Downsizing the news Book

Catherine Parr Strickland was an experienced writer who first work was published in 1818; her writing helped to support herself and her family financially after her father's death. She married half-pay Lieutenant Thomas Traill and emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832 to homestead in the bush. Her sister Susanna, married to Traill's friend, also emigrated to Upper Canada in 1832 to homestead. They both wrote books about their experiences.

The Backwoods of Canada is in epistolary form, and was written from letters and journals which she edited to form a guide to homesteading in Upper Canada. Her attitude throughout is a keen interest in her changing surroundings. She was particularly interested in nature, and this may have helped her bear better with the tribulations of homesteading. I suspect that a can-do attitude helped to sustain her and her family. Her book describes life in the bush through the seasons, relations between the British and American settlers and First Nations, and her observations of local plants and animals.

From reading her book and her sister's book, I believe that I would have much preferred Catherine over Susanna as an acquaintance or as an associate in any endeavor.