Anne Cimon

While Susanna Moodie: Pioneer, by Anne Cimon does a good job of chronicling the life of this important Canadian historical figure, I felt nothing new was added to the already considerable body of work written about Susanna.

Unfortunately Cimon's attempts to humanize and make immediate this remarkable historical woman fail, in my opinion, and therefore diminish the credibility of the work. We are, as readers, given Susanna's dialogue, both external and internal, that reads more like a novel than a biographical exploration.

And while Cimon may have chronicled Susanna's life very well, there are other historical details, minor if I'm to be truthful, that further diminish the credibility of the work. There is a scene where Susanna sits to table before an assortment of pies, currant, cherry, pumpkin and others, which, as any domestic aficionado would know, is unlikely, given the range of harvest periods for these fruits and inability to preserve these goods, especially on the frontier, in a form that would allow for the making of these sorts of pie fillings. And this is just one of several instances of a lack of detailed knowledge of the gritty realities of day to day pioneer life.

It remains, for me, that if a person wishes to read about Susanna Moodie, the best possible recourse is to read her own words.

Apologies, Anne, I wish I could have been more positive.… (mer)