Product Description

When Roughing It in the Bush was published in 1852, it created an international sensation, not only for Susanna Moodie’s “glowing narrative of personal incident,” but also for her firm determination to puncture the illusions European land-agents were circulating about life in Canada. This frank and fascinating chronicle details her harsh – and humorous – experiences in homesteading with her family in the woods of Upper Canada.

Part documentary, part psychological parable, Roughing It in the Bush is, above all, an honest account of how one woman coped not only in a new world, but, more importantly, with herself.

The New Canadian Library edition is an unabridged reprint of the complete original text.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2756394 in Books
• Published on: 1987-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 518 pages

From the Inside Flap
When Roughing It in the Bush was published in 1852, it created an international sensation, not only for Susanna Moodie?s ?glowing narrative of personal incident,? but also for her firm determination to puncture the illusions European land-agents were circulating about life in Canada. This frank and fascinating chronicle details her harsh ? and humorous ? experiences in homesteading with her family in the woods of Upper Canada.

Part documentary, part psychological parable, Roughing It in the Bush is, above all, an honest account of how one woman coped not only in a new world, but, more importantly, with herself.

The New Canadian Library edition is an unabridged reprint of the complete original text.

About the Author
Susanna Moodie was born Susanna Strickland in Bungay, Suffolk, England, in 1803. The sixth and final daughter of a retired dock manager, she grew up in a middle-class family that encouraged the children in reading and in writing. Her sisters Agnes and Elizabeth would write Lives of the Queens of England and other biographies of the aristocracy, her sister Catharine Parr (later Traill) would emigrate to Canada and write several natural history books, and her brother Samuel, another emigrant to Canada, would write of the settler's life. Susanna’s juvenilia include poetry and many fiction tales for young adults.

In 1831 Susanna Strickland married John Wedderburn Dunbar Moodie, a military officer who had returned to England from South Africa to explore publication projects and to find a wife. A year later, they emigrated to Upper Canada (Ontario). In Flora Lyndsay (1854), Susanna Moodie gives a fictionalized account of the family’s move to Canada, concluding with the journey up the Saint Lawrence River.

For their first seventeen months in Canada, the Moodies lived on cleared farmland near Port Hope. In 1834 they moved to a bush farm in Douro Township north of Peterborough and near the homes of Samuel Strickland and Catharine Parr Traill. The farm was the Moodie home for five years, and Roughing It in the Bush (1852), describes their life in these two backwoods areas.

From 1837 to 1839 Dunbar Moodie served in the Upper Canada militia, and in 1839 he was appointed Sheriff of Victoria District (later Hastings County). His family moved to Belleville in 1840, their home until his death in 1869. After her husband’s death Susanna Moodie spent her time with her various grown children and with her sister Catharine.

Susanna Moodie died in Toronto, Ontario, in 1885.

Customer Reviews

This is a story of courage by early pioneers to Canada.
Like the Lewis & Clark Expedition, early Canadian settlers had less understanding about what they were getting into than the men who stood on the moon. Susanna Moodie's story of her life in the Canadian bush in the middle years of the nineteenth century illustrate how precarious was their circumstances, how unselfishly some shared their labor and their good fortune and how utterly selfish and even dangerous was the behaviour of others. The story illustrates again how at base, there ar two types of people, those who take and those who give. As you read her story you will be amazed how this gentlewoman, accustomed to Victorian drawing rooms, lived, even prospered a little, bore and raised children in a one room windowless and doorless log cabin in all weathers and enduring visits from wild Indians, wolves and bears. Of her totally unsuitable husband she is endlessly understanding and forgiving, yet the reader will find him or herself continually driven to giving him a swift kick in the pants for his apparent total lack of sensitivity to his wife, while at the same time being viewed as an upstanding citizen.

Journey with an early Canadian immigrant
For a great first hand account of the early Canadian immigrant experience read this book. The author is authentic and self depreciating in a subtle way. The places and people are real, and more important the thoughts of the author are the thoughts of the time but reveal a mind not different from our own. Bye the way, I find history books boring but loved this piece of our history.

A Journey into the a Timeless Mind
Moodie puts her readers into her own thoughts, allowing you to see just how difficult it was for her to survive in Canada in the 1800's. Her character and personality lends itself well to her writing, allowing you to laugh when she laughs, anger when she is angry, and cry when she cries (maybe less the crying, it wasn't THAT wrenching). I would recommend reading it along with an audio version of the book. I've never done it before, but i actually liked it! Another review stated that the book got boring, and it really can be if you are too involved and are looking for a really gripping read. So to listen and follow along at your own leisure was rather relaxing. It added to the humour of some of the chapters, particularly the "borrowing and lending" scenario! Enjoy!