Homesteader woman faces series of struggles

If you’re looking for something Canadian to read that’s easy-going, uplifting and informative, Finding Flora might be just the book for you.

Elinor Florence now hails from Invermere, B.C.; she grew up on a Saskatchewan farm, worked for newspapers across the West and for Reader’s Digest Canada for eight years. She has written two previous novels, the bestselling Bird’s Eye View and the award-winning Wildwood.

Finding Flora is a fine work of historical fiction set in Alberta in the early 1900s. At that time the government was attempting to attract new settlers to farm the bare, wide open prairies.

On the run from an abusive husband, Flora jumps from a train. Although she is as poor as a church mouse, Flora manages to purchase a scrip coupon from a kind lady entitling her to 320 acres of unfarmed land.

Some of the men look on with disapproval as she chooses land east of Lacombe, Alta. — a far cry from her poor Scottish birthplace, the home she was destined for.

Flora loves the Alberta prairie and is thrilled by the prospect of farming the land and having a home of her own. In order to keep the land, the homesteaders must farm it and adhere to strict instructions or face expropriation.

Her closest neighbour is a tiny young widow with three children. Flora is soon surprised to find she has three other neighbours — two older American women who are living in a beautiful house, and an aloof Métis woman who trains wild horses.

Slowly the women become friends — and it’s a good thing. There are so many hurdles Flora must face as she attempts to do what seems impossible.

First and foremost, she is a woman in a time and place that is not kind to females, especially independent ones. Secondly, she lives in constant fear that her abusive husband is hot on her trail.

Flora doesn’t know how to farm, and some of the men in the area are more than happy to see her fail. A few, amazingly, are eager to help. The harsh climate, meanwhile, throws another wrench into the works.

Thankfully the women help when they can, and a fiercely, cantankerous giant of a man has a change of heart.

Florence interestingly manages to incorporate the struggles women went through at that time, when they did not have the vote and were not expected to be landowners.

Some real-life historical figures are woven into the story, including Irene Parlby of the “Famous Five” group of prominent Canadian suffragettes and Frank Oliver, a Canadian federal politician.

Florence uses uncomplicated language, making the novel a quick read. There’s some description of the landscape, but for those who aren’t overly fond of that, not so much that it becomes boring.

Finding Flora is reminiscent of Genevieve Graham’s historical novels that focus strongly on Canadian history. And there are enough obstacles and events to keep the reader hooked in this ultimately uplifting story of courage, strength and friendship.

Cheryl Girard is a prairie writer.