 |
| Rilla of Ingleside |
At the 2017 Durham at War Conference, mention was made by a couple of speakers about coincidences. I have just come across what must have been the very first coincidence that linked me to Canada and the First World War, thanks to a film on TV.
As a young girl I was an avid reader and I remember reading my way through the Anne of Green Gables books by LM Montgomery. Did I pay any attention to the fact that they were set in Canada? Probably not, but I would have been aware that it was rather a different background than Enid Blyton’s England.
What I certainly wasn’t aware of at the time, was that the eighth book in the series, Rilla of Ingleside, about Anne’s daughter, is the only Canadian novel written from a woman's perspective about the First World War by someone who had lived through that period. It is about boys who go off to fight in Europe with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (A phrase I will not easily forget).
Maybe it was the reminder of that book that made me jump at the chance of working on the Durham born Canadians rather than Australians, when Jo offered me a choice. I never did enjoy Picnic at Hanging Rock!
No comments:
Post a Comment