Exit Barney McGee

by Claire Mackay

135 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Claire Mackay’s writing career was not particularly discernible until she wrote her first novel, Mini-Bike Hero, in response to her youngest son's request for a story about his obsession. And to Claire's continuing astonishment "it was accepted, published, became a best-seller, and turned my life upside down. Until that event I had never once thought that I could write for young people."

Encouraged by fan letters and publishers, Claire wrote five more novels and four non-fiction works. Claire was commissioned by Annick Press to write The Toronto Story (1990). Claire was the perfect person to undertake this job since her own roots in the city run so deep. Her ancestors trekked north from the United States in about 1791, and one of them fought in the War of 1812. Her grandmother sold ribbons at Eaton’s in 1900, and her father had an office in the Gooderham (or Flatiron) building that is featured throughout the book.

Claire has also written First Folks and Vile Voyageurs in the Horrible Canadian History series (Scholastic) and was the editor of the anthology Laughs (Tundra).

Despite her many published books Claire still regards her own writing career as something of an accident, and is bemused by the whole thing. "I am not sure yet what kind of writing I'm good at,” claims Claire. “But I am profoundly certain that I was supposed to be a writer; it just took me a long time to get at it!"

Claire lives in Toronto.

Reviews

[Kags · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I’m gonna be honest…. I found this book in the spicy adult section of a book sale and was sorely mistaken about its contents. Although it wasn’t what I expected, it was an okay story. Boring as hell, though.