Not My Fate
Josephine Caplin (Jo) was born into a world marred by maternal abandonment, alcoholism and traumatic epileptic seizures. In grade three, she was apprehended by child services and separated from her protective brother and her early caregivers, her father and uncle, who were kind men with drinking problems. Placed into many alienating and lonely fost …
A Quiet Roar
The devastating diagnosis of an incurable, debilitating disease does not ordinarily form the starting point of a triumphant story. This, however, is a triumphant story. Heidi Redl was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004 and immediately chose to fight the disease with the only tools available to her: sheer stubbornness and courage.
Growing up o …
The Bootleggers Lady
This is the story, not simply of one woman's brave struggle in the wilderness, but of the pioneer spirit that opened up that wilderness for future generations. Edith Julia Bronson married an outlaw at the beginning of this century. This courageous pioneer woman bore her lawless husband, Fred Frye, nine children, drove a freight wagon 2,000 miles fr …
By Snowshoe, Buckboard and Steamer
The vivid, personal accounts of four women who lived and travelled as settlers in early British Columbia.
??a cloud passing away from the face of the moon revealed a band of wild horses bearing down upon us at a full gallop. As they came near and saw us they divided into two groups, passing by on either side. Had the moon not come out they would pro …
Woo, the Monkey Who Inspired Emily Carr
Although Emily Carr is now considered a Canadian legend, the most enduring image is that of her pushing a beat-up old pram into downtown Victoria, loaded with dogs, cats, birds—and a monkey. Woo, a Javanese macaque whom Carr adopted in 1923, has become inextricably linked with Carr in the popular imagination. But more than that, in her short life …
This Small Army of Women
With her linen head scarf and white apron emblazoned with a red cross, the Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse, or VAD, has become a romantic emblem of the Great War. This book tells the story of the nearly 2,000 women from Canada and Newfoundland who volunteered to “do their bit” overseas and at home. Well-educated and middle-class but largely untr …
The Woods
"Amber McMillan's writing balances an eye for the unusual and resiliently beautiful with a sympathy for the frailties common to all her islanders."
-Kevin Chong, author of Baroque-a-Nova, Neil Young Nation and Beauty Plus Pity
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The Woods: A Year on Protection Island is a personal memoir that probes the unique and sometimes unsettling tenor of life …
The Woman Who Says No
An intimate and revealing biography of the talented artist who dared to leave Picasso.
Françoise Gilot’s ex-lover Pablo Picasso called her “the woman who says no.” She may have spent her life in the company of men who changed the world—Picasso, Matisse, and Jonas Salk—but Gilot forged vital relationships with ground-breaking artists and …
Wolf Spirit
When diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, Gudrun Pflüger was told she had eighteen months left to live. Taking the wolf—a true “endurance athlete”—as her model, she immerses herself in the wilderness of the mountain ranges of western Canada and focuses her mind and body on a mysterious and inspirational path toward self-healing.
Throu …
Lily Briscoe
Taking as her alter-ego Lily Briscoe–the painter in Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse–Mary Meigs paints a portrait of herself, her family and her friends in Lily Briscoe: A Self-Portrait, a book that is both autobiography and memoir. In it, she describes the three major decisions of her life: "not to marry, to be an artist" and to listen to he …
Writing with Grace
"I don’t know how to describe me as a real person." -- From "My Real Truth," a poem by Grace Chen
"Put her away and forget about her." This was the blunt advice Grace Chen's grandfather gave Grace's parents when she was born with Down Syndrome.
Twenty-four years later, Grace writes, "I always dream to be a famous writer." When Judy McFarlane is ask …
Drugstore Cowgirl
In 1964, Patricia MacKay immigrated to Canada from England in search of the wild-open lands and cowboy culture that captivated her as a child. In the 1960s, the Wild West was still alive and kicking in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, although it had been tamed—a little. Old-time hospitality and helping anyone in need was the acknowledged way of life.
Pat l …
Choosing Hope
A chronicle of family love, unspeakable loss, and the power of healing.
Ginny Dennehy was living the dream: a great marriage, two wonderful teenagers, a fulfilling career. But in 2001, the world turned upside down when her son, Kelty, in the grip of depression, committed suicide at the age of seventeen. Just eight years later, her daughter, Riley, d …
The Bear's Embrace
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A national bestseller hailed as ""a testimony of courage."" -- Maclean's
On a sunny fall day in 1983, Patricia Van Tighem and her husband, Trevor Janz, were brutally attacked by a bear while hiking in the Canadian Rockies. Janz was severely hurt, but Van Tighem suffered even more serious, disfiguring injuries, and that she survived was a miracle.
A …
The House With the Broken Two
Winner, SFU Writer's Studio's First Book Competition (2010)
Winner, Canadian Authors Association Exporting Alberta Award (2011)
Unmarried and pregnant in 1968 Winnipeg, teenager Myrl Coulter found herself at a loss. Unable (and perhaps unwilling) to support her child, Myrl’s parents forced her to give the baby up for adoption. After being sent to a …
I Feel Great About My Hands
"...a warm, wise, witty response to Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck." -- Huffington Post
"I Feel Great About My Hands sends a strong and supportive message about the future." -- Winnipeg Free Press
With wisdom and humour, forty-one remarkable, mature women over 50 revel in the joys of aging.
Nora Ephron struck a chord with I Feel Bad about My …
Rebel Women of the Gold Rush
During the frenzied Klondike Gold Rush, many daring women ventured north to seek riches and adventure or to escape a troubled past. These unforgettable, strong-willed women defied the social conventions of the time and endured heartbreak and horrific conditions to build a life in the wild North. At the height of the gold rush, Martha Purdy, Nellie …
A Woman of Valour (A)
A Woman of Valour is the biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle, a French-Canadian woman who found love with a priest thirty-three years her senior. Against all social convention, they lived, produced three children, and built a life together after fleeing their village. However, after several years together, Bouchard's husband ultimately chose …
