Books in The Canadians series

In 1603 when Samuel de Champlain first sailed up the St. Lawrence River, he looked out over dense forests and fertile valleys and was able to see in his mind's eye a flourishing dominion where generations of French men and women could prosper in a self-sufficient society. For the next 30 years, Champlain worked tirelessly to realize his dream. He charted new territories; he established a settlement at Port Royal and befriended Native people to help him; and he brought permanent settlers to Quebec to build homes and farm the land. The story of Champlain is the story of the Father of New France and a life full of adventure, danger, luck, courage, and sheer determination.

In 1929, the Privy Council declared that women were persons, making it possible for Canadian women to be appointed to the Senate. Behind it all was Nellie McClung - lecturer, teacher, suffragist, temperance worker, legislator and writer. Considered a holy terror by some and a latter-day Joan of Arc by others, Nellie McClung fought tirelessly to make the world a better place for women and their children. Sowing the Seeds of Danny became an instant hit and its sequel, Second Chance, was published two years later, thus establishing Nellie McClung as one of the more popular writers of her day. Not content with writing alone, McClung wanted to get women out of the home and into the political arena. As a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Canadian Women's Press Club and Political Equality League, she dedicated her life to female suffrage. In 1916, after years of struggle, women in Manitoba were granted the right to vote. Nellie's political work, however, was far from over. She was elected a member of the Liberal Party in 1921; became the first woman on the Board of Governors of the CBC in 1936 and, in 1938, was appointed a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations. Historian Mary Lile Benham's vivid account of this feisty feminist brings to life Nellie's passion and her fierce determination to champion the rights of women.