Voyages of Hope

The Saga of the Bride-Ships

By (author): Peter Johnson
ISBN 9780920663790
Softcover | Publication Date: September 16, 2002
Book Dimensions: 5.5 in x 7.5 in
240 Pages

About the Book

A line of nervous young women got off a ship in Victoria Harbour in 1862 and had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of jostling, eager men. One girl, proposed to on the spot, accepted equally quickly and left town with her new husband. Why did these women leave everything behind in England and come to the west coast? The answers lie in the lusty turmoil of a gold-rush frontier, the horrible disruptions of industrial England and the conflicting aims of earnest Christians and early British feminists.

About the Author(s)

Born in Cheshire, England Peter Johnson immigrated to Canada with his family in his early teen years. Educated in Canada, he has taught history, English, and creative writing for over thirty years in a variety of locations, from Canada’s west coast to the prairies to across the Atlantic Ocean to Dublin and London. An avid long-distance touring cyclist, Peter has bicycled through England, the Maritimes, Quebec, and Vancouver Island. As a summer instructor, secondary-school teacher, and creative writing workshop facilitator, Peter’s love of education and his nomadic spirit inform his belief that teaching is about taking students to places they don’t yet know they want to go.