More Than a Footnote: Canadian Women You Should Know

by Karin Wells

“We have told only half the stories of how our world was shaped.”

There are women throughout Canada’s history who when faced with a locked door, have looked for a key—or a battering ram. Award-winning writer Karin Wells tells the stories of women like the fierce and iconoclastic Mina Benson Hubbard, who finished the mission to map northern Labrador that had killed her explorer husband, and Vera Peters, MD, who revolutionized treatments for Hodgkins lymphoma and breast cancer. Or the painter Paraskeva Clark, child of the Bolshevik Revolution, who rattled staid Toronto when she took Norman Bethune as a lover and spoke out for art as a tool of social change. And have you heard of Charlotte Small, a Métis woman who canoed and trekked 42,000 km—more than three times further than the American explorers Lewis and Clark—and had five babies along the way?

Some were outrageous, some were unassuming, most were not polite, but they all ignored the voices that said women could not paddle a canoe, program a computer, understand the universe, or cure a disease. They lived big lives—often at great cost—and they made a difference.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

328 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2022

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the 10 women Karin Wells writes about in this book. Her subjects are not at all well known and each broke through their version of a glass ceiling often overcoming insurmountable challenges. I’m giving the book a 3.5 rating as I found the addition of information about other women in the stories a bit distracting. I think Ms. Wells had a hard time limiting herself to the 10 women she profiled and looked to find ways she could incorporate snippets about other amazingly accomplished women within these stories. I found it a little jarring as it felt like these bits had been shoehorned into the narrative.

[Joanne Culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Award-winning CBC radio documentarian Karin Wells shines a light on under-recognized women from the past who were far ahead of their time: physicist Allie Douglas, cellist Zara Nelsova, Labrador explorer Mina Hubbard, Metis adventurers Charlotte Small, Louisa and Nancy Mackenzie and more. Wells' profiles bring to life these accomplished women in engaging stories that show their ambition and bravery.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really illuminating read about some amazing women who are part of Canadian history but are skipped over in history class. Wells does a great job of telling these ladies' stories in a way that is engaging, detailed but not too lengthy or esoteric.

[Mary-Esther Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are women who succeeded despite the times and mores they lived through. A very absorbing read.

[Tgandco2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for my daughter but read and loved it. Well written, interesting, almost a page turner about Canadian women you have heard very little about. Definitely worth reading

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overall. There were some connections between the women that felt tenuous and like the author was trying too hard to unnecessarily weave all of the stories together.