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In 1754 Eleanor Powers was hung for a murder committed during a botched robbery. She was the first woman condemned to die in Canada, but would not be the last. In Uncertain Justice , Beverley Boissery and Murray Greenwood portray a cast of women characters almost as often wronged by the law as they have wronged society. Starting with the Powers trial and continuing to the not-too-distant past, the authors expose the patriarchal values that lie at the core of criminal law, and the class and gender biases that permeate its procedures and applications. The writing style is similar to that of a popular mystery: «Harriet Henry lay dead. Horribly and indubitably. Her body sprawled against the bed, the head twisted at a grotesque angle. Foam engulfed the grinning mouth.» Scholarly analysis combines with the narrative to make Uncertain Justice a fascinating and engaging read. There is a wealth of information about the emerging and evolving legal system and profession, the state of forensic science, the roles of juries, and the political turmoil and growing resistance to a purely class-based aristocratic form of government.

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In 1839 fifty-eight men left Montreal for the penal colony of New South Wales. They were ordinary people who had been caught up in the political whirlwind of the 1838 rebellion. Even though they were all civilians, they had been tried by court martial. Convicted of treason, their properties forfeited to the crown, they paid a heavy price for rebellion. And as convicts in Australia, they were considered the lowest of a bad lot. During their years there, however, they earned the respect of Sydney’s citizens.

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2009 Word Guild Award – Winner, Young Adult Fiction In the aftermath of the 1838 rebellion in Lower Canada, Sophie Mallory’s father is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in Australia. But there is no question about what Sophie should do: with her guardian, Lady Theodosia Thornleigh, and Luc Moriset, she sets sail for Sydney. She finds Australia an outside-down country. The water goes down the drain the opposite way, half the population are (or have been) convicts. In one notorious incident, her father, Benjamin, and the Canadian convicts arrest police. Lady Theo even finds herself renting a house from her own servants. Shortly after they settle in Sydney, Sophie and Luc make friends with the Hendricks twins. Luc quickly chums with Billy, but Sophie astonishes everyone. She loathes, despises, and abominates Polly. Luc despairs of her, and Lady Theo compounds the problem by sending Sophie to Polly’s boarding school. When the school closes temporarily, due to an outbreak of scarlet fever, the girls rashly decide to make their own way to Polly’s house in the country. Not surprisingly, they’re kidnapped by bush rangers. During their escape, Polly’s feet become dangerously infected when she jumps onto an oyster bed. Trying to avoid recapture, Sophie must make her way across Port Stephens in a one-oared rowboat to save Polly. When her father and Luc’s brother are pardoned, Sophie faces the biggest decision of her life to that point – whether or not her place of exile will be her home.

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Gold. With that one little word and its promise of fabulous wealth, people from all parts of the world came to British Columbia in the 1850s and 1860s. Most were ill equipped for the difficult terrain, the icy water, and the inhospitable climate. Some found the motherlode. Others settled for becoming rich merchants. Most became impoverished, and a large number lost their lives. With new roads and new settlers, the gold rush helped build Canada’s West. This pictorial history tells the stories of the Fraser and Cariboo gold rush and of the lives involved in that tumultuous but decisive event in Canadian history.

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2007 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selection It is 1838, and in the wake of the rebellion in Lower Canada, Sophie’s and Luc’s worlds are falling apart. Luc is powerless as his only brother stands trial for treason, while Sophie searches for clues to her father’s mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile, her scheming brothers threaten to rip away Sophie’s inheritance. Luc’s brother is sentenced to die by hanging, and then, when it seems nothing more can go wrong, Sophie thinks Lady Theodosia Thornleigh, who has always been her strongest support and hope for the future, may secretly be planning to leave her young charge. Without family to protect them, Sophie and Luc can trust no one but each other but can their desperate bid for independence withstand attacks from the justice system and the adults around them? At the darkest hour of their lives Sophie and Luc must use intelligence, ingenuity, and courage in the struggle to secure a bright future for themselves and those they love.

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2006 Word Guild Award – Winner, Young Adult Fiction Sophie Mallory's American family knows everything about fighting the British. It's the family tradition. But after she comes to Lower Canada in 1838, rebellion becomes personal when she's taken prisoner. Befriended by Luc, a young rebel, she comes to see its many sides – the deep wrongs underlying the passionate revolt, the politics, and the brutal savagery of its aftermath. This is no ordinary novel about our Canadian past. Its two wonderful characters face complicated problems of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal and begin questioning their families' political beliefs. In Sophie's Rebellion , Beverly Boissery deftly weaves adventure, excitement, sadness, humour, and personal growth.

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