Charlotte Gray (1) (1948–)

Terrific insight into Bell's life, the race for the telecommunication advantage by competing companies in the US and Europe, and the fascinating story of how inventions spring from the mind of oddball, slightly mad individuals. Not a book I would have picked, but one I really enjoyed reading. Author did tons of research, and used original letters as primary sources, from which she uses quotes and paraphrases to create a narrative style that makes the biography read like a novel. The other show more thing that caught me about this book is the parallel to our current day, regarding, i.e. iPhone vs Android phone, the competition for the edge in mobile and communication technology and its hardware (and software). show less

As an American who grew up in Michigan with Canadian roots on my Dad's side (with Canadian cousins still in the Toronto area), and with a husband who also has family in Canada, I've always been a little more interested in Canada and her history than perhaps most Americans. So, at the airport on the way out of Canada on a trip in 2018 I picked this book up and added it to my large pile of "to be read" books, which I'm only now starting to make a dent in. It was written to coincide with the show more 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation by Charlotte Gray - "one of Canada's pre-eminent biographers and historians" (according to the cover bio).

Charlotte Gray's way into telling the story of the Promise of Canada is through biographies of people she feels most embody what it means to be Canadian, or who most helped to inspire or help build the things that bind Canadians together. I really enjoyed this book and found the author's style very readable. It's not a dry history or an academic excursion - it's a set of stories about Canada from an immigrant writer who clearly loves to tell stories. I found that I knew of (i.e., had heard of) many of the people she writes about, but loved the way she fleshed them out. Emily Carr and Bertha Wilson were two I'd not heard of before. Now, I think I'm in love with Carr's work - I can see why she's called the Canadian Georgia O'Keefe. And the story around Bertha Wilson and her role as the first woman on Canada's Supreme Court was very interesting. I didn't understand that Canada's Supreme Court didn't really function as the last word on Canadian law until 1982. It really drives home what a young country Canada is.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in Canada. show less

Via a review in my local newspaper, the non-fiction book, Gold Diggers: Striking it Rich in the Klondike caught my attention. I had never read a book about the Klondike Gold Rush, and through this book I learned so much.
Despite being a non-fiction book- index, bibliography, sources and all –this book reads like an enthralling novel. Author Charlotte Gray draws on personal letters, diaries, books and poems written by both the well known and the lesser known people that populated the show more Klondike at that time in history.
So many intriguing characters populate the book, to say nothing of the varied and fascinating events that unfold in the Klondike. Among the first to make the difficult journey to the Klondike is Bill Haskell, a rough and tumble character seeking fortune and adventure. Father William Judge, a Jesuit priest goes about his business of attempting to save souls, as well as building a hospital for this rough and ready town and helping others in a practical manner as he is able. Initially he is as close to the areas doctor as they have available. Father Judge is anything but judgmental, and is immune to gold fever or riches. He is well loved and celebrated by his fellow Klondikers. Belinda Mulrooney is an astute, prim young businesswoman far ahead of her time, building a small empire of hotels and businesses in the Yukon town. Author Charlotte Gray tells the story of the celebrated Klondike author Jack London with the ability that only the passage of time, access to his diaries and research can bring. Likewise I got to know the stern Mountie, Sam Steele in an intimate look into letters written to his wife, as well as through his diaries and the actions of the Canadian Government at the time.
The stories of each of the main characters are both separate and interwoven along together with many other lesser characters that make up the Klondike. Charlotte Gray has thoroughly researched the characters and events both before and after the Gold Rush to create a wonderful, detailed overview. She touches on so many historical details and physical details of the area that I feel like I have experienced the Klondike Gold Rush personally.
This non –fiction book reads like an exciting novel, and I truly hope others will be encouraged to read this lively, colourful and informative piece of Canadian history. show less

This is a story about a murder and trial that occurred here in Toronto in 1915. An 18-year-old British maid shot and killed her employer, because he had been sexually harassing her (though that language wasn't yet coined back then). Bert Massey was from a famous and wealthy Canadian family, and this should have and could have been an easy open-and-shut case. But it wasn't. It was a highly sensational trial and there were many sub-plots behind it. But almost as soon as it was over, Carrie show more Davies was quickly forgotten and faded into obscurity as the war took over the headlines. I thought it was very poignant that when a Toronto Star journalist, Frank Jones (I recognized his name!) went looking to speak to Carrie's daughter, in the 1980s, decades after Carrie's death, he was astounded to discover that she knew nothing of her mother's past. Carrie had never told her family about it.

In the preface, author Charlotte Gray wrote, referencing her previous books:

"I was able to understand my subjects from the inside, because he or she had left personal papers in which I could read what they thought and hear their voice. Yet after finishing each one of these books, I found myself wondering about forgotten lives, the long-dead individuals who left no record behind them. What happens to anonymous, powerless individuals who are swept up by events and currents completely beyond their control?"

Gray also listed the sources she used to reconstruct this story since Carrie herself left nothing, no letters, journals or diaries. show less