Early Voices: Portraits of Canada by Women Writers, 1639-1914

$28.99

"Early Voices is a valuable and wonderfully readable collection of responses to Canada by some twenty-nine women writers between 1639 and 1914. The editors assembled a fascinating collage of dramatic descriptions that record some of the challenges and pleasures of Canadian experience over nearly three centuries. We learn "how things are (or were) in this Canada of ours" as various women, mostly educated and of the middle class, document in vivid and frank ways things they observed and experienced. We learn what winters could be like in isolated outposts, how it felt to come upon a vast caribou herd in Labrador, the staggering pain of losing a baby in a remote settlement, even in the discomfort that an elderly Catharine Parr Trail felt when she suddenly found herself treated as a celebrity at Rideau Hall. This is a treasure trove of writings that can be read at a single setting, or perhaps more rewardingly, at a leisurely pace. Whatever the case they will speak powerfully to readers interested in early Canada and the resourcefulness of women in measuring their lives against this vast and extraordinary country, It is a book for any season, and one that is rich in pleasures and insights."

- Michael Peterman, author of Sisters in Two Worlds: A Visual Biography of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill.