Pierce: Six Prairie Lives will appeal to anyone with an interest in Canadiana, Prairie heritage, and rural and urban Alberta life. This narrative and photographic biography weaves a story of courtship, agriculture, weather, politics, family, money, health, school. Filled with photographs, letters, journals, and interviews, the narrative starts by establishing the social and cultural milieu of early twentieth-century Alberta and then proceeds to explore the lives of each individual in the Pierce family, M. Adele Moore Pierce, A. Craig Pierce, and their four daughters, Laura, Henrietta, Lucy, and Mary.

Craig’s journals are harvested for a wealth of information on practical aspects of Alberta agriculture, as well as domestic life and provincial and federal politics. In terms of family biography, the accounts are personal and engaging and touch subjects ranging across the spectrum of daily life in Alberta. The author deftly manages the multiplicity of voices, clearly shaping the personalities and interests of her six subjects, weaving all the various threads together with her singular wit and insider perspective to create a charming and informed contribution to the understanding of prairie life.

A. Mary Murphy is a lifelong writer whose doctoral work was in life writing. She teaches postsecondary classes in literature and film, leads travel study trips to Ireland, and has a freelance writing, editing, and mentoring business. While I was teaching creative writing in Winnipeg, my first book of poetry was published (Shattered Fanatics in 2007 from BuschekBooks). An edited version of my doctoral dissertation was published (Pierce: Six Prairie Lives in 2010 from Detselig). Her poetry has been published in numerous journals across Canada, the United States, France, Wales, New Zealand including the Antigonish Review, the Dalhousie Review, The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature, Descant, Canadian Literature and Grain.

A. Mary Murphy's profile page