Author Description

Finalist, City of Vancouver Book Awards, 2008At Home with History is a collection of real life stories that bring to life the glamorous and not-so-glamorous social histories of selected heritage homes in Greater Vancouver - stories of brothels and bootleggers, secret rooms, and Shakespearean-style murders. An Italian family survives the depression by selling booze and sandwiches from their eastside home. A Shaughnessy mansion headquarters the Ku Klux Klan and then a children's hospice. A secret radio room is uncovered during renovations. Every home has a social history and a genealogy that tells a tremendous amount about the history of the times and offers up a sense of place. Current home-owners are only temporary custodians, part of the chain in the ongoing narrative of the house. People change, styles change, colours change, cars change, but through it all, the house remains a central fixture and the structure for the stories in At Home with History.Praise for At Home With History:BC Books for Everybody Pick "exceptional incidents in ordinary houses and ordinary people in exceptional houses." (Vancouver Sun)"If the walls could talk, what stories would old Vancouver homes tell? Lazarus went searching and the result is an entertaining and informative book on the city's social history... Lazarus' diligent and extensively detailed book accompanied with archival photographs, serves to remind us rich stories lurking within old homes, whether a mansion or bungalow, are well worth preserving." (BC Historical News)"A mix of old black-and-white street-scene photos, jovial stories, and unique neighbourhood profiles, the book crushes the idea that Vancouver is a city without history." (Georgia Straight)