Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk, Spirit Lake, Quebec, 1914.

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Part of the Dear Canada series, Anya Soloniuk’s story commences Monday, April 13, 1914, when the 12-year-old, then living in Galicia (part of Austria-Hungary), receives a diary, the namesday gift from her tato (father) who has already emigrated to Canada. Running out of blank pages, 14-year-old Anya concludes on Friday, July 21, 1916.

Initially, Anya, her younger brother, Mykola, and their mother and grandmother travel by train and ship to Montreal, reuniting with Tato on May 5, 1914. Between then and April 19, 1915, Anya adjusts to life in the promised land while learning English in school. Tato continues his factory job, Mama becomes a domestic, and Baba minds Mykola in the family’s tiny flat.

The family experiences the prejudice often directed at new immigrants, but it intensifies once the First World War begins and the Soloniuks are labelled enemy aliens. When Anya’s parents lose their jobs, Anya quits school to become the family’s breadwinner. Tato is then sent to an internment camp at Spirit Lake in northern Quebec, and on April 19, 1915, by government order, the remaining family members join him for some 14 months before, ironically, being freed to resume the jobs from which they were earlier dismissed. A rich read, Prisoners contains a lengthy epilogue which updates the characters’ lives following the diary’s closure. A nine page Historical Note, 11 pages of black-and-white photos, and two maps (1914 Europe plus the 24 internment camps’ locations in Canada), remind readers that, although Anya is fictional, the book’s major events are anchored in actual historical happenings. Highly recommended.