone Rain. (The last two were published in the UK under the titles Bad Luck and Bad News.)
His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was published in 2007 to critical acclaim and great international success. The following year, it was a Richard and Judy Summer Read selection in the UK, and did seven straight weeks at #1 on the UK bestseller list, and finished 2008 as the top selling novel of the year there. The book has since been sold around the world and been translated into nearly thirty languages.
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two grown children, Spencer and Paige.
Three of those seventeen novels comprise the epic Promise Falls trilogy: Broken Promise, Far From True, and The Twenty-Three. His two novels for children – Chase and Escape – star a computer-enhanced dog named Chipper who’s on the run from the evil organization that turned him into a super-pup.
Barclay’s 2011 thriller, The Accident, has been turned into the six-part television series L’Accident in France, and he adapted his novel Never Saw it Coming for the movie, directed by Gail Harvey and starring Eric Roberts and Emily Hampshire. Several of his other books either have been, or still are, in development for TV and film.
After spending his formative years helping run a cottage resort and trailer park after his father died when he was 16, Barclay got his first newspaper job at the Peterborough Examiner, a small Ontario daily. In 1981, he joined the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest circulation newspaper.
He held such positions as assistant city editor, chief copy editor, news editor, and Life section editor, before becoming the paper’s humour columnist in 1993. He was one of the paper’s most popular columnists before retiring from the position in 2008 to work exclusively on books.
In 2004, he launched his mystery series about an anxiety-ridden, know-it-all, pain-in-the-butt father by the name of Zack Walker. Bad Move, the first book, was followed by three more Zack Walker thrillers: Bad Guys, Lone Wolf, and Stone Rain. (The last two were published in the UK under the titles Bad Luck and Bad News.)
His first standalone thriller, No Time for Goodbye, was published in 2007 to critical acclaim and great international success. The following year, it was a Richard and Judy Summer Read selection in the UK, and did seven straight weeks at #1 on the UK bestseller list, and finished 2008 as the top selling novel of the year there. The book has since been sold around the world and been translated into nearly thirty languages.
Barclay was born in the United States but moved to Canada just before turning four years old when his father, a commercial artist whose illustrations of cars appeared in Life, Look and Saturday Evening Post (before photography took over), accepted a position with an advertising agency north of the border. Barclay, who graduated with an English literature degree from Trent University, in Peterborough, Ontario, was fortunate to have some very fine mentors; in particular, the celebrated Canadian author Margaret Laurence, whom Linwood first met when she served as writer-in-residence at Trent, and Kenneth Millar, who, under the name Ross Macdonald, wrote the acclaimed series of mystery novels featuring detective Lew Archer. It was at Trent that he met Neetha, the woman who would become his wife. They have two grown children, Spencer and Paige.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
September 13, 2013
Glad to see this available. I’d heard about it after reading his first two novels (BAD MOVE and BAD GUYS) but found it hard to come by or ungodly expensive. This book captured me from the start. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and from around third grade on, every vacation was spent at Brock’s Lakeshore Cabins just north of Gladstone in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My sisters and I envied the local kids who lived there all year long with fishing, boating, beaches, wilderness, and critters galore at their back doors. Barclay’s book tells the story of what it must have been like to be one of those local kids. The nostalgia is strong, and being just a few years older than Barclay, the pop culture references resonated with me. I studied Russian like his brother, dabbled in writing and loved reading many of the same authors. I also endured the wistfulness and heartbreak of long distance relationships. After his first novels and considering his journalism experience, I expected to be convulsed with Dave Barry-like humor, but Barclay’s approach is more subtle, more wry and wise than smart-ass. It’s a coming of age story, an insider’s view of the tense and tender, the highs and lows most families endure. An outstanding characteristic of Barclay’s fiction (especially the standalone thrillers) is his ability to create realistic and compelling family situations. You can see the roots of that in this touching and evocative memoir.
April 5, 2024
Linwood Barclay is my new favourite author... and this auto bio he wrote is a winner in my book! He writes with honesty about his life and family, his close bond with his father,. and his experiences living in Ontario through the '60's. I've read quite a few of Linwood's fiction books., and get absorbed in the stories from page 1.
