Coming of age in the changing times of the mid-19th century.

Emma Field has dreams and desires that call her to go beyond her father’s struggle to survive as an immigrant in Canada in the 1840s. With the love of a few peculiar people and her own courage, she takes her first tentative steps toward understanding the world around her.

Excerpt from Book I: “Emma lived in a quiet world. Most of the sounds and all of the colours came from nature. She absorbed them like moss absorbing a spring rain.

Emma Field – daughter of Jeremiah and the late Josephine, child of the land, child of a Methodist and Quaker community swept by the winds of Lake Ontario – knew where she belonged. The circles of her life were clearly defined. That gave her comfort. It also filled her with fear.”

“I found this book gave me the same feelings I often get reading Thomas Hardy novels. The language is not the same, of course, but I found myself feeling exactly the same way towards Emma as I felt as a teenager when introduced to Tess of the d’Urbervilles. I’m a huge fan of Hardy, and not many people can evoke the same feelings in me that his work does.” Stuart Foxley, British English teacher  

“There is poetry in this prose. I didn’t want to finish it. I read a little each evening, until the night I stayed up late and devoured the rest!”Jane Zavitz-Bond, Archivist, The Quaker Archives and Library of Canada 

Carol Williams appears on television show Reader Corner with Doreen Barnes:

Companion Notes on Book I:

Most of the places and many of the events and people in this book were real. For Companion Notes, go to Emma Field Book I Companion Notes (PDF file)