I’ve recently read A Pilgrim Passing Through by Gloria V.  Phillips and Talking to the Dead by Bonnie Grove.

Lawrence Hill’s Book of Negroes is in progress though I must remember not to read this book at bedtime if I want to get some sleep.

Wait! I said that about Bonnie’s book too. It’s just that in Bonnie’s book, the voice Kate hears is so startling and unusual that I couldn’t put the book down.  Bonnie says that I’m only one of a number of people to whom she owes sleep.

Aminata, the central character in Hill’s book, endures much trauma, but she is sensitive and intelligent too. So I don’t spoil the story  for you, I’ll just say that it’s just a bit too much action and drama for bedtime reading for me.  I will finish reading the book, but I’ll be reading it in daytime hours.

Back to A Pilgrim Passing Through, I enjoyed this book immensely. It’s a combination of  history and romance, though the book is a work of fiction. The plot is strong and believable, its characters well developed, and even better, this book was a finalist in the Canadian Christian Writing Awards. It reminds me of another book on the same theme, Orphan at My Door by Jean Little.

Jean Little’s  Dear Canada book, Orphan at My Door: The Home Child Diary of Victoria Cope, is for children. The characters are  strong, the plot believable as she shows the difficulties and hardships of many child immigrants whom history as dubbed as Home Children.

Phillip’s book is fiction for adults but is drawn from the same historical period. A Pilgrim Passing Through begins with a young boy overhearing his father’s conversation. He leaves his family and his country for what he thinks will be an exciting adventure in Canada. He is one of the child immigrants, though not from a poor home like most of the children on ship with him. Read more here.  A sensitive story.