Eric John Brown was born on August 13, 1947 the youngest son of John and Ruby Brown. He was raised on a farm in the community of Magnolia about one hundred kilometres west of Edmonton, Alberta.

Magnolia was, during his childhood, a hamlet consisting of a store, a church and a community hall. The community was a closely-knit one and his family was a warm loving one. During his early grades, he attended a one-roomed school about a mile from home, then completed his remaining grades at Seba Beach School from which he graduated. He has always been a keen student of modern history, geography, and science.

Virtually all of his working life has been spent first with Canadian National Railways Signals Department and later with TransAlta at the local Sundance power generating plant.

While on a trip to Scotland to visit relatives in 1971, he met his future wife, Isabella. They were married in Scotland nearly two years later and have since raised two sons, John and Colin.

Eric J Brown began writing stories when he was thirteen years old but most of his early writings were of the science-fiction genre. Later, as he became more skilled at character development, he turned to standard fiction. He has also developed a keen interest in the ethnic and linguistic background of the vast mosaic of peoples that make up Canada. He, in particular, has focused on peoples seldom mentioned in mainstream literature such as Finns, Latvians, Ukrainians and Scandinavians.

The saga of Ginny, his first publication, was conceived when he was only twenty-three years old. At the time however, he lacked the necessary writing skills to tackle a work of this magnitude. It remained, however, in the back of his mind like bedrock, even as he worked on other writings. The details of Ginny slowly filled in over the years. Finally, after the acquisition of a home computer in 1994, Brown tackled this long overdue novel in earnest. As Brown set to writing, what was originally to be the story of a community, a strange thing happened. In the Brown’s own words, "the character, Ginny, leaped out of my imagination and took control of the saga, making it her story." Since that time this powerful and warm, loving character has captured the hearts of hundreds of readers of all ages.

The result of his literary labours was the publication of Ginny on December 11, 1998. From the first day of publication Ginny has been well received by readers, reviewers, bookstores, libraries and the general media. With the highly successful publication of Ginny via the route of self-publishing, Eric J Brown has continued to write novels which have found broad appeal on the marketplace.

His second novel, Ingrid – An Immigrant’s Tale, a spin-off novel from Ginny was released in the spring of 2000.

For his third novel, Anna – Her Odyssey to Freedom, Eric J Brown, branched out to write a harrowing tale of a Latvian refugee fleeing to freedom in Canada. This story was inspired by the life story of a true life Latvian refugee also named Anna. Anna was released in the spring of 2002.

Eric J Brown developed another spin-off from Ginny, The Promise, concerning her brother serving in World War I. The Promise, is primarily a war story with an antiwar theme, This time the author uses a male as a lead character. The Promise was released in July of 2004.

Eric J Brown continues to reside on the old family farmstead with his good wife, Isabella. Recently they have discovered the rewards of grandchildren. From this rustic setting, he hopes to continue writing stories about the people and times of Canada.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ginny – A Canadian Story of Love & Friendship    Excerpt from Ginny    Ingrid – An Immigrant’s Tale

Excerpt from Ingrid    Anna – Her Odyssey to Freedom     Excerpt from Anna     The Promise  Excerpt from The Promise   Ordering Information     Index