Our Canadian Girl

Budge Wilson

Why did you decide to write about Nova Scotia's south shore in WWII?

This is a double-barrelled question. I chose to set Izzie in a fishing village because I live in one and know a lot about what goes on in a typical coastal village -- the things kids like to do, what the boats and houses look like, what people enjoy, what they worry about.

The period I chose was determined by the fact that I was alive during World War II and remember vividly what it was like in those years. It was a difficult time, with lots of fear and danger and tragedy, but it was also a very interesting time to be alive.

What kind of research did you do to find out about the world Izzie lived in?

I didn't have to do a great deal of research about Izzie's world, because a lot of the facts I used were embedded in my memory. We bought our own house in our fishing village -- North West Cove -- in 1954. That wasn't a long time after the war ended, so many things were the same as they would have been between 1939 and 1945. There was no electricity, and therefore no running water, no TV, no electric lights, no refrigerator, no washing machines.

However, there were some things I didn't know for sure about wartime in a fishing village so I spent several interesting afternoons talking to a woman who had been a young wife at that time, Gladys Meisner. She still has a memory that is as sharp as a tack and she told me many amazing stories about those war years.

What do you think was most different about life in that time?

I think there were two main tings that were different about those days. One was the lack of electricity in many fishing villages. The other was the way people knew how to make their own fun. Many people could play guitars, accordions, harmonicas, fiddles. They didn't wait for a party to make their music. They did it on their front verandahs, their back stoops, or around the kitchen stove in wintertime. People sang and danced and did a lot of talking. They told stories and traded tales about oldentimes, dangerous experiences, funny events. And the kids often stayed around with the adults and listened.

Do you think that Izzie would be a very different person if she were alive today?

If Izzie lived today, she would certainly have a different sort of life. Much of it would be easier, because she'd be required to do less work. She'd go to a big school on a bus and meet and know many more people. But inside her skin, inside her head, I think she'd be the same person -- imaginative, energetic, a bit bossy, confident, sometimes impatient. I lived at that time, and I live in this time and I'm still the same person!

Would you want to live in that time again yourself?

I wouldn't want to back in those war years, with so much suffering and death. But apart from the war, I would be happy to be back in that time. I loved all the dancing and singing we did, and the way the days seemed longer and more free. We all worked hard in those days, but there still seemed to be time for talking with friends and standing on the wharf to admire the view.