The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie: A Novel

by Cecily Ross

Engrossing historical fiction for readers of Bride of New France and The Birth House about one of Canada’s most inimitable pioneers and her struggles to survive in the wilderness, brought beautifully to life in this accomplished debut Teetering on the edge of genteel poverty, Englishwoman Susanna Moodie agrees to leave behind her growing career as a writer to follow her husband from her beloved Suffolk to the backwoods of Canada. John Moodie is an ebullient man with a weakness for money-making schemes, and he is convinced that riches await them in the New World. It is the 1830s, and despite their dreams, Susanna is woefully unprepared for life in the wilderness. Susanna Moodie’s true story of hardship and survival in a log cabin deep in the bush is part of our national mythology. Now, respected writer and editor Cecily Ross gives us an unprecedented fictional portrait of Susanna—the sister, the wife, the mother, the writer—a woman confronting both the wilds of Canada and the wilderness of her own heart. Told through imagined lost diaries, the novel explores Susanna’s complex inner life from childhood through to the worst challenges of pioneering in a harsh and unforgiving landscape with her devoted but hapless and often absent spouse. Part love story, part coming-of-age narrative, this captivating novel brings to vivid life Moodie’s courage, wit and strength, as well as her moments of despair. The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie shows how one woman, against all odds and adversity, prevails and makes this savage and beautiful land her own.  

Genres: Historical Fiction, Canada, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, 19th Century

400 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2017

Reviews

[CanadianReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cecily Ross has written an accomplished, highly engaging novel in diary form about an iconic Canadian literary and historical figure. I read Susanna Moodie's Roughing It In The Bush years ago, as well as Margaret Atwood's collection of poems based on the experiences of this 19th-century English transplant to Canada, so I knew a bit about Moodie before beginning the book. Born in 1803 into a large, shabbily genteel family, Susanna Strickland aspired to literary greatness from at least the age of twelve, when this novel opens. Encouraged by a family friend, Mr. Harrell, the editor of a local paper, Susanna and three older sisters all began writing to assist with household expenses when their father died, leaving the family in rather desperate financial straits. Eventually Susanna found herself in London actively pursuing the literary life, involved tangentially in the anti-slavery movement, and apparently meeting the likes of Mary Shelley. (I had never heard of the connection with Shelley and suspect Ross has rather embellished this part of Susanna's real-life narrative.) Possessed of a passionate, even melodramatic nature, Susanna fell in love with John Dunbar Moodie, an apparently charming, but completely impractical dreamer. With few prospects in England, the two set off with their first-born to Upper Canada, where Susanna's younger brother Sam had settled some years before. Susanna's sister, Kate, married a friend of John Moodie's, the thin depressive Thomas Traill (who was even less equipped to deal with the wilderness than his ebullient friend, but who nevertheless also traveled with Kate to settle near what is now Peterborough, Ontario).

Ross's novel follows Susanna's life for 24 years, from the age of 12 to 36. The relationships, hardships, and seemingly endless pregnancies are covered, as well as the literary rivalry that existed between Susanna and her sister. At times, I'll admit, I wanted to shake Susanna for succumbing time and again not only to her husband's sexual advances (that invariably left her pregnant) but also to his "optimism"--which the reader (and eventually Susanna herself) recognizes to be little more than ridiculous schemes launched by an almost doltish gullibility. Although Ross's language occasionally sounds a bit too modern, her novel is a fine and rewarding one that is well worth the time.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about Susanna's life fascinates me. Life with her sisters, their relationships before and after she moved away, her journey to Upper Canada with her husband Moodie, Moodie's penchant for getting them further and further into debt. Unlike in "Roughing It in the Bush", we get to see some anger on Susanna's part about her husband's mistakes -and we see how they navigate this issue together. And I can't imagine having multiple children under the conditions that Susanna endures, sometimes stoically, sometimes not-so-stoically. And who can blame her?
It was also interesting to read about the attitudes toward the different classes/cultures in England versus the New World.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A personal account of what Susanna Moodie may have written in her diary, had she kept one in the backwoods of Canada. Ross takes historical fact and combines this with her own experience and imagination of what Moodie's inner world may have looked like. This is a wonderful tribute to Susanna Moodie and Canadian History.

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel about Susanna Moodie, the author of Roughing it in the Bush, and the sister of Catherine Parr Traill, author of The Backwoods of Canada and Agnes Strickland, author The Lives of the Queens of England. Through Susanna's fictional diaries, the Strickland sisters come alive as a literary family and the shock of Susanna's transition from poor English gentlewoman to homesteader in Upper Canada is conveyed through so many small details and discomforts. The complicated relationship between the grumpy Susanna and the cheerful Catherine is explored in detail and there is a strong sense of community as the hardships of backwoods life break down the social hierarchy and the differences between people of different backgrounds. The author weaves a lot of 1830s Canadian history into the fictional diaries including the cholera epidemics of 1832 and the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion. A very good read.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fantastic imagining of Susanna Moodie's life!

I like the care the author took at the end to provide detailed information about fact vs fiction - but for certain the life of Susanna Moodie and settling in the wilds of Canada when it was an uninhabitable nightmare was fascinating reading! Debt, threat of starvation, loneliness - so much that would have been unimaginable to me - force me to run screaming from this wild, godforsaken place.

Ross captures the time and voice wonderfully - the beginning was very Austen-esque and the despair and desperation Susanna surely must have felt in Canada was exceptionally told.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had found this before I read Sisters in the Wilderness (by Charlotte Gray). Ideally, I choose a nonfiction title to follow (and enhance) a work of historical fiction. Fortunately, this novel meshes well with my impressions of Susanna, but I think I would have preferred the company of her sister, Catharine. (I wonder why Ross chose to focus on Susanna.)

Strong-willed Susanna lived in the wrong century. She had to bend her will and her passions to the oppression (probably too strong a word) of her husband, a man who would be far too impetuous for me. Did he really make all financial decisions without talking them over with his wife?! Ach!!!

My main criticism: The first few years of this 'diary' are too well-crafted and too wise to have issued from the pen of an 11 or 12 year old girl. One example (p 13) should suffice. Here Susanna is writing about her sister Catharine.
At 13, she is a year and a half older than me and possessed of such a sunny disposition that when it is paired with my own stormy restlessness, we are as night is to day, as at odds as heaven and hell, and yet in our differences, we are like two sides of the same coin, forever conjoined in a single purpose.

There were a couple of sentences that I read with disbelief. This example is from page 221.
I am becoming very adept with a needle and can whip together a dress for myself or a child's pinafore in the time it takes to bake biscuits.

And then there are the sentences that sound likes ones that seem to fit Susanna.
p 343: Sometimes the most striking thing about getting older is not how much we change, but how little.

p 365: The words we have for sadness or love or fear cannot convey the nuances of these emotions, ...

And in the near future, I will once again read, Sisters in the Wilderness.

[Dodi Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this an honest portrayal or a work of fiction?
Definitely well written. I have read much of Susanna Moodie's works and have been fascinated by the portrayal of Moodie and Trail in Charlotte Gray's book, "sisters in the wildnerness"
This version of the story calls into doubt much of what I believed about the sisters...did the sisters get along with each other? was Moodie was less than enamored with her husband? It seems that the author has used the facts in Gray's biography as a starting point then embellished from there and that there is no new material or events depicted here. I struggle to understand what is known fact about Moodie and what the author has imagined.

[Rachel M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this shortly after watching Pioneer Quest: A Year in the Real West, which was an early 2000s documentary that followed two couples as they spent a year homesteading in the Canadian backwoods. It's an interesting and rare combination of two subjects that I love to read about - early Victorian England and pioneering/homesteading in North America.

I'd never heard of Susanna Moodie before, but her story is very interesting, in that she was one of three sisters who became relatively famous writers in 1830s England. The fact that she left England to homestead in the Canadian "bush" with her husband makes her story even more captivating.

Ross's writing makes Susanna believable, and I especially enjoyed how nuanced her family relationships were, showing the push and pull between love and frustration that is so true to life.

