A Place to Call Home — Gabriele Wills

Set in the turbulent, formative years of Ontario, this compelling saga spans five decades and two generations. Barely surviving a disastrous journey on a cholera-ridden immigrant ship, Rowena O'Shaughnessy and her family settle in the primitive backwoods of Upper Canada in 1832. Her complex relationship with the wealthy and powerful Launston family leads to tragedy, and eventually to redemption. Their lives are played out against a rich tapestry of events - devastating plagues, doomed rebellions, mob uprisings, religious conflict, and political unrest. This is a tale of passionate people and stormy relationships, of unrequited and illicit love, of betrayals and revenge. It is a story of courage, and the undaunted human spirit that manages to survive and surmount appalling conditions and tragedies. It is a celebration of the achievements of the remarkable pioneers who carved thriving communities out of an inhospitable wilderness. A Place to Call Home is a novel about Canada, and its less civilized pioneer past.