Sisters in the Wilderness - The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill

Susanna Moodie and Catharine Traill, English-born sisters, came to Canada with high expectations. These hopes were not fulfilled, but Moodie and Traill adapted to their new home and, in time, produced work that would help shape the nation's literary culture. The sisters arrived in what were then the wilds of Ontario in 1834, their husbands having assured them that, by virtue of their education and background, they would immediately be welcomed as members of the ruling elite. They instead found themselves "stuck in the backwoods," where free land was to be had. But though at first both complained vigorously and often and developed what Northrop Frye called a "garrison mentality," they eventually adjusted to frontier life and its many hardships and sorrows, from subfreezing temperatures to the death of children. Their difficulties were not eased by their husbands' evident inability to earn or keep money, and, though well received, their early writings about life on the edge of the wilderness--Susanna's poems and sketches, Catharine's book The Backwoods of Canada--did not earn much money either. But, as Charlotte Gray deftly documents, the sisters kept at it, producing now-classic works such as Roughing It in the Bush and Life in the Clearings and earning considerable fame throughout the English-speaking world. "Until I decided to write this double biography," writes Gray, "I had not noticed how often Susanna and Catharine appear in the fiction and non-fiction of contemporary Canadian writers. More than just Canadian literary archetypes, they haunt our collective imagination." Gray's graceful biography crowns the huge library devoted to the sisters, and it makes a fine companion for readers now discovering their work and contributions. --Gregory McNamee Non-Fiction,Biography,History In the inhospitable and hardscrabble bush of Canada, facing a pioneering existence that they never even knew existed, the well-educated, but modestly married, British born Strickland sisters, Susanna and Catharine, turned to the pen to ease their loneliness and isolation. Susanna Moodies Roughing It in the Bush warned her countrymen from taking the bait and emigrating to Canada; Catharine Parr Traills The Backwoods of Canada and Life in the Clearings celebrated her new-found freedom in Canada's classless society, and the spirit of industry. Both women had great influence on England's understanding of colonial Canada, as well as on Canada's own vision of its young self. Their writings have become central to all Canadian studies courses and are considered classic examples of pioneer memoirs. Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill were writers and artists who left England for Canada during the great wave of emigration that saw over twelve million Britons abandon their homeland for the Colonies in the 19th century. Against the odds, the sisters carved successful careers for themselves as writers, and their despatches about the harsh realities of pioneer life were avidly read in England. In this book, award-winning author Charlotte Gray vividly brings her subjects to life and draws a brilliantly clear picture of life in the backwoods of Canada. Using the women's correspondence and personal papers as well as their published works, this meticulously researched, beautifully told biography is a compelling read and valuable addition to literary history. "Catherine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie are icons of the Canadian imagination. Yet most of what we know of these two English gentlewomen who spent their adult lives struggling in Britain's harsh and vigorous colony comes from thier own self-consciously crafted writings and from other writers' sometimes fanciful depictions of them. What were the women behind the authorial voices really like? With Sisters in the Wilderness, award-winning author Charlotte Gray breathes life into two remarkable and fascinating characters and brings us a vivid picture of life in the backwoods of Upper Canada."--Back cover Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie are icons of the Canadian imagination. Yet most of what we know of these two English gentlewomen who spent their adult lives struggling in Britain’s harsh and vigorous colony comes from their own self-consciously crafted writings and from other writers’ sometimes fanciful depictions of them. But what were the women behind the authorial voices really like? In Sisters in the Wilderness, award-winning author Charlotte Gray breathes life into two remarkable and fascinating characters and brings us a vivid picture of life in the backwoods of Upper Canada.