A Place for Margaret

Teresan Pitman was a childbirth educator in Willowdale, Ontario.

Margaret is one of the “middle children” in a large family living in Toronto in the 1920s. Her quiet personality sometimes seems lost in the rough-and-tumble of daily life. Then she is diagnosed as having TB and goes to her aunt and uncle’s farm to recover. It’s lonely at first, but she soon develops close friendships with her aunt and uncle and their neighbours. Finally the day comes when she is pronounced healthy again — and she must decide which way of life is better for her.

Author Bernice Thurman Hunter fills this book with the small details that make it come alive. As Margaret moves from one home to another, the reader experiences the joys and stresses of a large family in Toronto 60 years ago (Margaret, for example, shares a bed with two of her sisters) and contrasts these with life on a farm in the same era. Margaret’s relationship with her aunt and uncle grows in a realistic way and leads to a satisfying conclusion.

A Place for Margaret is a well-written, interesting story set against a Canadian background that is, in itself, fascinating.