by Anne Monaghan

I have always liked everything I've read about Nellie McClung. Maybe it's because she was such a strong and compelling woman. This booklet gives a series of snapshot views of Nellie McClung and the times she lived in. What comes across is that she was a very balanced woman, living in a time when women were seriously undervalued.

Nellie McClung had very strong opinions, but she was also able to laugh, both at herself and the situations she got herself into. She did things no one else would have thought of doing. For example, she took the Premier of Manitoba to see for himself what the working conditions of poor women were like. She disagreed with the balance of power between her parents, yet she never argued with her mother's beliefs. What she did, instead, was to bring up her daughters in the belief that they were powerful beings too, and did not have to defer to men.

The booklet tells us that Nellie McClung wrote a lot. I think that I will look to her writing next for more information about this strong woman. It will be interesting to go beyond the snapshots, and read her own thoughts, feelings, and opinions about her life and times.

A review by Vivian Stollmeyer,Toronto, Ontario.