It's a book about the Great depression. The worst decade in Canada's history and it's based largely right here in Moose Jaw.

A Gift of Scars was written by a man who grew up close to the city and lived near it for many years.

Greg Norman is a graduate from the University of Saskatchewan and after he retired early from a career as a lawyer in the oil and gas industry he started to pursue his bucket list.

So far that has included TV productions, ranching, auctioneering, wildlife conservation management, and now writing.

Norman explains what inspired him to write the book, which was in part due to his reading of an article about the KKK.

"An article I read some time ago about the clan and I had known nothing about the clan in Saskatchewan or in Canada at all prior to reading this article. That article was one of two things that prompted me to write this novel and the other being the many stories my mother and father told me of growing up in the depression."

Norman added more detail about his writing process.

"When you're writing period fiction you have to be careful not to let the fine details of the historical record get in the way of your story. Having said that I try to stay quite close to the truth of the historical record and in fact, some of the characters in the book actually existed in Moose Jaw."

Norman added that in his first draft he actually had six extra chapters he ended up throwing out in the final draft.