J. Kelland Perry

Evergreen Post: Calmer Secrets Setting in Pictures

Published on May 13, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry14 Comments

This is Part Two of the Calmer Girls series setting in pictures.

Calmer Secrets takes place in Newfoundland in 1997-98, four years later than the first book. (The Calmer Girls Book One setting pictorial can be seen here.)

First, let’s take a look at Samantha’s school in Corner Brook, Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus on the west coast of the province. Samantha is enrolled in the Visual Arts program there.

When Samantha returns to St. John’s during a school break, she goes downtown with Veronica and her friends. In one of the George Street clubs, she sees cover band, Cold Plate, and is reunited with her high school friend Kalen there.

**George Street, lined with pubs, in downtown St. John’s**

**x 3: The annual George Street Festival entertainment always draws huge crowds.**

Later in the story, tragedy strikes.
The youngest character in the book is brought to the Janeway Children’s Hospital,
the one that existed at that time.
A new facility was built a couple of years later.

The following photos depict Samantha and Ben’s boat tour experience out of St. John’s Harbour.

**The Battery at the foot of Signal Hill**

**Samantha takes pictures of an iceberg like this…**

Check out this real boat tour short video:

Photo sources: Grenfell College, NL Tourism, Eastern Health, Pinterest, Google (public domain)

Thanks for coming along!

There is only now …

Published on April 28, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry12 Comments

There is only now.
An open window
a fresh breeze
to welcome
this bright and beautiful
April day.

– J. Kelland Perry

Wordless Whisker Wednesday: King of the Castle

Published on April 15, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry16 Comments

King Louis

Sunday Snaps: April Evening on Perry’s Point

Published on April 12, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry27 Comments

As I have mentioned on my blog before, spring takes its own sweet time to show its face on the island of Newfoundland. The arrival is gradual, just as it is on most northern coastlines, with cold temperatures accompanied by the odd snowfall or sleet storm.

I love the anticipation of warmer days ahead. And there are still some lovely moments, particularly when the wind is light, the water is calm, and the sun begins to set. These photos were taken on the peaceful evening of April 2nd, and since then most of the snow and ice has disappeared.

Another reason I love spring here on Perry’s Point: the pleasure to witness the renewal of nature by observing our seabirds. Two weeks ago, it started—the sudden appearance of seagulls and other salt water birds pairing off to mate. Everyday, we now see them huddled—and even cuddled!—together on rocks and small islets off the point, or gliding through the water side by side: herring gulls, saddlebacks, black ducks, and pintails.

Seagulls squeal a spring duet

swim in pairs around ice and rock

glide as swans in graceful tandem

hush broken by caw and squawk *

*excerpt from Seagull Spring by J. Kelland Perry, April 2015

“April is the gateway to the joys of summer.” ― Fennel Hudson

“Oh, the lovely fickleness of an April day!” – W. H. Gibson

“The book is engaging and suspenseful and hard to put down…”

Published on March 29, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry8 Comments

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A new 5-Star review was published today for The Women of Wild Cove on Amazon & Goodreads, by Luanne Castle, Author. That makes 21 ratings and 12 reviews on Goodreads with an average of 4.24 out of 5, and 10 global ratings and 6 reviews on Amazon.com with an average of 4.4 out of 5.

The Women of Wild Cove by Jennifer Kelland Perry

“Jennifer Kelland Perry’s latest novel, The Women of Wild Cove, imagines a utopian community set within a dystopian world. This matriarchal village, one of several in the region, is self-sustaining (with bartering between villages) and peaceful. The book is engaging and suspenseful and hard to put down.

What fascinated me even more than the action of the plot and the characterization is to see how the community functions. These villages are a response to a world ruined by the greed and violence of a male-dominated society. As long as the community is not disturbed by the outside world, the peace holds-and the male peons and consorts seem content with their positions. But what happens when there is an outside threat? And the storyline begs other questions as well. For instance, is the tradeoff to get peace at the expense of the autonomy of the men? As a retired English lecturer, I predict that this novel would generate thoughtful and spirited class discussions.

Perry’s novel is in the best traditions of dystopian and utopian novels; however, she has interjected a thread woven throughout. The community collects the stories of women who have written down what happened to them, both in the “old” world and in their new world. Much of the stories are about the violence and abuse men perpetuated on women, making a strong case for this matriarchal society.”

Read from: Mar 25, 2026 – Mar 28, 2026

Shelved as: read, sci-fi, fiction

The e-book is 99¢ but only until the end of March!
*Available on Kindle, Indigo Kobo, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, and others.

Indigo: The Women of Wild Cove

Amazon: The Women of Wild Cove

Calmer Girls: 10th Anniversary of my Debut Novel

Published on March 24, 2026April 20, 2026 by J. Kelland Perry15 Comments

Ten years ago today, my first novel Calmer Girls was published. I’m sharing a post from one year later, Calmer Girls Setting in Pictures, to give you an idea of how my birthplace of St. John’s, NL made for such a wonderful setting.

CALMER GIRLS SETTING IN PICTURES

Although Calmer Girls is a fictional tale, its Canadian setting certainly isn’t.

It was fun writing a pair of novels set in my birthplace of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and perhaps the following pictorial will better explain why it had inspired me. After all, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

All of these locations are featured in scenes throughout the first novel. Calmer Cove is not included as it is semi-fictional.

Samantha and her sister took their first ride in Ben Swift’s T-bird to Signal Hill and along the harbourfront. Later, Samantha took pictures of a cruise ship in the Narrows.