Post-Confederation Ottawa sets the scene for this fascinating biography of a literary couple. The marriage of Annie Howells and Achille Fréchette in 1877 brought together two literary families and two cultural traditions. Annie was the daughter of the US consul in Quebec, William Cooper Howells, and sister of the American novelist William Dean Howells. Achille, a translator for the Canadian House of Commons, was the brother of the French-Canadian poet Louis Fréchette. Both Annie and Achille were authors themselves, and their lives and careers touched frequently Ottawa's political, cultural, and religious life.

In Ottawa the Fréchettes established themselves at the centre of a distinguished bilingual circle of politicians, poets, and scholars. Their friends included Wilfrid Laurier, Alphonse Lusignan, and, in later years, Archibald Lampman. Both Fréchettes continued to pursue the literary careers they had begun before their marriage. Annie published a serialized novel and many short stories and articles; Achille's poems continued to appear in various periodicals. Achille also took part as writer and trustee in a bitter debate over separate schools.

The many surviving letters between Annie and her brother William cover various topics of mutual interest to Canadians and Americans, reflecting both Canadian and American cultural experience in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

James Doyle is professor emeritus of English at Wilfrid Laurier University. Author of five other books, including The Fin de Siècle Spirit (1995), Stephen Leacock: The Sage of Orillia (1992), and [http:www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Catalog/doyle.shtml Progressive Heritage: The Evolution of a Politically Radical Literary Tradition in Canada], he has contributed many times to scholarly journals, particularly on Canadian-US literary relations and political radicalism in Canadian literature.

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