by Elizabeth Goudie

This book was written by a woman who raised eight children, fished, hunted and coped with the cold of Labrador. Her husband was a trapper and she was alone most of each year. She tells her story very simply and with great love for the earth and the animals on it.

Elizabeth Goudie was born in 1902 in Mud Lake, Labrador. She had four years of school and learned how to live on the land by working with her parents. Married at 18, she hunted and trapped with her husband until she began having children two years later.

This book is divided into many chapters and each chapter has several sections. The chapter on "A new life for Labradorians" is 20 pages long. There are four sections, including one called "The Death of My Husband" which many women will identify with.

This book is long, but each part is interesting in itself. The language is clear and concrete. The stories are about day-to-day experiences that are common to many women, even though the setting may be very different. Women may be interested in writing about how the stories relate to their own lives.

Tutors might want to photocopy some of the pages and group the sections into smaller pieces, so that the first impression of the text is not overwhelming.

A review by the Halifax Working Group, Halifax, N.S.