THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society is launching a new project.

For the first time in its 116-year history, the publisher is publishing a historical novel.

The book is the work of Scott Allan Saxberg, a prominent oil and gas industry executive in Western Canada who also happens to be a former co-owner of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League.

Saxberg has close family ties in the Thunder Bay area, where his parents grew up, and still regularly vacations at Lake Shebandowan.

The inspiration for The ones we wear is the true life story of his great-uncle, who was a member of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands from the Nazis, and fell in love with a Dutch woman who was a member of the Resistance.

In a press release announcing its collaboration with the Saxbergs, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society described the novel as “a heartbreaking love story about people we carry inside us who change our lives.”

Executive Director Scott Bradley said TBHMS was excited about the book because it represents a departure from its usual publications on Northwestern Ontario over the past 50 years.

“The Society’s Publications Committee felt this was the right project to move into a genre that would appeal to a wider audience while meeting our mission to preserve and interpret the history of Northwestern Ontario.”

Bradley said in an interview Tuesday that TBHMS has been discussing for some time how to make the museum and its publications accessible to different audiences.

“We believe this will attract a wider audience that is still interested in what we do but wants to consume it in a slightly simpler way.”

He called “Those We Carry” a story with universal themes, including love, grief and heartbreak.

Michel Beaulieu, chairman of the Publications Committee, added that expanding TBHMS’s publications to include historical novels was more than just a diversification of genres.

“It’s about expanding our understanding of the past and the way it shapes our present and future. Those We Carry’s vivid narratives deepen our empathy and understanding of the impact of history on the human experience,” he said.

Saxberg’s book, which he wrote while still running a successful energy company named after Cache Island in Lake Shebandowan, caught the attention of Financial Post.

Joe O’Connor’s recent article, “The Secret Life of Canadian Oil Magnate Scott Saxberg,” notes the extensive research that went into the novel, including several trips to Europe during which Saxberg “more or less followed in his great-uncle’s footsteps” and learned more about the woman Ardagh Cadieu fell in love with by talking to descendants.

Saxberg told TBnewswatch that the novel is a story based on their relationship.

“Her side of the story is more fictionalized. Many of the stories in the book, pretty much all of the stories, are based on true events, but they generally happened to different soldiers over the course of the war. I describe that at the end and name those soldiers at the end of the novel to highlight them.”

In his author’s note, he states: “As I delved deeper into my uncles’ stories and read the diaries of the Lake Superior Regiment, it turned out that almost every story was true. These fascinating accounts stimulated my imagination and motivated me to write this story.”

While researching the book, Saxberg also spent time at the Thunder Bay Museum and the family camp in Shebandowan, where he enjoys writing.

Saxberg said his turn to writing was not a new development.

In fact, he is currently working on his third novel.

“It has always been a passion of mine,” he said.

“It took me six or seven years to learn the craft and learn how to write a story. I probably wrote three different versions and novels to get to this one, just to learn that… I had the opportunity after I left the company I spent 20 years building (Crescent Point Energy)… So for the last six years I’ve been fully focused on writing.”

This despite the fact that Saxberg remains active in the business world as CEO and president of Calgary-based Cache Island Corporation.

He also serves on six private boards and is a mentor at the Endless Frontiers Lab at New York University’s Stern Business School and the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Calgary, where he supports young companies focused on technology-based products or services.

The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society plans to host book launch events with Saxberg in the near future.

More information about the book, including pre-order information, is available online.