Love Strong as Death: Lucy Peel’s Canadian Journal 1833-1836

Lucy and her husband Edmund, second cousin to British prime minister Sir Robert Peel, emigrated to the Eastern Townships and began their life as Canadian farmers. The journals are letters written to Lucy’s family giving accounts of the Peels’ daily life. Unlike the famous pioneer emigrants Susannah Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill, Lucy’s social life is spent with the Sherbrooke elite. It is life with hard physical labour, but also with servants and small luxuries like Lucy’s harp. Lucy documents the birth and death of their daughter Celia, and the births of their two succeeding children. The domestic details are fascinating: Edmund stays with Lucy during each birth, and helps her with the everlasting knitting and sewing that must be done to clothe the family. The editor provides a comprehensive introduction, setting the Peels in their time and social class. Eminently readable. mRb