People who know me generally know how proud I am to be a Newfoundlander, and that pride was even greater in the days that followed September 11, 2001.

The Day the World Came to Town is an account of September 11th and the days that followed in Gander, Newfoundland (incidentally, my birthplace). While the world was still wondering what exactly was going on and if more attacks were to come, U.S. airspace was closed and planes were diverted to other airports around the world. Many of these planes landed in Canada. Gander’s 10,000 inhabitants rose to the challenge of having 38 planes carrying over 6,000 passengers from around the world descend upon them in a matter of hours.

DeFede does an exceptional job of conveying the sensibilities of Newfies, as a gregarious and hospitable people, and provides some detail and history of the province itself, including the proper pronunciation of Newfoundland:

Newfoundland is not enunciated as if it were three distinct words, as in “New Found Land.” Nor is it pronounced as if it were somehow a Scandinavian colony, as in “New Finland.” Instead, it is “Newfin-land.” The key is to say it very fast. One fellow offered me a simple mnemonic device: “Understand Newfoundland.” The words rhyme and the cadence is similar.

One fact that was new to me is the layout of Gander itself. Since the town was named after a male goose, the founding fathers decided it fitting to design the streets of the town in the shape of the animal’s head. Perhaps not the most practical idea in city planning, but indicative of Newfie whimsy.

DeFede examines the time immediately following the attacks, the confusion and turmoil in the air traffic control towers and aboard the various planes, as well as the fear, shock and other extreme emotions that people faced during that time. A few individuals among the many that were stranded for those few days are profiled in detail, including a family on the way home to Texas after adopting a child in Kazakhstan; an orthodox Rabbi on his way to New York; the chairman of Hugo Boss; and an Irish-American grandmother, who spent the days in anguish, waiting for news about her NYC firefighter son.

But the real heart of the book is how DeFede shares the ways in which the residents of Gander went above and beyond the notion of hospitality and reached out to those stranded in their town, forming relationships that in some instances last to this day. In addition to the massive volunteer effort at shelters (mostly schools and churches), Newfoundlanders opened their homes, offering beds, showers, the use of their cars and more. They took people on tours of the area, donated blankets, clothing and other goods. In the midst of the terror of those days, people reached out to others and showed that the human spirit is indomitable and capable of great kindness.