True story from my part of the world....

Story of long-dead Lunenburg girl makes new book 'Curious Canadians'

It's a story that's touched a lot of lives, not the least of which were those of Toronto-based authors Nancy and Ted Liss.

Several years ago, the couple traveled to Lunenburg to research the story of Sophia McLaughlin, the 14-year-old dressmaker's apprentice who died in 1879 from what a coroner's inquest, and her headstone in the Hillcrest Cemetery, declare was a broken heart. It happened after she was wrongly accused of stealing $10 from her employer, a Mrs. Trask. After Sophia's death, Mrs. Trask's son admitted to the theft.

Taken as much by the town's ongoing tribute to the girl – her grave is marked with both a new granite stone and a decorative wrought iron fence, featuring the likeness of a broken heart – as they were with her story, the authors have included Sophia among the 34 real-life tales recounted in their new book Curious Canadians.

For seven years, the couple criss-crossed the country seeking out these stories.

"It was hard…(but) a labour of love," says Mrs. Liss, particularly, as it gave the couple the opportunity to meet so many fellow Canadians. "Wherever we went, people were so enthusiastic and encouraging," she says.

The book, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, is now available from a number of Canadian bookstores and there are hopes of also offering it in the United States.

In the meantime, the couple are working on another book along the same lines as Curious Canadians but looking at Americans. To this point, it remains untitled. And Mrs. Liss has also written a full-length novel based on the life of Sophia McLaughlin.

"I don't have a publisher for it yet, but hope lives eternal," says the author, adding she's "determined that Sophia's story be known."

- feature article appeared in The Bulletin and The Progress Enterprise in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia