Laurie Ness Gordon lives on a waterfront property north of Kingston, Ontario. She has worked as an educator, consultant, workshop presenter and writer. Her articles and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines in Canada and England. In 2014, Borealis Press published her YA novel, The Medal. Finding Home, historical fiction set in the 1870s, was published in 2023. Laurie spent several years as a volunteer Project Manager and writer for a touring art exhibition that focused on self acceptance. She is currently supporting refugee families and working on a mystery. She enjoys making music, travelling, swimming, shoveling snow and being ‘productive’. Her favourite holiday memory is a 5-week motorcycle trip across Canada.
Finding Home: Where Fact Meets Fiction
How do Home Children–– poor youth, sent from England's urban slums to Canada as cheap farm labour or domestic help––connect the stories of two young people in early Canada? Sarah, is a servant orphaned by cholera in London in 1869 who crosses the ocean, desperately seeking family. Richard, the disgraced son of an Ontario sawmill owner, must redeem himself in his father's eyes, then chart his own course. Discover how research about actual places and events combines with fictitious characters to create a compelling drama.
Reading + Q & A