The Mill Girls: The Newfoundland women who transformed Canada’s industrial heartland

by Heather Barrett, Nicole Smith

Join Bernadine Stapleton and Nicole Smith on an extraordinary journey as they uncover the mystery of the Mill Girls. Using humour, heartwarming tales, and dramatic stories, to illuminate the 1940’s exodus of young single women from the then country of Newfoundland to Cambridge, an industrial city in Ontario. The Mill Girls invaded Canada like a tidal wave, transforming the demographics, culture and economics of an entire region, and launching a feminist offensive before the word itself existed. Who were they? Why did they leave Newfoundland? And why did their stories vanish? This new book reads like a whodunnit, with heaping doses of comedy, inspiration, and a rescue beagle named Georgie Girl.

220 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2025

Reviews

[Gayle Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heather Barrett brought the history of woman who immigrated from Newfoundland to Hespeler Ontario in the 1940s to life in such an intriguing way! As soon as the nicer weather comes, I will walk downtown Hespeler with new eyes.