Sunshine sketches of a little town / Stephen Leacock ; with an intro. by Will Ferguson

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. Referred to as “The Canadian Mark Twain,” Stephen Leacock was one of the bestselling English-language humorists in the world. His most famous book, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, 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. Available for the first time in enriched e-book format, this edition offers visual and historical insights into Leacock's creation via electronic weblinks. Like a full-colour footnote, select words and phrases throughout the book are links to websites that contain a wealth of additional information, pictures, definitions and historical notes. Now, with the click of a mouse, you can investigate the world of Mariposa without having to leave your screen. "As funny now as if was then, and its winning comedy comes directly from Leacock’s humanity."—Toronto Star "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 "Set in the fictional landscape of Mariposa on the shores of Lake Wissanotti in Missinaba County, Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of A Little Town is an affectionate satire of small town life. This series of humorous connected sketches about graft, high finance, religion, love and romance is, on one level, an intimate, comic portrait of town life and local politics. On another level, the narrative is a powerful commentary on the workings of community values and on Canada's place within the British Empire."--BOOK JACKET.