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Lily of Lambton: A Prologue

Don Gutteridge

Coming soon

Gutteridge returns with this elegantly written historical tale (written as a prologue of a proposed full-length novel) set in mid-19th-century Canada. Lily Corcoran, born in the backwoods of Ontario to Irish Immigrants, helps her father tend the family farm. With Canada now a free nation for those fleeing slavery, an escapee arrives on their homestead prompting a series of unfortunate events forcing Lily and her father to abandon their property. Yet another sorrowful circumstance arises during Lily’s journey to stay with her aunt and uncle in Port Sernia. For a while, life is peaceful and calm, but soon Lily is plunged into another heartache as she reaches adulthood. Gutteridge’s writing is remarkably captivating; he takes the time to carefully craft a vivid image of Lambton County in 1840s Ontario. With few settlements and a heavy woodland surrounding it, the area that is almost uncivilized, comes alive on the pages. He skillfully blends historical occurrences into the narrative—the Underground Railroad movement, the coming of the Great Western and the machinations of its rival, the Grand Trunk, the boom of the mid-fifties that gave way to the bust of ’57 and ‘58, ‘black frost’ of 1959—imbuing them with nuance. Lily is an intriguing protagonist, staying true to her time and circumstances yet still understandable to the reader today. Gutteridge’s incorporation of real history further brings Lily’s world to life. Part a history lesson and part a story of the emotional highs and lows of a resilient woman carrying on as best she could in the face of difficult circumstances of her life, this sprawling, ambitious story makes for a stunner.

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