Tess

by Jocelyn Reekie

The year is 1857. Twelve-year-old Tess Roy lives in Castle Dunroy, Scotland. Her life changes dramatically when her mother dies and a new landlord forces Tess and her father off the land they've farmed for generations. They are given passage to the New World aboard Borealis, a ship bound from Liverpool to Fort Victoria, Vancouver Island. Aboard ship, Tess meets girls her own age who are too poor to ride above deck and a nineteen-year-old Navy deserter turned Gold Rush prospector named Jock. Once she lands on Vancouver Island, Tess meets Chinese, black, and First Nations settlers and learns of the trade in women. She and her father struggle to make a new home in this strange, sometimes forbidding, and sometimes exotic world. Here is classic engagingly historical fiction by a talented writer who brings a fateful voyage across the ocean and the fascinating frontier of North America in the 1850s vividly to life.

293 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2003

About the author

A keen interest in all things to do with books has led me to explore every facet of making them. As an author, I've had fiction, creative non-fiction and articles published and have self-published several picture books. As an editor, I've worked with dozens of writers, including well-published authors and those just beginning their writing journeys. As a publisher, I established two presses to produce three anthologies that contain the work of over 60 writers and artists.

Life is a journey. Failures and challenges keep it interesting. Successes keep it joyful. Books provide a window to every aspect of life, and transport readers far beyond our own small place in the world. I am ever grateful I can indulge my passion for books!

Reviews

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was truly an excellent book. I enjoyed it very much. This book was well researched and didn't sugar-coat the way things were in the early days of British Columbia's history, specifically on Vancouver Island and in Victoria and Nanaimo.
I can't remember, for the life of me, where I picked up this book, only that it was locally at a book fair or craft fair. I hope I meet up with this author again so I can tell her in person how much I enjoyed her book. I'm a fan of BC history and this was just so so well done.
I'm off to look for more of this author's works.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent read. I did quite enjoy it, but I also expected it to go somewhere.

[Diana Stevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I loved about this book is the author's attention to detail about the times. I followed a young girl's passage from Castle Dunharbar, Scotland to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia in the mid-nineteenth century. I was fascinated by what she experienced on her voyage, not only by the people she encountered on the ship, but also with the conditions she endured. Tess is a feisty but lovable protagonist. Her difficulty with following the rules takes the reader on novel adventures, first on ship and then to a place where settlers and tribes like the Songhee and the Haida live side by side. Again, Jocelyn Reekie paints the place so vividly with her words, that you can see what Tess sees as she roams this new land. Highly recommended for both young adults and adults.