I would have liked to hear of her making butter and cheese, chopping wood, pulling weeds, plucking chickens, preserving garden produce and wild berries, breaking up stumps (among other things.) Instead, it seemed that she had a lighter workload than most women and,ģ. In this story, I felt that Katja didn't pull her weight on their homestead. The Dominion Lands Act required an improvement of 40 acres plus a permanent dwelling within three years or they would lose their land.

in reality, Ukrainian immigrant women worked their asses off! Besides living in internment camps, many husbands, especially in later years, left home for several months to make ends meet by working in mines, logging camps, etc., while their wives, (besides doing household chores, tending a large garden and raising children), were often expected to help break up the land for cultivating, planting and harvesting. I expected more darkness based on his behavior as he alarmed and annoyed me Ģ. Edward Smith's character? If he was to create tension in this story, then his despicable actions felt too lighthearted and easily accepted, especially by MC Katja. I won't look at this Park the same way again!ġ. Here, men were required to improve the National Park, build highways, and construct hotels and golf courses under very harsh conditions. although I was aware of internment camps set up across western Canada where 'enemy aliens' (namely Ukrainian immigrants) were sent to do hard labor during WWI, I learned that one such camp was located near Banff, Alberta. My husband's paternal grandparents lived in a zemlianka while clearing land and building a more permanent dwelling and,ģ. I learned the Ukrainian word for the temporary dugout huts these immigrants built upon making a land claim. We get a taste of their journey, land claims, and sadly, the Ukrainian internment camps during WWI Ģ.

this story gives a fair representation of Ukrainian immigrants in Canada, specifically in east-central Alberta, also known as Kalyna Country (named after the highbush cranberry plant). July 2022 is my self-appointed 'Canadian Authors Month'!ġ.

it was available for free on Hoopla and,ģ. I saw this book on Goodreads, and being of Ukrainian descent, I added it to my WTR list Ģ.

Kalyna by Pam Clark