It can be easy to romanticize the idea of being a pioneer and working directly off the land, until I think about all the things I am used to that would be impossibilities - having convenient and direct food without having to go to all the hard work of harvesting and preparing it, even being in a place where you can just run off to a coffee shop to relax. Even by 1830s standards, it's amazing to think of all that Susanna and her family gave up to go and live off the land in Canada - cultivated land, for one, society that was established, hot baths or clean clothes. They even said goodbye to most of their family, knowing they would never see them again. I'm amazed by the sacrifices it would take to live this life.

[Maryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A work of imagination based on accurate accounts, this "memoir" is a must read for fans of Susanna Moodie. Since I had been fascinated her classic Roughing it in the Bush, and engrossed by the detail and feeling in Sisters in the Wilderness by Charolotte Gray I was ready to immerse in this journal. After a bit of a tedious account of her English beginnings I got hooked in her Canadian experience. I came away with renewed admiration for her determination and grit to survive through poverty and isolation, to bear and rear her children as best she could and to learn from and appreciate the beauty when circumstance allowed. I know she had an undying love for her dreamer and unrealistic husband - hard to understand when he left her for months with nothing. The book ends as she leaves the bush. It is sad to know that her life did not improve materially even in town and they were caught up in the political strife and social challenges of the times. I was very impressed that the author Cecily Ross was stimulated to write this after discovering a historical plaque north of Port Hope noting the remains of the cattle shed whereSusanna, her husband and young daughter spent their "iron winter" of 1832. Ms Ross and her 2 daughters read through Roughing it in the Bush during their stay nearby. Her fascination led to the creation of this book. A very worthwhile addition to the cannon on Susanna Moodie.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars may be pushing it a little, but I enjoyed the book more than some of my 3 star reviews. I had never heard of Susanna Moodie before reading this book, but she was a writer back in the 1800's who emigrated to Canada from England. She lived in the Peterborough and Belleville areas. This book is a fictionalized story of her time in England and then in Canada, told in diary form. While I really don't know what a diary written by a British woman from the 1800's would sound like, this had a very authentic feel to it. Life in rural Canada in the 1830's was nothing short of horrendous. It is really a wonder anyone survived. Susanna's husband was such a maddening person that I kept thinking "why doesn't she just leave this guy", but of course, she had no where to go and no way to get there plus multiple children to take care of. What a story; it made me so very glad I was born in THIS era. (Why not 5 stars? I felt there was too much time spent on the story before they got to Canada and there were dull bits in the book that could have been left out.)

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Susanna lived in England, a daughter of parents who had lost much of their wealth through her father’s death. She and her sisters who were poets and writers were able to earn some money through their publications to help the family survive. When Susanna fell in love with John Moodie, they married and immigrated to the Canadian backwoods during the 1830’s. Their struggle to survive meant many hardships, some so harsh it is difficult for us to imagine in our everyday lives. Susanna learned how to survive, sometimes barely coping in order to keep her family alive. This novel shows her wit, courage and determination as a mother and a wife. The story is based on Susanna’s account of her experiences in her book, “Roughing it in the Bush”. Also, Ross gleaned further information from other historians’ accounts. It made me appreciate how easy our lives are in modern day Canada.

[Hailey Van Dyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I grew up reading and being enchanted by the little house on the prairie books. I never lost my love for stories of life in the woods, in early America. This book took me back to being completely enchanted by a story of my countries past.. Something I haven't felt in a long time. I loved the realism, the romance, the hard told truth. Everything about this book checked all my boxes... My only wish is that it was longer. This book is a work of art... Cecily should be very proud... And I think Susanna would have been too!

[Joy Crysdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extremely well-written page-turner about an incredible and heroic woman, who lived a life in the Canadian bush in the 1800’s that none of us can really imagine. But Ross has done that for us, telling the dramatic story of real people, struggling with everything from the brutal elements, to cheats and ne’er do-wells, to their own human frailties . And at the core is a roller coaster love story. The author’s skillful story-telling brings to life a history, and a woman, we should all know about. Put it on your reading list for summer, or for any time.

[Kathy Hennessy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book didn't grip me. There's nothing bad about it, I just didn't have the urge to keep picking it up and instead felt that it was a chore. This may be due to my ignorance of Susanna Moodie - perhaps if I was already familiar with her story, this novel would have struck a chord with me. I will admit that the last third or so was more interesting to me, because I can certainly relate to Canadian winters.

