Title: Parrot pie for breakfast
Subtitle: an anthology of women pioneers
Description: YA-This anthology consists of snippets of letters, journals, and diaries of British women from varied social backgrounds, written from the 1600s to the early 1900s. Whether in Canada, Australia, India, or Africa, the subjects describe their experiences in remote, often hazardous, always unfamiliar areas as they try to establish their households. Robinson has made wise selections and organized them with her own witty asides and insights, rarely judgmental but highlighting attitudes of class and cultural prejudice. She has included material that demonstrates the energy, ingenuity, and persistence that characterize these pioneers' responses to wildly unfamiliar cultures, climates, and religions. The entries convey the pain of separation from loved ones, the frequent deaths of babies and young children, lack of resources, and, overall, the boredom of isolation and often the inability to make necessary adjustments. Accounts of amateur medical treatments, surgery, and childbirth are shocking. A rich and rewarding collection of primary-source material.
Frances Reiher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA