First published in 1985, this volume of letters follows Susanna Moodie from her Suffolk girlhood and her experience as an aspiring young writer in London, through her emigration to Upper Canada and five decades of Canadian life. The letters provide a sense of Moodie's literary accomplishments before her emigration, the long, uncertain struggle to develop her career as a writer in the colony, and the brief but intense period of literary activity during which her books were published in Britain and the U.S.

Susanna Moodie (1803-1885) was the youngest of the scribbling Strickland sisters. After marrying John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie in 1831, she immigrated to the backwoods of Upper Canada where she raised a large family and wrote old-world novels and autobiographical accounts of her settlement. She is a landmark of early Canadian literature who has influenced great authors such as Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields.

Susanna Moodie's profile page

Carl Ballstadt is a member of the Department of English at McMaster University.

Carl Ballstadt's profile page

Elizabeth Hopkins is a member of the English Department at Glendon College, York University.

Elizabeth Hopkins' profile page

Michael Peterman is professor emeritus and past Chairman of the Department of English, Trent University. He is a co-editor of Susanna Moodie: Letters of a Lifetime and Letters of Love and Duty: The Correspondence of Susanna and John Moodie.

Michael Peterman's profile page

'A crucially important book in Canadian literary history. It is also good reading.'

Books in Canada

'A fascinating portrait.'

Quill & Quire

'A profoundly revealing picture of this complex and fascinating personality.'

Canadian Historical Review

'The humanity and vision of Susanna Moodie emerge clearly from this book. Letters of a Lifetime also captures the mind, soul, and being of a person seemingly outside the conventional historical process...Seldom are books about men as informative, moving, and enjoyable as this book which at long last reveals the true face of Susanna Moodie.'

Canadian Historical Review