In Conversation: Elinor Florence & Heather Reisman

Event Details

Event type: All Ages

Join Elinor Florence and Indigo's Chief Booklover Heather Reisman as they discuss her bestselling novel Finding Flora.

Event Guidelines:

• This is a ticketed event
• Candid photography only

About the Book:

Instant #1 Bestseller

A rollicking historical novel set in turn-of-the-century Alberta about a young woman on the run from her abusive husband who uses a legal loophole to claim a homestead in the Wild West—perfect for fans of Outlawed and The Giver of Stars.

Scottish newcomer Flora Craigie jumps from a moving train in 1905 to escape her abusive husband. Desperate to disappear, she claims a homestead on the beautiful but wild Alberta prairie, determined to create a new life for herself. She is astonished to find that her nearest neighbours are also female: a Welsh widow with three children; two American women raising chickens; and a Métis woman who supports herself by training wild horses.

While battling both the brutal environment and the local cynicism toward female farmers, the five women with their very different backgrounds struggle to find common ground. But when their homes are threatened with expropriation by a hostile government, they join forces to “fire the heather,” a Scottish term meaning to raise a ruckus. To complicate matters, there are signs that Flora’s violent husband is still hunting for her. And as the competition for free land along the new Canadian Pacific Railway line heats up, an unscrupulous land agent threatens not only Flora’s livelihood, but her very existence.

Heather's Pick
“I’m a bit of a sucker for historical fiction, and this one, set in the early 1900s and centred around a young, penniless Scottish woman, drew me in from the first page. To escape an abusive husband, Flora runs away to a rural Alberta town. There, with nothing but grit, Flora commits to carving out a life, despite the endless challenges of doing so as a single woman. The writing is so deft you feel you are part of the story.”