[Basil Guinane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fictional account of Susanna Moodie's years in the wilds of Upper Canada in the 1830s and 1840s brings to life an iconic figure from Canadian history. Cecily Ross has brought Susanna Moodie to life and has provided insights on the thinking of this pioneer woman who managed to support her family in the face of adversity both through her labours and her writing. A book well worth reading.

[Virginia Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fictionalized account of the life of Susanna Moodie and her sister Katherine Parr Trail brings to vivid life the struggles of the early backwoods settlers in Upper Canada in the 1830's. Powerful reading and an excellent companion piece to Charlotte Grey's' non-fiction "Sisters in the Wilderness".

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ross' thorough research and attention to detail brings Moodie to life in an inescapably compelling narrative. Well-timed to match the Canada 150 celebrations, this (fictional) insight into the life of a remarkable woman and life in early Canada in general will inspire future research and reading.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cecily Ross writes Susanna Moodie as though she was an Austen heroine. It kind of works in the first half of the book, before her marriage. When the narrative shifts to Canada, it's a little harder to like Susanna, although it is easy to understand her sense of dislocation and loneliness.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written, completely engrossing novel of pioneer life in Ontario, about two hours from where I live. I will be looking for Susanna Moodie’s book, “Roughing it in the Bush”, to read and compare.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

The diaries are fictional, but the character Susanna Moodie was real. The author has constructed this fictional diary out of the writings of Susanna who was herself a published author in England and Canada. She followed her idealistic, cheerful, optimistic, naïve husband to Canada and left behind a genteel life in England, with no knowledge of the rough life she was to live in Canada. Her novel was a frank portrayal of life as a settler in 19th century Canada. This book, the diaries, imagines how she would have felt about her circumstances and presumes to describe her thoughts and daily activities.

There are some happy times, but by far the hardships prevail and this book can be hard to read. It gives us a vivid depiction of how the early settlers must have suffered. We hear of crafty, shifty individuals who took advantage of the early settlers' naivety - selling them land that was unsustainable, then repossessing for unpaid debt or buying it back cheaper than they originally sold it, and re-selling to another new settler.

My heart went out to Susanna, married to a dreamer whom she truly loved, but could not trust to make good financial decisions. Susanna longed to write, but had no time to do so. Both were ill-equipped mentally to be living in a crude home with a dirt floor, often with no money at all, crops that fail, isolation and loneliness, winter blizzards....everything you might expect of the pioneer life is described in this book.

I found the book dragged in the middle - not for lack of action, but for the sameness and awful reality of the life of deprivation they were living. The husband (Moody) was often away for months at a time, leaving Susanna and her small children alone with only one or 2 workers or neighbors to help with planting, harvesting, food preservation, etc. I read on, wanting their circumstances to improve, but with no hope in sight. Eventually they do leave their farm once Moody secures a well-paid position in Belleville, Ontario.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have never read Susanna Moodie’s signature work, Roughing It In the Bush, I still really enjoyed this semi-fictional spin-off novel. Cecily Ross reimagines Susanna’s experiences of emigrating from England to Canada in the 1830’s. She describes in vivid detail the terrible deprivations that she and her family experienced (four babies in six years!) living in the back country of Ontario, trying to clear land to establish a farm.

She infuses this fact-based story with a good deal of 21st century sensibility regarding Susanna’s feelings towards her sisters, her husband, and society’s attitudes towards women at that time. The diary format works very well for this. I feel a great deal of admiration for her that she was still able to write despite having to look after her children in sometimes appalling conditions and was often alone when her husband was away working. She had many poems and stories published and contributed to the family income when they were living in the depths of poverty.

Her reflections on her post-partum depressions and on her occasionally ambivalent attitude towards the tasks of raising children add a depth to the story which I found very satisfying.

Now I think I should read the original!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susanna Moodie was an historic figure who lived in what was called Upper Canada in the early 1800s. She arrived with her husband and child and suffered many hardships attempting to clear the forest and farm for a number of years until her husband was appointed sheriff and they moved to Belleville. This fictionalized version of her life was fascinating. She and her children lived very challenging lives, with her husband away traveling or serving in the militia, trying to clear land, plant and harvest. They often went hungry and lived in wretched conditions. This novelization of her life was fascinating.

