“Anyone interested in Canadian literature or Atlantic Canadian culture will welcome this excellent overview of the re-imagining of Atlantic Canada. Indeed, given its engagement with political economy and especially of region, I can imagine many geographers (of whatever region) and political theorists (of whatever sphere) finding interest in its careful articulation of literature and non-literary theory. No decent university library will be without it; anyone remotely in the field should own it.”

— Daniel Samson, Brock University, author of The Spirit of Industry and Improvement: Liberal Government and Rural-Industrial Society, Nova Scotia, 1790–1862 (2008)

“Wyile’s study brings together much of his previous work on Atlantic Canadian literature (and adds a great deal of new material). In addition to a fantastic title, which always causes a stir when people come in my office and the see the book on my desk, Anne of Tim Hortons provides a comprehensive examination of the relationship between contemporary English writers in Atlantic Canada and what he calls the ‘folk paradigm.’ Leaning heavily on McKay’s Quest of the Folk as well as Thom Workman’s analysis of the impact of globalization on Atlantic Canada’s economy, Wyile suggests that contemporary Atlantic Canadian writing is characterized by a defiant tone in which writers call attention to the disparity between the expectations of outsiders and the conditions of life in the region. While visitors to Atlantic Canada might look for a quaint region steeped in history and free of the pressures of modern society, Wyile suggests that contemporary writers such as Lynn Coady and Edward Riche insist that Canada’s East Coast has been, like every other place in the world, reshaped by globalization, the expansion of consumer culture, and an increasingly neo-liberal climate—all of which seem to counteract received ideas about the region. Wyile’s critical introduction blends the work of Atlantic Canadian scholars from a variety of disciplines, including history, literary studies, and political economy, and employs them alongside major international theorists such as Edward Soja and Henri Lefebvre. Wyile’s study focuses on three key elements in the changing nature of life in the region: the rise of the service sector that pushes ‘flexible’ employment, the influence of tourism (an economic strategy that he suggests has actually commodified underdevelopment in the region at the same time as it has inspired writers to satirize the pre-packaged version of regional culture it creates), and the role of historical fiction in charting ‘the region’s tenuous place in Confederation, the impact of economic trends and the restructuring of work, the experience of marginalized groups, and the commodification of cultures and heritage’ (169). The wide range of texts that Wyile selects demonstrate a collective resistance to the folk paradigm and the commodified, over-simplified, and romanticized version of Atlantic Canada that circulates outside the region and to a certain degree within it as well. I think it is safe to say that, for the most part, Atlantic Canadian literary criticism is in a very good place.”

— Peter Thompson, Acadiensis

“In Anne of Tim Hortons Herb Wyile makes a compelling and sometimes provocative argument about the effects of globalization on Atlantic-Canadian literature, for despite its economic and political problems, Atlantic Canada is a remarkably vital area of literary activity, with many prize-winning novels and internationally respected authors. Regionalism is at its best in Wyile’s book, which should be read by anyone interested in Canadian literature.”

— Tracy Ware, Queen’s University