The broadcaster and bestselling author Mike McCardell discusses his new book Girl on the Roof: Memories of a Remarkable Life (Harbour Publishing, 2026), with Joseph Planta.
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Girl on the Roof: Memories of a Remarkable Life by Mike McCardell (Harbour Publishing, 2026).
Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Girl on the Roof [1] |
Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:
I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.
Mike McCardell joins me again. He’s just published a wonderful book, Girl on the Roof: Memories of a Remarkable Life. Mike’s had a remarkable life himself, a career in journalism and television that has endeared him to thousands and thousands of viewers first on BCTV and Global, and then on CTV. This new book though is about his fifty-eight-year marriage to his late wife, Valerie. He writes of his wife’s tough upbringing in Jamaica, to their early days together in New York City in the 1960s; she was 19, he was 18. The challenges of an inter-racial marriage then, as well as in the south of the United States are painful for both Valerie and Mike, and soon they head north to Vancouver. Their warm, loving marriage is illustrated in the book. She’s a real character, whose independence bewitches both Mike and the reader. Whether it’s making her way onto the roof into her eighties, because he can no longer (he’s fallen a couple of times), or gardening at all hours of the night, or confronting prejudice, Valerie is unforgettable. And her death shatters Mike, but because of her indomitable example over the years, Mike’s picking up the pieces, warmed by Valerie’s memory and the light and laughter of their madcap adventures. As an educator, we see examples of her devotion to teaching young people in the book. This is a memoir that provides insights into love and loss throughout. Mike spent more than six decades on the air in this market. He was also a print journalist for several years at the New York Daily News and then the Vancouver Sun. He’s written thirteen previous books, bestsellers and loved by readers and viewers alike, including Unlikely Love Stories, None of This Was Planned, Shoelaces Are Hard, Haunting Vancouver, Haunting British Columbia, Chasing the Story God, and Cardboard Ocean, among others. This new one, his fourteenth is from Harbour Publishing. He joined me from his home in North Vancouver last week. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Mike McCardell; Mr. McCardell, good morning.
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