[Nadine Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The novel is fictional but is based on the real life and experiences of Susanna Moodie, one of Canada’s most known and beloved pioneer. The diary gives great insight about Canadas harsh wilderness in the early 1800s when many came to the free world for a promise of good fortune. Much of the accounting is obtained from Charlotte Grays biography of Susanna and her sister Kate - “Sisters in the Wilderness”, both of whom were published authors earning pennies for their written experiences of a rough life in the backwoods. The novel was interesting yet gloomy and depressing. It was worth reading but I wished it was shorter or had more positives to share.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fictional account based on fact of the years Moodie spent in the bush of northern Ontario. A harrowing life of survival for the couple and their five children trying to keep one step ahead of starvation. John Moodie came from Melsetter in the Orkneys and spent 10 years in South Africa with other family members before coming back home (Britain) to find a wife. His plans to return to Africa changed to a new life in Canada. Since a cousin of mine is married to a South African Moodie descended from the original settlers out there this novel is of great interest.

[Mij Woodward · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this fictional account of a pioneer woman of Canada, Susanna Moodie, who emigrated there from England in the early 1800's and lived in the backcountry in Ontario for some years.

A couple of criticisms:
(1) The story begins when Susanna is eleven years old, and yet her diary reads like something written by a very educated and sophisticated adult woman.
(2) Susanna wrote poetry, so it might be plausible that her own diary would have a poetic style, but I found some of this hard to believe. Here is a sample, from an entry when she is writing about her young daughter's serious illness: "Her fever has broken, but still she is as weak as a minnow, her breath like the whisper of the sea on a still day, her skin the colour of sand." Having raised four boys, I remember times of worry when they were very sick, and I cannot picture writing in a diary using poetic phrases. My words would be few, (if any), and to the point, and then I'd get back to my child.

In spite of these criticisms, I am glad I read The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie, because i liked learning about some of the history of our neighbors to the north, and also just the details of what pioneers faced in their day to day lives.

[Billi-Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as part of the Sweetreads Monthly subscription box. I’d never heard of it before and probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, but I loved it so much. The eloquence with which the author wrote Susanna’s journal entries was so well done. It took me awhile to get use to the writing style and I wasn’t completely hooked until about 100 pages in. However, once I was captured, I couldn’t put it down. I love how the writing style changed as the story changed. It went from being somewhat poetic to more of a storytelling.

[Oakland · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I get older, I find that I am becoming increasingly crotchety in my book choices, but that was not a problem with The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie. Ingeniously plotted and beautifully written, this book held -- in fact, demanded -- my attention from start to finish. The characters are all powerfully presented, while the privations suffered by Moodie and her family were truly shocking (and yet she still found time to write!). That's compulsion for you. Alarming at times, the book also manages to be surprisingly funny. A great job all around.

[Susan Quenneville · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictional account of one of Canada’s prime authors, Susanna Moodie! I vividly remember reading her book “Roughing It In The Bush” many eons ago as a first year English Literature university student. Cecily Ross does a fine job of placing herself in Susanna’s mind, imagining her life early in England and then later, married to adventurer John Moodie who convinces her to settle in Canada as a pioneer. Captivating!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who read Roughing it in the Bush at University I later gained an interest in both the life of Catherine and Susanna who were pioneers for women coming to Canada. This fictional spin on Susanna Moodie's life is interesting and it compells me to pick up my copy of Sister of the Wilderness which is is the biography of the two sisters and Ross' inspiration for this story.

I love Canadian historical fiction and I am happy to have this one in my collection😊

[Kim(berly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fictional and historically accurate telling of Susanna Strickland's final years in England and her life as an immigrant to Upper Canada with her husband in the 1830s. Ross relies heavily on Moodie's "Roughing it in the Bush" and Charlotte Gray's "Sisters in the Wilderness" to create a credible and absorbing account of pioneer life in pre-Confedration Canada. Immensely enjoyable and beneficial to a better understanding of our history.