The Group Settler's Wife
Imaginary settlers, Maggie Spencer, her husband Bill and their two children, go out there from England with a group of other settlers, who must clear the land of trees and make their farms from scratch. They were settled in groups to help one another. It was back-breaking work, bringing both joys and sorrows
This is a novella (only 57 pages long) written as part of a project by the people of Northcliffe to set up a Sculpture and Arts walk as a tourist attraction. It has a limited print run of only 500 copies.
It was fascinating researching the history and finding out what life would be like for those settlers - very different from life in England. The story especially focuses on Maggie, who is an imaginary person but who is, I hope, representative of the strong women who helped found the town.
This book is now out of print, but the story has been included in the collection of Anna's short stories called 'Short and Sweet'. This is still in print and you can order it from your local bookshop, or buy on line. It is also available as an ebook.
You can obtain paper copies or ebooks from
The Book Depository
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
and from other online stores.