November 24, 2017
I had to give this amazing childhood memoir five stars. Linwood Barclay is one of my favorite writers of mysteries, thrillers, suspense. So when I saw this book of his childhood memoirs, I was interested in reading it.
This is about the idiosyncrasies that can be found in almost any family - although the Barclay household has some that are quite distinct. This is a humorous, entertaining, sometimes tearful memoir of the coming-of-age years. With summers spent helping with the family lakeside tourist resort, the cast of characters is as diverse as anyone can imagine.
I highly recommend this book. Set in the 60s and 70s it is quite nostalgic for many of us.
This is about the idiosyncrasies that can be found in almost any family - although the Barclay household has some that are quite distinct. This is a humorous, entertaining, sometimes tearful memoir of the coming-of-age years. With summers spent helping with the family lakeside tourist resort, the cast of characters is as diverse as anyone can imagine.
I highly recommend this book. Set in the 60s and 70s it is quite nostalgic for many of us.
August 27, 2013
There really is a Green Acres Trailer Park in Bobcaygeon in the Kawartha Lakes Region of Ontario which today caters exclusively to seasonal campers. During his formative years Lindwood Barclay’s family owned and ran the place. I’ve been that camper attending to business only to discover there are no provisions in the stall I occupy. Linwood worked for a time for the Oakville Beaver before moving on to greener pastures at the Toronto Star. He still lives in Oakville. Despite the glowering appearance the photo on his website shows appropriate it would seem to his present occupation as a writer of crime fiction this memoir is written with loving humour.
Every eleven-year-old boy’s dream would be to have a John Deere Tractor lawnmower to ride around on, a power boat to tool around the lake in, a new set of playmates or potential girlfriends arriving weekly, and surrogate grandmothers to fawn over him and bake cookies. There were chores to perform in particular the bucket from the fish cleaning station but they weren’t all that onerous. The book reads like summers spent at the lake with friends. The troubles in his life are approached with the same sunny disposition.
Every eleven-year-old boy’s dream would be to have a John Deere Tractor lawnmower to ride around on, a power boat to tool around the lake in, a new set of playmates or potential girlfriends arriving weekly, and surrogate grandmothers to fawn over him and bake cookies. There were chores to perform in particular the bucket from the fish cleaning station but they weren’t all that onerous. The book reads like summers spent at the lake with friends. The troubles in his life are approached with the same sunny disposition.
October 7, 2013
Linwood Barclay unselfishly shares his stories of his childhood at Green Acres Resort, near Bobcaygeon Ontario. A wonderful book and one of my all time favourite memoirs.
His family bought the resort when he was quite young and moved from Toronto to the country where he went to school by bus and had wonderful summers. Not without some sadness, but a very motivating book.
Highly recommended. This book turned me into a Linwood Barclay fan, and started me devouring everything he has written.
His family bought the resort when he was quite young and moved from Toronto to the country where he went to school by bus and had wonderful summers. Not without some sadness, but a very motivating book.
Highly recommended. This book turned me into a Linwood Barclay fan, and started me devouring everything he has written.
July 14, 2017
great book......I live in Minden so know the area well......
November 24, 2025
A lo largo de mis años leyendo, he leídos muy pocas autobiografias, y me llamo mucho la atención esta sobre la juventud de Linwood Barclay, escritor que empece a leer este año. La autobiografía cuenta sobre la juventud de Linwood, desde 1965, cuando tenia 11 años, en el cual en un paseo usual en carro, encuentran un complejo de cabañas y remolques, el cual el dueño tiene a la venta, y sus padres deciden comprarlo. La mayor parte de la biografía, ocurre en el complejo Green Acres, y Linwood narra con bastante amenidad y con dosis de humor, las vivencias ayudándole al papá a sacar adelante el complejo, y atender a los visitantes. Es una historia bien entretenida, de crecimiento y madurez, con buenas dosis de humor, y tiene partes bien emotivas, que le dieron un giro radical a la vida de Linwood, y su paso a la adultez, que es donde termina el libro, cuando Linwood tenía 21 años. Es una grata experiencia conocer sobre el pasado de los escritores favoritos de uno, y las vivencias en sus épocas de juventud y sus inicios como escritores.
