Author: Jill Martin Bouteillier
From Thistles to Cowpies
A unique blend of biography and memoir, From Thistles to Cowpies is both timely and significant. Whether permanent residents or refugees, immigrants desirous to make Canada their home will be drawn to this touching narrative about Canada’s early immigrants so boldly stitched into the Canadian mosaic. With increased interest in DNA tests, the general population is fascinated both with their own as well as the country’s past. Canada’s 150 celebrations encouraged Canadians to look back in time. What better way to understand that past, than through the experiences of those early immigrants? Leaving the world of instant connection behind, modern readers enter the portals of the past through the eyes of those who, like my parents, lived it.
About Author - Jill Martin Bouteillier
Jill Martin Bouteillier is the author of Return to Sable (2015) and consultant-historian for the National Film Board and White Gate Films. Her book, Sable Island in Black and White, a pictorial book of life on Sable Island at the turn of the 20th century (Nimbus 2016), was the winner of the 2017 Atlantic Book award for non-fiction. Her most recent book From Thistles to Cowpies, (Crossfield Publishing 2020), artfully blends memoir and biography in a touching narrative of two immigrant families who settle in Saskatchewan in the early 20th century. Leaving the world of instant connection behind, modern readers enter the portals of the past through the eyes of those who lived it. Before she began writing full time, Jill was an educator on Nova Scotia’s South Shore, serving as the last principal of Lunenburg Academy. She sits on the board of Friends of Sable Island Society as Director of Education.
IQW –
I have just finished reading From Thistles to Cowpies (Crossfield Publishing) and I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it!! As a Thomson descendant, I expected to be interested in the Thomson family story…but also expected to have no interest in the Bouteillier side of the story. I was sooo wrong! You pulled me right in!! Good family history and good Saskatchewan and Canadian history.
Thank you so much Jill for a great read!
Heather Thomson Greier
Nancy Wilson –
Once again Jill Martin Bouteillier provides an historically accurate, compelling and engaging story of Canadian history. Her characters are real but her writing exposes their triumphs and tragedies in a personal and meaningful way. This is Canadian history from a thoughtful perspective.
Tina Crossfield –
Christine’s comments about “From Thistles to Cowpies”
by Jill Martin Bouteiller
This memoir traces the story of the author’s ancestors who homesteaded
in Saskatchewan in the early twentieth century. Her father and his family
emigrated from Scotland in December 1915 and her mother’s family relocated
from Halifax in the summer of 1910.
The book provides an interesting account of how some of the main events of
the twentieth century, e.g. two World Wars and the depression, affected
the lives of ordinary Canadians. It is well written, and full of suspense in
some parts, as when her father’s ship had to sail through a war zone after
it departed from Liverpool!
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone interested
in twentieth century Canadian history. It would be particularly valuable
for people who would like to record their own family stories.
posted by TC, by C.Clement