Tanya M Cooper

Doll in the Woodpile Tanya M Cooper

Doll in the Woodpile is a true story of a young girl, Edith Farr, who is signed over to the Dr. Barnardo Institute by her destitute mother in England at the age of eight and sent to Canada in 1908 to become a child labourer in rural Ontario. Edith's life is a testament that while society dares to call a child without a legal father, illegitimate; that child is never bound by such limitations. Edith survives a tumultuous childhood, filled with loss and loneliness, but when she meets Ernest Mowbray, a handsome, but wounded soldier after World War I, she discovers that what was once taken from her, she has the power to re-create for herself: A family that throughout the next century, grows to over two hundred descendants who become an integral part of Canada's future; and the living legacy of two "orphaned" children from England. Despite insurmountable obstacles of poverty, World War I and The Great Depression, they persevere and discover that while everything can be taken away; love, faith and compassion can bring restoration and fulfillment.