Elinor Florence is one of my favorite Canadian authors. Her books are generally historical fiction and feature strong, female protagonists. I’ve gotten to “know” Elinor through social media and she seems like a truly nice person who loves her heritage and her family.

I was very excited for her to send me her new novel Finding Flora, which publishes at the end of April. This novel centered on a young woman who was a sole, female homesteader in the Canadian West in the early 1900s. It was an interesting story, and I learned several new things about homesteading in Canada.

Here’s the scoop:

Description

A rollicking historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Alberta about a young woman on the run from her abusive husband who uses a legal loophole to claim a homestead in the Wild West—perfect for fans of Outlawed and The Giver of Stars.

Scottish newcomer Flora Craigie jumps from a moving train in 1905 to escape her abusive husband. Desperate to disappear, she claims a homestead on the beautiful but wild Alberta prairie, determined to create a new life for herself. She is astonished to find that her nearest neighbours are also female: a Welsh widow with three children; two American women raising chickens; and a Métis woman who supports herself by training wild horses.

While battling both the brutal environment and the local cynicism toward female farmers, the five women with their very different backgrounds struggle to find common ground. But when their homes are threatened with expropriation by a hostile government, they join forces to “fire the heather,” a Scottish term meaning to raise a ruckus. To complicate matters, there are signs that Flora’s violent husband is still hunting for her. And as the competition for free land along the new Canadian Pacific Railway line heats up, an unscrupulous land agent threatens not only Flora’s livelihood, but her very existence.

Not only Flora, but her female homesteader friends were all interesting characters and I was cheering them on during this story. I was so glad to have a chance to read this novel and I can say with certainty that I do NOT have what it takes to be a strong female on the prairies like the women featured in this book!

Thank you, Elinor, for sharing your work with me – and for teaching this American a bit about Canadian history!