Trial by Winter Page 18

  Dorothy and Alex raised five children in the village of Briercrest, where I met them in 1983. I don't know if Dorothy harboured a dream to become a doctor but several of her children and grandchildren did become physicians. It's a small leap of imagination to believe they inherited this ambition from Dorothy!

  A family photograph taken in 1909, when Dorothy Holtby was fifteen, the only family member not yet married. Dorothy is second from the right, wearing all white. Directly behind her is her older brother Bob (Frank in my novel). Photo courtesy of Lynne Bowen.

  About the Author

  Courtesy Prairie Child Photography

  Since retiring as an elementary school teacher, Anne Patton has published eleven books for children. All of her books have been about young people adjusting to unfamiliar places and cultures. Her first books are part of the Scholastic reading series: Literacy Place for the Early Years. Next Anne collaborated with her friend Wilfred Burton to write about a Métis boy who is introduced to the rich tradition of jigging.

  Trial By Winter is the conclusion to a trilogy about immigrating to Saskatchewan. Based on a true story, these novels feature a ten-year-old English girl overcoming geographical and cultural obstacles to find her place on the prairie frontier.

  Anne loves exploring museums, old ruins and any kind of trace left by our human ancestors. She is currently researching a story that links the Canadian prairies with her ancestral homeland. Beginning in Scotland, her next novel will depict the horrendous highland clearances that tore entire villages of people from their homes and forced them to relocate to Canada.