Book description
Sixteen-year-old Mary Janeway, a home child, is desperate to escape
from her rural home child placement and flees to London, Ontario, to
find a domestic position. When conditions become unbearable, she moves
on, vowing never to relinquish her freedom again. After she arrives in
Hamilton as a young bride, she quickly adapts to the urban conveniences
and the marvels of new inventions that include electric sewing machines,
sulphur matches, street stoplights, a one-horsepower Brunswick
refrigerator, the advent of the zipper, and the beginning of radio. But
even the latest technology can't stop the ravages of disease and other
family tragedies. Mary lives through two world wars, the Spanish
Influenza, and the Great Depression. In spite of many hardships, she
remains a strong, resilient woman well into her senior years and makes
many contributions to Hamilton, the city she calls home. Mary Pettit
is well-known for her interest in home children. The success of her
first book on the young Mary Janeway has taken Mary on numerous speaking
engagements and into a studio to record a widely praised audio version
of her book for the CNIB's talking books. Her first book was also
translated into Braille in the U. K. She lives in Stoney Creek, Ontario.
