Lisa Brown (3)

Sarah Berry and her family live in Manchester, England and have faced a series of disparaging events. Sarah lost her husband Thomas and is left with five young children. As working class in 1901, Sarah and her older children must work to make ends meet. After several more devastating events, Sarah is encouraged to start anew in Canada with her brother. After a harrowing ocean crossing, Sarah and her family settle in Winnipeg with open arms and Sarah finally decides to embrace life and the happiness that comes her way.

The Porter's Wife is a heartfelt story of perseverance in the face of adversity. The Porter's Wife covers a large portion of time for the Berry family and focuses on Sarah and oldest daughter, Margaret's points of view. I admired Sarah's ability to carry on, her practicality in all measures and most of all, her hope. It was interesting to see Sarah evolve from someone simply surviving with everything life threw her way to fully embracing the good in life. Covering such a large span of time and events, I feel like the book could have been split in two with more details of some events, but it is the first book in a series.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (more)

If you read about the Orphan trains in the United States, you are familiar to a degree about what happens in this book. This book is about orphaned children in England who end up in the workhouses. The British Home Program, sent these children to Canada in the late 1800s to a new home. This program, like the Orphan Trains had great intentions, however, some of the "adoptive families" were more interested in free labour than having an adopted child.

In this book 10 year old Oliver (think Oliver Twist) and his younger brother Simon become orphans when their mother dies and they end up in the workhouse. When they are given the opportunity to go to Canada, Oliver thinks this is the answer to their prayers. Once in Canada they are separated—Simon going to a well-to-do family who wants a boy as they already had four girls, and Oliver going to a farm owned by the Pritchards. Mrs. Pritchard sees Oliver as a chance to be a mother, unfortunately, Mr. Pritchard is a mean man who rules the roost and those opportunities do not come very often. The winter in Canada was a rude awakening to Oliver who was not prepared mentally of with his clothing etc. Oliver is the victim of many abuses by the farmer, for example, he is not allowed in the house. It is a terrible existence for the young boy. The last chapter of the book wrapped up everything in a surprising way.

The historical information and the descriptions of life, climate and work in Canada at the time gives a lot of information. The descriptions are very well done. This would be a good book to use in intermediate classrooms to learn about the period as well as to see what these young people had to go through. A very worthwhile read to learn about this time and unfortunately about the way these youngsters were treated.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)

This was utterly heartbreaking. The story of an extended family living in Winnipeg, having originally emigrated from England for a better life. Now they are suffering the effects of prohibition, and post war economic depression. And Art is still suffering debilitating nightmares and other anxieties after his wartime experiences.

We follow the family through the marriages of Sarah's children, the birth of their children and the hard times in which they lived. This is a very close knit extended family who do their best to help each other out whenever required. They suffered various heartbreaking disasters over the years.

This is so well written that I felt a real infinity with the family, and suffered with them as they suffered.

Now I will have to seek out the prequel 'The Porter's Wife' to learn more of the back story of matriarch Sarah.

An excellent read, highly recommended.… (more)