The Lady Was a Star

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

In this unabashedly laudatory biography of her mother-in-law, Carolyn
Davis Fisher draws upon archival material and the memories of Lotta
Dempsey’s many colleagues and friends to paint an in-depth portrait of
a remarkable woman who was a pioneer in the male-dominated field of
Canadian journalism. The book details Dempsey’s career, from her
beginnings as a cub reporter at The Edmonton Journal in 1923 to her
later stints at CBC Radio, Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto
Telegram, and, finally, The Toronto Star, with which she was affiliated
until her retirement in 1980. Dempsey covered the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth and funeral of John F. Kennedy. She interviewed a wealth of
celebrities from Margot Fonteyn to Carol Channing. Fisher’s fine
biography is a rich catalogue of our history as Dempsey wrote and lived
it. As broadcaster Alex Barris notes, “She was one of Canada’s
national treasures.”