A Rebel's Daughter: The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson

Description

202 pages
Contains Illustrations, Maps
$14.99
ISBN 0-439-96967-0
DDC jC813'.54

Author

Publisher

Year

2006

Contributor

Reviewed by Susan Merskey

Susan Merskey is freelance writer in London, Ontario.

Review

Arabella Stevenson’s father, a Toronto lawyer, was imprisoned after
the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 and eventually deported to Van
Diemen’s land. Her brother has disappeared. Her mother’s profligate
spending habits mean the family home must be sold off to pay debts. When
her mother insists on taking a maid to help her in their new rooms,
Arabella runs away. Helped by a lawyer in her father’s office, she
obtains work as a scullery maid, ironically in the home of one of her
brother’s friends. Her life of ease becomes one of misery and drudgery
when she is badly treated by the other servants. “Talking” to her
diary is her one safe haven. She gradually forges a friendship with
Louisa Partridge, her employer’s mother, eventually becoming her
companion. When her own mother decides to return home to England,
Arabella refuses to accompany her. Thanks to her legacy from Louisa
Partridge, Arabella carves out a life for herself in Canada, always
hoping her father or brother, now working for the Hudson Bay Company,
will return to join her.

Each title in the Dear Canada series recounts an incident of Canadian
history through the protagonist’s diary entries. What’s interesting
about A Rebel’s Daughter is that the storytelling improves as Arabella
herself grows older. This is probably a deliberate stylistic device on
the part of author Janet Lunn, a respected writer of history books for
middle grades. Recommended.

Citation

Lunn, Janet., “A Rebel's Daughter: The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed December 4, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/22841.