If anyone would be interested to know about the real life story of Katherine Mary Flannigan Knox, then you can check out the blog posts here. https://authorsreallives.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/katherine-mary-ofallon-flannig...

Here's what I wrote about this read in 2008: "Good, simple, heartwarming tale of early settlers / pioneers in the Canadian wilderness. Sargent Mike Flannigan; now he was a man to love. Written in ~1940's, with modern sequels subsequently read." ( )

This was recommended to me because I liked [a:Bess Streeter Aldrich|87735|Bess Streeter Aldrich|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238917856p2/87735.jpg]. It doesn't have the same quality as hers, the characters don't step off the page, the community doesn't live. I think it's meant to chronicle personal growth but, while it does a good job imagining struggle, it doesn't capture it as well as, say [a:C S Lewis|18307282|C S Lewis|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. The best way to describe it would to be to say that it is the Canadian version of [b:Christy|35879889|Christy|Catherine Marshall|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507060335s/35879889.jpg|3158544].



It was also sold to me (by someone who was very unclear) as a non-fiction memoir. I would say that there was little evidence of mountains of research so, to be safe, I'd call it a historical fiction. ( )

In the early 1900s, Katherine (Kathy) is sent to Calgary, Alberta to live with her uncle due to her health, where she meets RCMP Mike. Although Kathy is only 16, they get married and move further north – where there aren’t many white women, and life is much more primitive than Kathy is used to.

Apparently this is based on a real person – I only found that out by looking at a few other reviews. I listened to the audio, which wavered in and out on holding my attention (or not). It was ok. Some parts I liked, but overall, ok. Had a hard time with a couple of parts about injured animals. I’m not sure I particularly liked any of the characters. Except for one secondary character (due to the unusual name), I tended to get those secondary characters mixed up. One of the good things, though, were descriptions of hardships encountered: loss, fire... ( )

Loved this book when I read it as a high school freshman. Definitely worth a re-read as that is an embarrassing number of years ago..... ( )