Dear Reader
I have always been in love with history. When I was fourteen, I tried to write my first novel, set during the Rebellion of 1837. In my late teens, I worked as a costumed animator, pretending to be a person from the past at Mackenzie House in downtown Toronto and Colborne Lodge in High Park. Oddly, I didn’t study history at university. If I had, I might be teaching history now instead of writing children’s books. But after I moved to Newfoundland to study folklore (which is the kinds of knowledge people share without writing things down), I began to fall in love with my adopted province too.
This book combines both of those passions. I learned about the fire of 1892 a long time ago. The house I live in was seven years old when the fire swept through St. John’s but, luckily it was uphill and out of harm’s way. When I thought about writing a Dear Canada book, the story of the fire seemed like a natural fit. I loved working through the old photographs and newspapers, and, when Triffie gradually began to speak to me, she brought the past to life. I hope you like her.
- Janet McNaughton
