Marie-Claire: A Season of Sorrow (Our Canadian Girl) [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014331209X
• ISBN-13: 978-0143312093
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,147,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The clue that Kathy Stinson has enjoyed a lifelong love of reading is in the wide range of books she has written. "What you read," she says, "influences what you write. And so does the day to day life that you live."

That's why Kathy's characters ride bikes along dirt paths, fall in love in summer, argue and have cozy chats with parents and friends, sometimes have trouble sleeping, and walk on beaches and city streets.

Kathy says, "It's also fun, as a writer, to imagine yourself into situations unlike your own." That's what she did when she wrote about Marie-Claire living through a smallpox epidemic in Montreal in 1885, and Mr. Elliot deciding as a grandfather that it's time he learned to read.

Kathy sorted mail, waited tables, and taught school before finally figuring out what she really wanted to do was write - everything from picture books to young adult novels, from biography to historical fiction. Readers never know what kind of book to expect from her next!

Kathy has served as Writer-in-Residence for several library systems in southern Ontario and has led writing workshops all across Canada.

Kathy is the mother of two grown children, who inspired some of her earliest books. She also has two grown stepdaughters and five grandchildren. If she's out buying them a present, chances are it's in a bookstore she'll be shopping. Of course!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good historical novel for young girls., July 29, 2005

By 

Rebecca Herman (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marie-Claire: A Season of Sorrow (Our Canadian Girl) (Paperback)

This book is the second about Marie-Claire, a young girl from 1880s Montreal, in the Our Canadian Girl series. The Our Canadian girl books are about young fictional Canadian girls during different periods in history.

The year is 1885 in Montreal. Ten-year-old Marie-Claire thinks life may finally be back to normal again. After months spent at home helping her mother when her father was injured and unable to work, she is finally able to return to school. But life becomes difficult again for the family when a smallpox epidemic spreads through the city. Marie-Claire and her family must struggle to cope with even more tragedy in their lives when Marie-Claire's younger sister becomes ill with smallpox.

Young girls who enjoy historical novels and who read the first book about Marie-Claire, Dark Spring, are sure to enjoy this book as well and will be eager to read the final two books about her. I really enjoyed the historical setting in particular as it was very unique to me.