September 3, 2019
I didn't expect to like this when I first started reading. Ontario cottage country was a culture that my family never entered, so reading about outboard motors and pounding in docks every spring was hard to relate to. Yet this is a heartfelt memoir. Barclay wrote for the Toronto Star for years and he is a very good writer in general. Writing about his parents and his brother was very personal, which reached me. Barclay met a lot of people who came to his family's mobile home park, especially the daughters of those people, with the usual teenage angst. Especially a girl from Ohio he dwells on, which also makes one think of bittersweet long distance relationships and how hard they are to keep going.
Perhaps a bit too detailed in parts about the nuts and bolts (literally) but in the end a nicely written and poignant memoir.
Perhaps a bit too detailed in parts about the nuts and bolts (literally) but in the end a nicely written and poignant memoir.
September 18, 2024
This memoire originally written in 2000 and re-released in 2011 is a glimpse into the childhood of one of my favorite Canadian authors.
Moving from a Toronto suburb to a Cottage country camp grounds in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario was definitely a life effecting change. The stories Linwood tells of his parents and his older brother Rett run the emotional gamut. With the passing of his father Linwood takes on responsibilities beyond his years as he helps his mother run the camping and RV trailer park.
How Linwood succeeds in becoming a newspaper journalist (Toronto Star) and eventually an author reminded me of why I knew his name before ever reading a novel he wrote. This novel in particular I have no idea how I acquired an e-book in my TBR pile.
I did enjoy this and it was even more enjoyable reminding me of places I too had been during these golden days.
Moving from a Toronto suburb to a Cottage country camp grounds in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario was definitely a life effecting change. The stories Linwood tells of his parents and his older brother Rett run the emotional gamut. With the passing of his father Linwood takes on responsibilities beyond his years as he helps his mother run the camping and RV trailer park.
How Linwood succeeds in becoming a newspaper journalist (Toronto Star) and eventually an author reminded me of why I knew his name before ever reading a novel he wrote. This novel in particular I have no idea how I acquired an e-book in my TBR pile.
I did enjoy this and it was even more enjoyable reminding me of places I too had been during these golden days.
August 18, 2017
when he was a boy they bought a resort by the lake, it had cabins and people went fishing there. he got to mow the lawn on a sit down mower which he enjoyed but he also had to empty the fish gutting cans every day. he was always checking out the girls . he detailed how much he loved his father, the quirks of his mother and brother. and the death of his dad was really sad. he met his wife and his mom never did get over it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 5, 2018
I enjoyed this memoir although it is quite sad at times. Writer Barclay's parents buy a cottage and trailer resort when he is a child and he grows up there, enjoying the girls who come for vacations and working hard at helping to run the resort. His older brother becomes mentally ill when he gets older so Linwood is the son to rely on. When his dad becomes ill with cancer and does not survive his mom relies on him all the more. But eventually he feels trapped as he wants another life.
February 15, 2018
A touching, frank portrayal of a boy becoming a man in central, eastern Ontario.
I read Barclays Promise Falls trilogy and enjoyed his characters and their complex family relationships, just like real life.
Now I know where he forged them.
I am just a bit older than Linwood so the stories and the context resonated with me.
I would recommend this to anyone.
I read Barclays Promise Falls trilogy and enjoyed his characters and their complex family relationships, just like real life.
Now I know where he forged them.
I am just a bit older than Linwood so the stories and the context resonated with me.
I would recommend this to anyone.
September 15, 2023
An excellent, well-written memoir, but some sections are a bit too long. And found myself skipping pages at times, but I couldn't get over the prose and the imagery. Linwood Barclay is a very good writer, and I will be delving into his detective fiction next.
February 12, 2018
What an entertaining read. Laughter, sadness, young love and teen playfulness all rolled up in one book.
July 20, 2020
As far as memoirs go, this one was well worth the read. Funny, honest, real. Highly recommend.
June 10, 2021
If you were a teen in the 60’s or 70’s, this book is for you. Great trip down memory lane. Plus overwhelming success over the odds. Highly entertaining self biography.
September 12, 2021
An autobiographical story by a great author. It’s a gentle meander through his early years when he lost his dad at a young age. It was my kindle back up book which is why it took me so long to read
June 18, 2024
It was ok. Only reason I kept reading was because he’s my favourite author. Details about his upbringing, losing his father as a teenager and running the family campground.
