A Beautiful Moment

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining a book club for a conversation about No Secrets Among Sisters. It was so amazing to hear what they thought of my story, the characters, the connection to my Great Aunt Frankie, and to learn what they’d like to hear about next! Fortunately, I’ve got a sequel underway!

One of the consistent things I’m hearing from readers is that my book is inspiring them to do more research into WWI, the suffrage movement, Nellie McClung … and women’s political representation.

Yesterday, though, a revelation from one of the book club members just about made me cry. Sonya Carter shared that after reading my book, she reflected on the fact that her mom had also worked in a munitions factory, but in WWII. Sonya didn’t have much time to learn about her mom’s experience as her mom died when she was young, too young to appreciate the value of learning about her mom’s past.

“Your book inspired me to do a deep search on the internet to see if I could find any information about the munitions factory where my Mother worked in 1943.” Not only did Sonya find information about the factory in Ajax, but she found a photo of her mother from 1943 in an article in the Commando Ajax, a publication long out of print but preserved in Ajax archives.

Sonja’s mother, Eunice Sonier, worked at Defence Industries Limited. She was one of the so-called “Bomb Girls”. Thousand of workers, many of them women, were recruited to the DIL’s factories in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. Eunice was from PEI. According to Government of Canada archives, the Ajax plant was one of those producing shells.

“The Second World War saw a large shift of women into the manufacturing sector, expanding beyond work in textile factories. The efforts of the government’s National Selective Service agency brought more than a quarter of a million women from across the country into war industries in 1942–43. By July 1944, over 107,000 workers were employed in the munitions industry in Canada, with around 40 per cent of this workforce made up of women. They received lower wages than men, but many were proud of their contributions to the war effort. At its largest, DIL employed around 33,000 workers in its plants.” (source)

Like my Great Aunt Frankie in WWI, and her character in my novel, women who joined the war effort were excited to do their part. They were able to step out of their usual roles, if only for a few years. Sonya, thank you for sharing your story with me. I’m so happy that Frankie and I led you to find your own mom.