INTRODUCTION BY WILL FERGUSON

Stephen Leacock was one of the bestselling English-language humorists in the world. Referred to as “The Canadian Mark Twain,” his most famous book was Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, published in 1912.

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, which first appeared as a newspaper serial, chronicles life in the fictional community of Mariposa, modelled on Orillia, Ontario, where Leacock spent many summers. It’s a brilliant satire about small towns, small-town people, and small-town occurrences.

Life in Mariposa is never dull or ordinary. It’s a town full of eccentrics, where boats sent to rescue passengers from a sinking steamer have to be rescued themselves, where the leading citizen is a 280-pound illiterate saloonkeeper, and where a barber who stumbles into a fortune is heralded as a financial wizard.

“Leacock had a wonderful ear for dialogue and was superbly skilled in creating polished, self-contained scenes and in evoking character with a few sure strokes.”    — Will Ferguson

“…Canada’s Mark Twain.”  —Toronto Star

“…is as funny now as if was then, and its winning comedy comes directly from Leacock’s humanity.”  —Toronto Star