Research

In No Ocean Too Wide and No Journey Too Far, I focused on the heart-wrenching child emigration scheme that took more than 100,000 poor and orphaned children from England to Canada from 1869 – 1939. I chose to tell this story through the experiences of the fictional McAlister family, but I wove in many actual accounts given by British Home Children. The idea for the story was sparked by a Facebook post from the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association Group. I joined that group and began reading about the children’s experiences and watching video interviews of the few who are still living. I knew I wanted to tell their story and make sure British Home Children were remembered and honored.

I read some wonderful books to give me background information for this story including, The Golden Bridge by Marjorie Kohli; Nation Builders – Barnardo Children in Canada by Gail H. Corbett; The Little Immigrants – The Orphans Who Came to Canada by Kenneth Bagnell; Promises of Home – Stories of Canada’s British Home Children by Rose McCormick Brandon; and Labouring Children- British Immigrant Apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924 by Joy Parr. Pinterest and Google were also a great help to see images of the areas where the story is set and learn more about British Home Children. You can see the characters and setting on my Pinterest Board for No Journey Too Far at this link, and  No Ocean Too Wide by clicking this link.