In Arrivals: Stories from the History of Ontario, author and cultural commentator John Bentley Mays, himself an arrival from America’s deep south, presents some interesting tales from his new home’s past. The sixth in Penguin Canada’s provincial history series, Arrivals is not a strict history book, though background to the stories and the chronology at the end supply a historical framework. As Mays admits, he has collected stories “only about men and women who engaged [his] interest.” Missing are most politicians and many famous Ontarians who achieved their fame elsewhere, leaving room for some of the province’s undeservedly less well-known citizens.

The book is divided into five sections, chronologically progressing from “Origins,” which presents native legends and histories, through “Dominion,” a collection of tales from the birth of the 20th century. Each section is sprawling with its own cast of eccentrics, seers, and respectable pillars of society whose own words form a large part of the book and frequently carry their stories splendidly. The quotes are occasionally overdone, but more often they help the vast array of colourful characters come to life. The reader meets, and comes to care about, Quaker mystics, aristocratic murderers, a Walt Whitman worshiper, and many more.

Mays’ accomplished writing is engaging and often humorous, seamlessly transporting the reader from incident to incident, though the illustrations scattered throughout do not always complement the work.