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Jim DeFede
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The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Paperback – August 14, 2003

by Jim DeFede (Author)
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The True Story Behind the Events on 9/11 that Inspired Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical Come from Away, Featuring All New Material from the Author

When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill.

As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news.

Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    244 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    August 14, 2003
  4. Dimensions
    0.58 x 5.31 x 8 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0060559713
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0060559717
  7. See all details
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  1. Thirty-eight planes landed there on September 11, depositing 6,595 passengers and crew members in a town whose population is barely 10,000.
    Highlighted by 1,908 Kindle readers
  2. No one else in the world is on Newfoundland time other than Newfies. Which, in a way, is appropriate.
    Highlighted by 797 Kindle readers
  3. And with his departure, Rabbi Sudak stopped wondering why he had been brought to Newfoundland.
    Highlighted by 707 Kindle readers
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A remarkable true story...a must read for everyone.” -- Huffington Post

“When you read this book, I predict tears in your eyes almost from the beginning...tears of joy and pride for the citizens of Gander, Newfoundland, who bravely stood up and said to the world ‘Today, we are all Americans.’” -- Homer Hickam, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rocket Boys

“Jim DeFede has written a wonderful and engaging account that reaffirms the remarkable humanity and kindness that flourished in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.” -- Gerald Posner, New York Times bestselling author of Pharma and Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK

“Here the generous Newfoundlanders get due recognition.” -- Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover

"For the better part of a week, nearly every man, woman, and child in Gander and the surrounding smaller towns stopped what they were doing so they could help. They placed their lives on hold for a group of strangers and asked for nothing in return. They affirmed the basic goodness of man at a time when it was easy to doubt such humanity still existed."

When thirty-eight jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, on September 11, 2001, due to the closing of United States airspace, the citizens of this small community were called upon to come to the aid of more than six thousand displaced travelers.

Roxanne and Clarke Loper were excited to be on their way home from a lengthy and exhausting trip to Kazakhstan, where they had adopted a daughter, when their plane suddenly changed course and they found themselves in Newfoundland. Hannah and Dennis O'Rourke, who had been on vacation in Ireland, were forced to receive updates by telephone on the search for their son Kevin, who was among the firefighters missing at the World Trade Center. George Vitale, a New York state trooper and head of the governor's security detail in New York City who was returning from a trip to Dublin, struggled to locate his sister Patty, who worked in the Twin Towers. A family of Russian immigrants, on their way to the Seattle area to begin a new life, dealt with the uncertainty of conditions in their future home.

The people of Gander were asked to aid and care for these distraught travelers, as well as for thousands more, and their response was truly extraordinary. Oz Fudge, the town constable, searched all over Gander for a flight-crew member so that he could give her a hug as a favor to her sister, a fellow law enforcement officer who managed to reach him by phone. Eithne Smith, an elementary-school teacher, helped the passengers staying at her school put together letters to family members all over the world, which she then faxed. Bonnie Harris, Vi Tucker, and Linda Humby, members of a local animal protection agency, crawled into the jets' cargo holds to feed and care for all of the animals on the flights. Hundreds of people put their names on a list to take passengers into their homes and give them a chance to get cleaned up and relax.

The Day the World Came to Town is a positively heartwarming account of the citizens of Gander and its surrounding communities and the unexpected guests who were welcomed with exemplary kindness.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Regan Books; Reprint edition (August 14, 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 244 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060559713
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060559717
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.58 x 5.31 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:

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Jim DeFede

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
13,147 global ratings
Read this before seeing Come From Away!
5 Stars
Read this before seeing Come From Away!
The show is fast paced and wonderful. I’m so glad to have read this book before seeing the show. Much easier to follow the show - I felt as if I already knew the characters!
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Top reviews from the United States

Grace LeRoy
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly uplifting book about human kindness.
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2024
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One of my all-time favorite books. Well written, uplifting story of how one community responded so graciously to the needs of people they didn't even know. I highly recommend this encouraging story.
2 people found this helpful
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booknblueslady
4.0 out of 5 stars A Bright Light in a Bitter Time
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2013
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The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland
by Jim DeFede
4 stars
pp. 260

Sometimes it seems important to read something that reminds us that there are good people in the world and much still to be thankful for. The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland by Jim DeFede is one such book. DeFede offers the reader a chance to immerse herself in the town of Gander, Newfoundland during that horrible week of September 11, 2001.

