The year is 1885, and what Clara Thomas desires most is a life beyond the ordinary.
As one of Canada’s first female physicians, she yearns to start her own medical practice. Unfortunately, her parents view her goals as an idle preoccupation, encouraging her instead to settle down with a man of their choosing and give up her dreams.
Fleeing this conventional life, Clara marries a handsome stranger in haste and journeys to British Columbia to start a life she wants to live. Unfortunately, she shortly discovers that her husband has a crippling addiction and a tendency towards laziness and anger. She could escape to Ontario, but this would also mean giving up her clinic and the relationships she’s made in her new home.
In an age where a woman’s worth, rights, and choices are determined by her husband’s whims, will Clara be forced to bow to convention, or will she throw caution to the wind and follow her heart?
A heart-rending historical fiction about finding your way, The Roads We Take brings to life the struggles of women in late nineteenth-century Canada.
Content Warnings: Attempted rape, stillbirth, miscarriage, mild domestic violence
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“A touching love story with well-drawn characters and rich with period detail, The Roads We Take illuminates the little-known history of Canada’s early women doctors.”
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Maia Caron, author of The Song of Batouche