Cyril Passfield

In June 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, two part-time railway workers, 23-year-old Cyril Passfield and his friend, Charlie Thompson, decide to leave their hometown of St. Thomas, Ontario. They go "on the hobo," joining the great army of the unemployed who are riding the trains back and forth across Canada. As they travel west, they hope to get work in the harvest or hop a freighter in Vancouver and see the world. This novel is based on Cyril Passfield's diary from the summer of 1932.

Cyril Passfield: Out West, together with the accompanying journal and notebook, represent the twenty-first installment in author John Passfield's project of exploring the concept of form and meaning in the contemporary novel. More information can be found at www.johnpassfield.ca.