Description: Tiny Burlington, tucked away on the slopes of Nova Scotia's North Mountain. In 1904 it was home to hardworking farmers, complicated family dynamics, passionate lovers, and a murderer. Laura Churchill Duke's carefully-researched tale brings to life the shocking events that ended a life and changed a community.
Brief description: Laura Churchill Duke is a communication specialist and journalist in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. She is a freelance journalist for newspapers across Atlantic Canada, and can be heard on CBC Radio's Information Morning as a community contact. She is the creator of ValleyFamilyFun.ca, a website and blog dedicated to helping families find fun things to do together. Laura lives in Kentville, Nova Scotia with her husband and two sons. Her website is LauraChurchillDuke.ca. This is her first novel.
Review Quotes:
Wendy Robicheau, Archivist, Acadia University:
As I read the book and the details spoke to my imagination, I needed to visit the sites--to be in the spaces and fill my senses. I love it when words on a page come alive, compelling me to acknowledge our ancestors. Thank you, Laura, for telling our herstories.
Theresa McAuley Robinson's memory was almost obliterated for a hundred years. Laura Churchill Duke can be thanked for helping to preserve the mystery around Theresa and her fate. From tiny, tucked-away Burlington, Kings County, N.S., Theresa represents many innocent women. Churchill Duke tells an exciting story that allows someone who might be termed an exemplary farmwife and mother to represent so many women then and now.