An American author based in Alberta has published a novel which features her Manx family history.

‘Time Enough’ was written by Lise Mayne, and follows a Manx family of miners in the early 1900s who live on a small-hold farm.

Their lives are stable and steeped in routines, love and fairy lore, but they are on the verge of ruin. The young family must leave forever, in search of a new life and their own survival.

On a three-decade journey from the Isle of Man, to Michigan, Manitoulin Island and Saskatchewan, the mother and her eldest son, together and separately, strive to lead the family in unfamiliar lands.

Lise got the idea for the novel when dealing with her late grandmother’s personal effects, in which she found that her great-grandfather Edward Carine was born in Port Erin in 1852.

‘I had always been told Grandpa was Manx, but we knew nothing about their emigration or how he had ended up as a homesteader on the Saskatchewan prairies in 1920,’ Lise said.

‘I didn’t even know where the Isle of Man was located.

‘In 2014, I began the process of genealogical research, started crafting a novel, and in 2017 we travelled to the Isle of Man to see the island and find information in the archives in Douglas.

‘Unfortunately, I was not able to discover the family’s roots, though there are many headstones with the Carine name in the graveyards.

‘I loved and admired my maternal grandfather, William and my Scottish grandmother, Mary, and knew I wanted to honour their legacy in fictional form.

‘I used the locations and general knowledge of their emigration journey to create a novel.’

It took 10 years of travel and research to write the novel, which included visits to the Isle of Man, Liverpool and Boston.

Time Enough was then eventually picked up and published in America by Oprelle Publications in January this year.

Lise said that the process of putting the book together made her relish her Manx roots and she became ‘connected’ to the culture.

She said: ‘I listened to hours of music and oral histories online, I learned the proverbs which I used as epigrams for each chapter and I’m able to speak a bit of Manx, thanks to the resources of Culture Vannin.

‘It’s been wonderful to discover this Manx side of my family, as it was previously completely unknown to me.’

The title Time Enough is based on the Manx saying ‘Traa Dy Liooar’, which refers to relishing the time that is spent on tasks rather than rushing from one thing to the next - the concept of ‘living in the present’.

Talking about the reception to her novel, Lise added: ‘It’s been outstanding and very rewarding.

‘I receive personal messages on a daily basis from readers saying they love the book, which is lovely.’

More information about Lise’s family history and her novel Time Enough can be found by visiting https://www.lisemayne.ca/

The novel, priced at $42, can also be ordered online by visiting https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=X3RXAAXpFEO6FGANcykCoSp8n5U20v99zYx5pgIOHBF