July 4, 2025
Interesting biography, but I’ve never read any of his other books. So I’m totally not aware of his other writings. I don’t remember why I picked this book to read, but it was good.
July 4, 2017
This is an interesting look at Linwood Barclay childhood. Moving to a resort in Canada during his early teen years impacted his life. The influence of the tourists and his family on his life impacted his writing, which he began at an early age.
August 29, 2011
An interesting story about Linwood his family background working in the family's trailer campground, it certainly is not as entertaining as his other books, off course it deals with childhood, and strange Mother,sometimes an interesting character often weird and a Father he loves and a Brother who appears to have mental problems, although not very clear on the exact nature of this.
It would appear that it was important to him to have as many girls as possible, which becomes a bit repetitive, on the verge of being boring
Love his description of his dog, who chases all boats.
Linwood makes some of the regular guests at the camp interesting
He obviously learned a great deal there, having to repaid things, making sure toilets have sufficient paper, cleaning toilets, cleaning the fishbucket so it would not stink and attract flies
It's great to read about Linwood meeting Margaret Laurence, and Ross MacDonald such Canadian Icons, and how he was encouraged to continue writing, good thing they did, would have loved to have heard more about this.
Linwood has recently become an author I read with great interest but Last Resort is a bit of a drag.
It would appear that it was important to him to have as many girls as possible, which becomes a bit repetitive, on the verge of being boring
Love his description of his dog, who chases all boats.
Linwood makes some of the regular guests at the camp interesting
He obviously learned a great deal there, having to repaid things, making sure toilets have sufficient paper, cleaning toilets, cleaning the fishbucket so it would not stink and attract flies
It's great to read about Linwood meeting Margaret Laurence, and Ross MacDonald such Canadian Icons, and how he was encouraged to continue writing, good thing they did, would have loved to have heard more about this.
Linwood has recently become an author I read with great interest but Last Resort is a bit of a drag.
June 21, 2014
I love to read Linwood Barclay's novels and this is an interesting look at his childhood. Moving to a resort in Canada during his early teen years impacted his life. The influence of the tourists and his family on his life impacted his writing, which he began at an early age. I enjoyed the insight of a young boy scheduling his summer by the girls that visit the camp each summer. It was an enjoyable read.
September 5, 2011
A wonderful memior of life before cell phones and Facebook. I felt like I was sitting on the shore of Pigeon Lake watcching all the antics go on. His life growing up at the trailer campgound and dealing with family members peculiarities is probably what has helped make him such a interesting author.
July 5, 2012
In the last couple months, I've discovered and read Barclay's Zack Walker series and really enjoyed them.
This bio (I enjoy bios) was also a good read as it was funny, honest, sad (with is brother's illness and his father's death) and frustrating (I would have had very little patience for the antics of his mother but he handled her very well).
I would definitely recommend this book!
This bio (I enjoy bios) was also a good read as it was funny, honest, sad (with is brother's illness and his father's death) and frustrating (I would have had very little patience for the antics of his mother but he handled her very well).
I would definitely recommend this book!
July 15, 2014
I love the way this story takes me back to my childhood weekends and summer spent in Bobcaygeon, home to my grandparents and childhood home of my Dad. I can picture the places in part to memory but really illustrated through Linwood's perfect descriptions. This story is told with just the right amount of sentiment, honesty and humour. I loved it. Thank you.
May 5, 2011
A charming account of growing up at an Ontario resort. Reminded me of my summers working at a resort during university and learning to enjoy the people and figure out what I never wanted to do again!
August 13, 2013
Really enjoyed the style of this memoir. Also have grown up in South Central Ontario was very familiar with the locations, roads and culture shown in this recollection of his growing up years in Ontario.!!!
January 6, 2010
A wonderful tale of a weird and wacky upbringing, told with humor and grace by this former newspaper reporter (now a writer of excellent nail-biting thrillers).
March 24, 2012
Loved it. Great read, very interesting. Loved his Mom :)
Want to read
July 7, 2014I am not far into this book because I started another book. The War Horse.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews