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History Pre-confederation (to 1867)

Voyages of Hope

The Saga of the Bride-Ships

by (author) Peter Johnson

Publisher
TouchWood Editions
Initial publish date
Jul 2011
Category
Pre-Confederation (to 1867)
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780920663790
    Publish Date
    Sep 2002
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926971469
    Publish Date
    Jul 2011
    List Price
    $9.99

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Description

A line of nervous young women got off a ship in Victoria Harbour in 1862 and had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of jostling, eager men. One girl, proposed to on the spot, accepted equally quickly and left town with her new husband. Why did these women leave everything behind in England and come to the west coast? The answers lie in the lusty turmoil of a gold-rush frontier, the horrible disruptions of industrial England and the conflicting aims of earnest Christians and early British feminists.

About the author

Peter Johnson has taught history, English, and creative writing in high schools and colleges in Canada for over thirty-five years. He has written several books on BC maritime history, including Glyphs and Gallows: The Rock Art of Clo-oose and the Wreck of the John Bright; Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships; Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872–1959; and, with John Walls, To the Lighthouse: An Explorer’s Guide to the Island Lighthouses of Southwestern BC. He has also written and directed a documentary film on Lake Winnipeg, which was shown on CBC television, and published interpretive articles on Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and George Orwell’s 1984. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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