“Reading Nanaimo Girl is like enjoying a martini or three with Auntie Mame. The stories are colourful, global, boozy and just cheeky enough to make you envious — and at the same time a little concerned.” — Dana Gee, Vancouver Sun

Born in Nanaimo to a family of eccentrics, Prudence Emery was set up to do all the right things: she went to Crofton House private school for girls in Vancouver, attended the Trafalgar Day Ball, and was a debutante.

But she shattered family expectations when she took off for London to attend art school. There, living on an allowance from her father, she met and became fast friends with an astonishing array of people, and at the expense of her studies, she became a party girl.

After her father cautioned her that he would not pay for such a decadent lifestyle, she moved to Montreal and landed a job at Expo 67.

After this, she returned to London to work in the press office of the Savoy Hotel – back in the days when the Savoy was the home-away-from-home for the stars of stage and film, political figures, and royalty.

Realising that she would die of champagne consumption, she returned to Canada where she worked as a film publicist. Upon retirement, she moved to Victoria where she continues to live a life that is anything but prudent.

Prudence Emery worked as the press and public relations officer at the Savoy Hotel, and later as a publicist on more than a hundred film productions. She is also the author of the bestselling memoir Nanaimo Girl (Cormorant Books, 2020).

Both Prudence and the fictional protagonist, Priscilla Tempest, held the job as press secretary at the Savoy. When asked just how much they had in common, Prudence would answer, with a twinkle in her eye, that “there are things that Priscilla does that I would never do... and there are things I have done that Priscilla would never do. I will not say anything else.”

Emery died in Victoria BC, on April 14, 2024, at the age of 88.

Prudence Emery's profile page

“These are bleak times, for sure, so a memoir from someone who merrily defied expectations is welcome.”

NOW Magazine

“Memoirs, as with all forms of autobiography, are complicated animals, good ones even more so. Many historical accounts of a personal nature, written and verbal, tend to drift into “I went here, I saw this, I did that” – and in places, Nanaimo Girl is no different. What sets Pru’s entertaining stories apart, however, is that there are so many of them. The result is that I found myself asking, “Where’s she going now? What’s she doing? What happens next? And of course, that’s the perfect chemistry of a page-turner. The Beatles once sang: ‘Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play?’ And play she did. What a life!”

Randolph Eustace-Walden

"Full of fun and raucous tidbits about celebrity personalities, on-set moments, gaffers and gaffes, Emery gives a fascinating look into a life well-lived."

YAM, Victoria's Lifestyle Magazine

"There is no ‘blah, blah, blah’ in this book. Reading Nanaimo Girl is like enjoying a martini or three with Auntie Mame. The stories are colourful, global, boozy and just cheeky enough to make you envious — and at the same time a little concerned."

Vancouver Sun

“This breezy behind-the-scenes showbiz read is a reminder that even the brightest stars like to touch ground and get invited to play.”

Literary Review of Canada