Mrs. Mike

Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman

One of the best jobs here at the shoppe is unpacking the multitude of boxes that are delivered here weekly and discovering little gems like Mrs. Mike that a customer had special ordered.  Naturally the subtitle:The Classic Saga of Love and Courage in the Canadian Wilderness appealed to me having grown up in the tundra as I did.  Sixteen year old Katherine Mary O'Fallon travels from Boston to Calgary during one of the coldest, snowiest winters in Canada early in the 20th century to live with an Uncle in an effort to cure her pleurisy.  Not long after arriving on his ranch, she meets and falls in love with a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police (a 'Mounty' as they are affectionately called). 

In those days Mountys still wore the scarlett jackets so one can imagine the impact Mike Flannigan, at over six feet tall with 'eyes so blue you can swim in them,' had on her. Mike is stationed in a village that is a three month dog sled ride north of Edmonton and brings his bride along to settle among native Indians, trappers, Jesuits , and agents of the Hudson's Bay Company.  Their tender marriage enables them to endure extraordinary hardships and the colourful cast of characters makes this a dynamic read.  I could not put it down.