Customer Reviews

Dear Canada: A Trail of Broken Dreams: The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer

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Twelve-year-old Harriet Palmer's father left several months ago to join the 1862 Cariboo Gold Rush, leaving his family behind at a fort halfway along the way. Now Harriet's mother has died after a difficult childbirth, along with the new baby, and Harriet has no way to support her ten-year-old brother William and four-year-old sister Luella. The three siblings are taken in by the Owens, a childless couple who live at the fort, but then Harriet learns that when they return to Toronto next year, the Owens plan to take William and Luella with them and leave Harriet behind as a servant to another family. Harriet is determined not to allow what is left of her family to be torn apart. Disguising herself as a boy, she joins a party of miners headed for the gold fields, hoping and praying that she will find her father there. Along the difficult journey, Harriet faces many dangers and hardships, but also makes new friends and finds adventure. But what awaits her at the end of her journey, and will she be able to find her father? Harriet is a wonderful character who is determined to help her family and will do whatever it takes to accomplish her goal, and I enjoyed reading about her adventures. I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoyed the previous books in the Dear Canada series.

A Trail of Broken Dreams: The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer by Barbara Haworth-Attard is an excellent addition to one of my favorite book series, Dear Canada.

Harriet Palmer's mother has just died, and her father is far away in Cariboo, having caught the "fever" during Canada's gold rush. And now, Harriet is left all alone with her younger siblings, William and Luella. The couple caring for the children, the Owens, are overheard by Harriet planning to leave Fort Garry and head back home to Toronto, and take William and Luella with them, but leave Harriet behind. Harriet is determined to keep her family from being mercilessly ripped apart, and so disguises herself as a boy (with the alias Harry) and head along the trail to Cariboo with other men in search of gold, and Harriet hopes to find her Father there.

Barbara Haworth-Attard has written an exceptional entry into Dear Canada packed with historical information about the hard trails of Canada, and with the happy ending. Though I did wish the diary could have been a little longer. Harriet is a strong, dedicated female protagonist, and the reader will truly sympathize and feel for her journey to find her much-missed and beloved father.

Highly recommended!