The Surprise of My Life: An Autobiography

Pauline Carey is an actor, playwright, and fiction writer. She is the
author of Magic and What’s in a Name?

Claire Drainie Taylor was born in 1917 in Saskatchewan. She eloped with
her first husband and worked with him in a logging camp on Vancouver
Island. She then moved to Vancouver, where she worked in theatre. It was
there that Claire met John Drainie, a star of CBC Radio’s early years.
She soon found herself working as a radio actor and writer and married
to Drainie. This book recounts their life together.

In 1943, the Drainies moved to Toronto. Although they were very much a
part of the golden age of radio, life was never easy as they struggled
to support their six children. They moved to Europe and for four years
traveled around the continent with their large family. John tragically
died at the age of 50.

After her husband’s death Claire’s life was understandably hectic.
Friends at the CBC found her much work to do. But it was when she turned
70, after writing a supplement to Bronwyn Drainie’s book on her
father, that Claire decided to write her own story; by the end of the
telling it had become a family history.

Written with clarity and humor, this charming memoir includes many
small family photographs.