Benedict Freedman (1919–2012)

In the early 1900s, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary moves to Canada to live with her uncle, hoping that the air will help her pleurisy. She meets Sergeant Mike Flannigan, a Mountie. He makes her mad with her teasing, but as she confides in her new friend, Mildred, "he has eyes so blue you could swim in them." When they marry, duty calls him to the North, where there are few white women and being a Mountie isn't so much being a policeman as it is peacemaker and doctor.

This was a sweet, sad, show more but hopeful tale. I enjoyed Kathy and Mike and their growing relationship as the years pass and they go through various experiences in their married lives. Having just read The Egypt Game and The Summer of My German Soldier, I couldn't help but notice how this book from the 1940s dealt with race. "Mrs. Mike" lives in a territory where there are primarily trappers and Indian women, and her opinions include historically accurate generalizations, such as when she wonders about introducing strikes to the Indian women, but concludes that they're "savages and wouldn't understand." Yet the portrayal of some of the individual characters, especially when compared to some of their white counterparts, give a much more nuanced picture. Though Kathy's spoken opinions never say as much, one can see a difference in the way she responds to characters in given situations as she continues to live and work with Indians and half-Indians. This is a story I would definitely read again, and I'm going to look for the sequels as well. show less

A sequel to the popular Mrs Mike, this work of historical fiction is set primarily during World War II, and follows the career of a young Cree woman – Kathy (a/k/a/ Oh-Be-Joyful’s Daughter) – as she becomes an Army nurse and finds love and her place in the world.

I really liked Kathy Forquet as a heroine. Born to Cree parents, she was raised by a white family – Kathy “Mrs Mike” Flanigan is her adoptive mother. Because of her “white upbringing,” she has the advantages of an show more education that many other First Nation children don’t have, but she is keenly aware that she doesn’t fit in. Still, when WW 2 breaks out, she gathers her courage and heads out on her own to the big city of Montreal and nursing school. Throughout the book she struggles to balance the values she’s been taught, against the temptations she encounters. To find her true identity as a Cree Woman, an Army Nurse, and a Canadian. She remains open to new experiences. She develops a strong friendship with her roommate, a selfish and flighty (if wealthy and well-connected) girl. She finds love – twice; suffers heartbreak; finds courage and tenacity under attack.

In some situations, her status as a First Nation or aboriginal person all but disappears. But in this time period, it is seldom completely set aside. At times she finds herself ill prepared to face the subtle prejudices that are always present. And yet … she has a steel spine, standing up to bullies and insisting on doing the right thing, even if it means losing a friend.

The authors are not First Nation people, and there’s little information about how they came to write this story. I’m skeptical about the truth of what they write, and still I’m drawn into the novel. It’s an inspiring and hopeful story. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet, heartfelt story of 16 year old Katherine Mary O'Fallon, who travels for health reasons from Boston to Calgary in 1907 to live with her uncle. "Up till 1905 Alberta had been part of the Great Northwest Territory, and it gave me a real thrill to go to a place that had been officially civilized for only two years." There, she meets and marries Sergeant Mike Flannigan, and the two of them travel by canoe and dog-pulled sled to remote Northwest outposts of the show more vast region Mike serves as the beloved Mountie -- which at such a time also means doctor, community liaison, judge, and provider. Their life together in the rugged, harsh, lonely and unspoiled wilderness is one of love and loss, community and isolation, wonder and heartbreak, cruelty and kindness. As I read the book, which was published in 1947, it seemed to me like a Canadian Little House book for young adults. I was touched to read internet reviewers' accounts of the book -- many said it was the book that made them fall in love with reading (and Sergeant Mike), their favorite book from childhood, or the one they read so often it literally fell apart. I wish I had read it at a young age, but I'm so glad I read it now! show less

There is something so satisfying about reading a really good love story. The trouble is that there are so few really good stories out there! I don't want just mush; I don't want steamy sex scenes; I don't want 'inspirational' muck. I want great characters; I want a struggle somewhere; I want an amazing conclusion that makes me want to shout. Is that too much to ask?

Yes. Most of the time. But this book delivered all of that and more. It gave me a great setting so real that I would recognize show more it if I saw it. It gave me great secondary characters. It made me cry. It offered some real drama and excitement.

If you have, like me, somehow overlooked this story of Katherine Mary, formerly of Boston, and Sergeant Mike Flanagan of the RCMP, and if you want a really good love story, then race to the nearest library or bookstore and pick this one up. You will be glad you did. show less