Book Launch: Song for the Widowmaker by Gail Fraser

Please join us for some lunchtime words and music to launch Gail’s book Song for the Widowmaker.

WHERE AND WHEN: Tuesday Nov 8^th, 1-2pm, HNES Building – EUC student lounge.

ABOUT THE BOOK: Times were tough for unemployed men in Scotland in 1895. William Fraser travels to Dundee to find work and, he hopes, love. Independent working women dominate Dundee’s factories, and jute spinner Mary Coyle is one of them. The attraction is immediate and mutual. But William’s Protestant background makes Mary’s beloved Irish Catholic father unwilling to consent to their marriage. To complicate matters further, William’s estranged father has funded his journey to America to join him in a mining venture. Once apart, Mary and William must each contend with their own challenges of unrealistic expectations, promise-breaking temptations, and living with extended family. What follows is an engaging, deeply moving tale of immigrant struggle, from their arduous life in Scotland, to the adversities and dangers of mining work in America. Song for the Widowmaker alternates between Mary and William’s perspectives, revealing the obstacles of religious differences, prejudices, and separation. Song for the Widowmaker vividly brings the time and places of a world gone by to life, demonstrating the eternal power of love and commitment in overcoming monumental challenges.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gail S. Fraser is a Professor and Undergraduate Program Director in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. Her research is primarily focused on colonial nesting waterbirds in both fresh water and marine environments. Song for the Widowmaker is her first work of fiction.

All are welcome!