THE DEFENDER: Katy Austin
Katy Austin is a long-time Springwater resident who is currently serving as Ward One Councillor for the Township. She is a retired teacher and an amateur folk singer who has performed at the Elmvale Branch for the Maple Syrup Festival. Katy is also an avid hiker, cyclist and cross-country skier.
Katy is excited to be a part of Georgian Bay Reads, and says, “Just as I prefer to sing songs by Canadian artists, I also prefer to read books by Canadian authors; as Stompin’ Tom Connors always said, we should celebrate our own stories.”
THE BOOK: Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
I’ve gone. I’ve never seen the water, so I’ve gone there. I will try to remember to come back.
Etta’s greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 2,000 miles to water.
Meanwhile her husband Otto waits patiently at home, left only with his memories. Their neighbour Russell remembers too, but differently – and he still loves Etta as much as he did more than fifty years ago, before she married Otto. (Goodreads.com)