I read dozens of pioneer memoirs during my research and was impressed by the passionate bond that Peace River pioneers formed with this special corner of the world. One of them was Esme Tuck of Pouce Coupe, British Columbia, whose unpublished memoir resides at the Glenbow Foundation in Calgary. It was from her memoir that I drew these words: “I have lost my heart to this lovely land.”
Other memoirs of note include Our Trail North: A True Story of Pioneering in the Peace River Country of Northern Alberta, by Edith Van Kleek; The Stump Farm, A Chronicle of Pioneering, by Hilda Rose; Challenge of the Homestead: Peace River Letters of Clyde and Myrtle Campbell 1919–1924, by R.G. Moyles; Suitable for the Wilds: Letters from Northern Alberta 1929–1931, by Mary Percy Jackson; and The Emperor of Peace River, by Eugenie Louise Myles.
My sincere thanks to the following people: Laura Gloor, formerly museum coordinator at the Peace River Museum, Archives & Mackenzie Centre; Heather Shillinglaw of Edmonton, Métis artist who specializes in healing plants; Laura Chartrand, Métis college instructor who teaches Aboriginal studies and cultural awareness courses in Brandon, Manitoba; Karen Batson, Brandon University professor and the first female chief of Pine Creek First Nation in Manitoba; Les Henry, former University of Saskatchewan professor and farmer in Dundurn, Saskatchewan, author of Catalogue Houses: Eatons’ and Others; Monika Ross Benoit, agrologist with the Peace Country Beef & Forage Association, who farms with her husband Michel Benoit in Guy, Alberta; my brother Rob and his wife Wendy, who carry on the homesteading tradition on the Florence Family Farm near North Battleford, Saskatchewan; and my long-time friend and reader Leslie Vass of Kelowna, British Columbia.
Thank you to Kirk Howard, founder of Dundurn Press, the largest Canadian-owned book publishing company, for continuing to publish significant works of Canadian history; and Dundurn editors Dominic Farrell and Kate Unrau, who read this manuscript with great care and attention.
My deepest gratitude goes to my husband Heinz Drews, who unfailingly provides both moral support and practical advice.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks to Canada, truly my home and native land.
For more information about the author and her books, visit www.elinorflorence.com.
Book Club Questions
In Wildwood, Molly and Bridget return to a pre-technology lifestyle. Have you ever longed for a simpler life? What would you miss the most if you lived off the grid? What do you think you would enjoy the most about living off the grid?
Both Molly and Bridget are healed through a closer connection with the world around them. Do you believe in the healing power of nature?
Nature also produces some mortal dangers, including their terrifying encounter with a bear. Bear encounters are not uncommon in Canada, even today. Have you ever felt threatened by a wild animal?
Isolation forced the pioneers to be utterly self-reliant. Have you ever found yourself in a difficult situation where help was unavailable?
In reading her great-aunt’s journal, Molly is struck by the fact that her great-aunt was only a teenage girl when she first came to Wildwood. Do you think teenagers today could rise to the challenges faced by the young pioneers who immigrated to Canada?
The knowledge required to bake bread, churn butter, knit socks, sew quilts, and many other household skills that were once commonplace is now being lost. Do you think some effort should be made to preserve these pioneer skills?
Since Molly lacked confidence in her parenting ability, she was reluctant to discipline Bridget. How and why did Molly’s confidence increase during the book? If you are a parent, how did you handle your children when they misbehaved?
We don’t learn until the last page that Molly’s great-aunt suffered a personal tragedy. What clues appear throughout the book pointing to this incident?
Wynona’s family is still suffering from the lingering effects of her grandmother’s stay in a residential school. Discuss when and how you think Indigenous people will be able to recover from this experience.
Both Molly and her great-aunt Mary Margaret experience guilt at the way Indigenous peoples were treated, both now and in the past. Do you share their feelings?
Throughout the centuries, people have used the land for multiple purposes: hunting animals, growing food, harvesting timber, and extracting minerals. Do you believe some of these uses are more acceptable today than others?
At the conclusion of Wildwood, Molly decides to modernize her house by installing plumbing and electricity. Do you agree with her decision, or should she have kept to the old ways? What would you have done?
For more information about the author and her books, visit www.elinorflorence.com.
Copyright © Elinor Florence, 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover image: Harrison Mckay; istock.com/Tutye
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Florence, Elinor, author
Wildwood / Elinor Florence.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-4020-4 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-4021-1 (PDF).--
ISBN 978-1-4597-4022-8 (EPUB)
I. Title.
PS8611.L66W55 2018 C813’.6 C2017-904764-7
C2017-904765-5
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for Bird’s Eye View
Dedication
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Book Club Questions
Copyright
Wildwood Page 31
