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|   Kathy StinsonThe author of Marie-Claire: Dark Spring has penned eighteen books and won numerous awards for her work. Why did Kathy Stinson choose such a bitter chapter in the history of la belle province? Q: Why did you decide to write about Montreal in the 1880s? KS: Reading a book called Plague by Michael Bliss, I was struck by what an incredibly interesting place the Montreal of 1885 must have been. The focus of Bliss's book was the smallpox epidemic of that year from the perspective of various adults, but I wondered what it would be like to be a child then. Then I heard that Penguin was doing a series of books about Canadian girls at different times and places through history. They accepted my proposal and my research into Montreal in the 1880s began in earnest. Q: What kind of research did you do to find out about the world Marie-Claire lived in? KS: I read lots of books from public libraries in Guelph, Toronto and Montreal, visited various museums and historical sites in Montreal, and spoke with people familiar with Montreal's present and past. Q: What do you think was most different about life in that time? KS: I could say something about the scarcity of telephones and indoor plumbing, about technology only beginning to play a role in people's daily lives, or about the slow speed of transportation and communication, infant mortality rates, or women's role in society, but I hope readers can read my book and come to their own conclusions about how life was different (and similar) then and now. Q: Do you think that Marie-Claire would be a very different person if she were alive today? KS: The externals of Marie-Claire's life would look very different, but there are girls like her throughout history, who love their families and friends, who pitch in to help when help is needed, and who get angry and say things they regret. Q: Would you want to go back and live in that time yourself? KS: Had I been born in the late nineteenth century, I'm sure I'd have been very happy to have been alive then, but as someone born in the middle of the twentieth century, I am satisfied to visit other times through good books. |
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