The Goat Lady's Daughter

by Rosella M. Leslie

Florrie and Mag Larson live off the land in a rustic cabin on the edge of British Columbia’s coastal society. When the eccentric sisters unintentionally adopt an abandoned baby girl, their world is turned upside down.

Content in her role as homemaker, Florrie embraces this unexpected gift of motherhood, but cynical Mag is a reluctant parent at best. Baby Jen grows up caught between her new parents’ wilderness lifestyle and modern life in the small community of Sechelt, struggling to figure out where she fits in.

But when tragedy strikes, the reality of these conflicting lifestyles comes crashing down around them. "The Goat Lady’s Daughter" is a tale of indomitable spirit and of a way of life that once was common on British Columbia’s coast.

Genres: Fiction

214 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2006

About the author

Although I was born in Edmonton my childhood was spent in small towns of central Alberta, north central British Columbia, the Fraser Valley and the Sunshine Coast.In 1967 I graduated from Elphinstone Senior Secondary School in Gibsons, BC. Post secondary education included training as a Medical Records Technician.

Having decided to make writing the focus of my life, in the fall of 1980 I moved into a rent-free floathouse at Clowhom Falls, a small settlement 25 miles by boat from Sechelt,BC. There I began plunking out stories on an ancient Remington manual typewriter. Since then I have attended writing festivals, workshops with Ian Slater and Daniel Wood, and on-going tutorials with Betty C. Keller and the Quintessential Writing Group.


In 1986 I won the BC Writer's Federation, Best of BC Writing Competiton. My feature articles and fictional stories have been published in Western People Magazine Fiction, The Leader, Alive Magazine and Coast News Weekender.> I am a co-author with Betty Keller of , and (Horsdal & Schubart, 1996), for which we won third prize in the 1997 BC Historical Writing Competition. In 2005 I was also a co-author of (Harbour Publishing),which won the Roderick Haig Brown Regional Prize. A year later I published my first novel, (NeWest Press).

Today I live on the Sunshine Coast where I write, hike, garden, and fish the local inlets with my husband, John, and sometimes with my son, Nathan.

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Self-sufficient, isolated in their bush cabin, the no nonsense sisters were the last people one would expect to take in an abandoned baby. That they did and that RML has documented the wonderful result gives us this endearing and unusual love story.

This book takes place in these parts, just after settlement, which made it doubly fun for me to read

[Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

So west coast!!
Maybe one reason that I enjoyed this book so much is my own west coast connection.
Hard living..lots of common sense..relying on oneself first..but..having another person to help and care for makes a person think differently about survival.
What a great story...
Thank you Rosella Leslie.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most would give this 3 stars but I was taken with the characterisation and the amazing sense of place in British Columbia. I really enjoyed it but I’m aware it would interest those who are interested in the lives of Canadians living with difficult climatic conditions. If you have been to BC in Canada, then you would enjoy.

[Shadoh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet and predictable.

[Jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Arrowstone Book Club Selection