We follow a number of passengers on different planes which would eventually land at Gander until they return to there homes a week or more later. One can appreciate DeFede retelling in a matter of fact blow by blow reporting. There is of course sadness and grief involved along with those other emotions which we all felt during that time, but the reader learns of how extraordinary the town and its citizens are. How they came together and care for the thousands of extra people and some few animals which unexpectedly arrived in their town.

The town of Gander showed unstinting generosity and thoughtfulness to its new residence during a very difficult time. Here DeFede tells about if from the perspective of Werner Baldessarini, then chairman of Hugo Boss who had been traveling to NYC for Fashion Week:

The bond with the passengers was rivaled only by his attachment to the townspeople, whose compassion was so overwhelming. They took their visitors on driving tours of the countryside. They took them to their homes. The passengers weren’t treated like refugees, but like long-lost relatives, and the more he thought about it, the more it moved Baldessarini. Coming from an environment as cutthroat as the fashion industry, Baldessarini realized this was not a feeling to ignore or casually dismiss. This was something to be relished. And given everything that was going wrong in the world, it was reassuring to see that right now, right here, in one small corner of the planet, something was going right. There was no hatred. No anger. No fear in Gander.

I found this to be a really enjoyable read and encourage all interested to read it as well.
7 people found this helpful
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Bettie W. Cashion
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes You Feel Good
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2024
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This book was very well written, and lets you know that there are still good people in the world, even considering a terrible disaster like this.
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
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Easy read and warms your heart by seeing how kind people can be.
One person found this helpful
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Elly Book Buff
5.0 out of 5 stars Contrast to me stranded in Budapest.
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
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This book hit me with emotions that were buried -to experience that I feel I was in a unique place. I loved reading about the help extended to the plane people. I was on a tour in Hungary when I saw on The BBC t-v that the first plane crashed, then later the second and the Pentagon attack. We could not fly to Zurich we were told at the airport. It was not allowed for us, heading to Boston,s Logan. We were all separated and three of us ended up 35 miles out of town in a small b+b. It took many days to get home, very scary for us in a foreign place.
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drinking tea with mittens on
3.0 out of 5 stars interesting event but poorly written
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020
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i guess it is just me because there are so many five star reviews and i am only giving this 3 stars. and those 3 stars are mostly because the event it self was a 5 star event but written in a 1 star manner. i just could not engage in caring about any thing in the book because it seemed the author was trying to hard to create drama through his character developments. i am a very empathetic person, so i am disappointed in myself when i found myself thinking "meh" as different characters were introduced in the book. after awhile i grew weary of hearing how so and so had spent the day on 9/11 and what such and such was doing when the towers went down. horrific horrific events to be sure. but in THIS book, the subject was more about all these planes being diverted on a moment's notice. i was interested in the logistics of how so many people came together to make this happen and so perhaps being interrupted time and again about how a new passenger on the plane had a backstory that could make a grown man cry felt more like a cheap trick to add pages to the book and to heighten a drama that really didn't need more height to the very real drama of terrorism and diverted planes to a small town in newfoundland. this is a book i'll be donating and not keeping.
15 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Luisa Cisterna
5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating
Reviewed in Canada on February 17, 2024
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This is the kind of book that will stay in your memory forever. Captivating and emotional account of passengers and crews grounded in charming Gander, Newfoundland. It reminded me of what G. K. Chesterton said about small communities: "The man who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world. He knows much more of the fierce variety and uncompromising divergences of men." Gander was the world for a week literally, but as a small community it remains the world with personal dramas of it own people. The author selected the right amount of stories and weaved everything with grace and compassion.
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francesca li mandri
5.0 out of 5 stars Puntuale conforme alla descrizione.
Reviewed in Italy on January 17, 2020
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Puntuale e prodotto conforme alla descrizione.
Libro bellissimo su una storia vera (11 settembre 2001)
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Dicko
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
Reviewed in Australia on September 9, 2023
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Watched the tv special of the production & loved it!
Great quality, good price & fast delivery!
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David Power
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping personal stories of a tragedy
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2015
Verified Purchase
I love getting book recommendations. A work colleague from the US recommended this book and I’m glad I took note. This is a story about 9/11 and how the people of a small town in Newfoundland, Gander, reacted to events of that day.

Gander turned out to be a strategic location – once the 2 planes hit the Twin Towers, the US authorities quickly shut down US airspace. That meant 100s of planes in the air had to either land immediately in the US, or else if they were over the Atlantic, decide to land in Canada or return to Europe. Over 30 planes landed in Gander that day, so nearly 10,000 unexpected visitors arriving in a small town of similar size. How do you feed these people? Where do they sleep? How long will they here?

What was great about this book – it’s not just about a tragic day in all our lives, but it plays out over a week after that infamous day. Both the residents of Gander who opened up their homes, schools and hearts to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers. People volunteered their time to help out, bakers made tons of bread, schools and gym halls opened up, locals donated blankets, food, toys.

I liked the mixed narrative of the book – it told the story from about 20-30 individual perspectives. From Lufthansa pilots, to air traffic controllers, to retired locals, to Texans returning from Russia after adopting a little girl, to an Irish lady returning from visiting family, to the CEO of Hugo Boss, to a US Army General who was responsible for security/intelligence in Europe. That day was a leveller – if you were in first class sipping champagne, or a jaded parent with kids, you were all treated the same when you landed in Gander. No time for deference or preferential treatment.

The unknowns were endless: when will we get home? What happened in New York? Do my family know where I am? Are my family or friends in New York ok? Where the hell are we? Some people thought about driving home – even if it was thousands of miles to Texas!
6 people found this helpful
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C. Busch
5.0 out of 5 stars Empfohlene Lektüre
Reviewed in Germany on May 6, 2014
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Über die Vorgänge in Gander, Neufundland, hatte ich bereits kurz nach den Anschlägen einiges gelesen. Als Fluzeugenthusiast war mir nicht entgangen, dass die Lufthansa damals einen Airbus auf den Namen "Gander-Halifax" taufte, zu Ehren der beispiellosen Hilfsbereitschaft der Anwohner vor Ort. Mehr als zehn Jahre später stieß ich durch einen Blogeintrag auf das Buch von Jim DeFede und habe es gleich bestellt.

Von der furchtbaren Covergestaltung des Paperbacks sollte man sich keineswegs abhalten lassen. Jim DeFede beschreibt ohne triefenden Patriotismus oder Pathos die Ereignisse, die sich über tausend Kilometer entfernt von den zusammenstürzenden Türmen in New York abspielten. Als der amerikanische Luftraum gesperrt wurde, mussten tausende Menschen ihre Reise zwangsweise unterbrechen, und 38 Flugzeuge strandeten in Gander. Was sich dort abspielte, berührt zutiefst. Wer hat nicht die Zuversicht und den Glauben an das Gute im Menschen verloren, angesichts der Flugzeuge, die mitsamt ihren Passagieren zu riesigen Projektilen wurden, um zu zerstören, zu verletzen, ein ganzes Land, ja, die ganze Welt auf bisher unvorstellbare Weise zu erschüttern? Dieses Buch ist dazu angetan, den Riss zu heilen, der wahrscheinlich in vielen Seelen entstanden ist. Vollkommen selbstlos und ohne zu zögern taten die Einwohner von Gander und den umliegende Städten alles, um den entsetzten Passagieren ihren erzwungenen Aufenthalt so angenehm wie möglich zu machen und ihnen alles zum Leben Notwendige zu geben. Sie teilten ihr Haus, ihren Besitz mit den Gestrandeten, sie verliehen ihre Autos an sie, sie zeigten ihnen die Gegend, sie wachten in der Nacht in den Aufnahmelagern, sie koordinierten unzählige Anrufe von besorgten Angehörigen, sie trösteten die Verzweifelten und gaben ein Fest für all die Kinder, die auf dem Weg nach Disneyworld waren, um dort ihren Geburtstag zu feiern. Sie krochen auf eigene Veranlassung in die Laderäume der Flugzeuge und versorgten auch die dort untergebrachten Tiere.

Das Buch bewegt zutiefst, weil es ein Manifest für bedingungsloses Mitgefühl und Selbstlosigkeit ist, für ein freundschaftliches Miteinander unabhängig von Religion, Hautfarbe, Geschlecht oder sozialem Status. Mittelmäßige Englischkenntnisse reichen übrigens aus, der Autor verwendet eine schöne, unverschnörkelte Sprache, die leicht zu verstehen ist. Danke für diese Aufzeichnungen, Mr. DeFede.
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