Join Bernadine Stapleton and Nicole Smith on an extraordinary journey as they uncover the mystery of the Mill Girls. Using humour, heartwarming tales, and dramatic stories, to illuminate the 1940’s exodus of young single women from the then country of Newfoundland to Cambridge, an industrial city in Ontario.

The Mill Girls invaded Canada like a tidal wave, transforming the demographics, culture and economics of an entire region, and launching a feminist offensive before the word itself existed. Who were they? Why did they leave Newfoundland? And why did their stories vanish? This new book reads like a whodunnit, with heaping doses of comedy, inspiration, and a rescue beagle named Georgie Girl.

Bernardine Ann Teraz Stapleton is an award-winning playwright, a writer and performer of unique distinction. She has served as writer in residence at Memorial University, as playwright in residence with several national companies, and as artistic director of theatre festivals. Her plays are regularly produced nationally and internationally; her short fiction has appeared in Riddle Fence and The Newfoundland Quarterly. Previous books include They Let Down Baskets (coauthor), This Is the Cat, and Rants, Riffs and Roars.

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Nicole Smith is an archaeologist, educator and speaker. Since 2000, archaeological research has taken her throughout coastal British Columbia, to the Northwest Territories and to Tierra del Fuego in southernmost Argentina. She has worked with over 20 First Nations communities throughout BC and academic colleagues to broaden the knowledge about coastal heritage, focusing on clam gardens, fish traps, stone tools, archaeological sites over 10,000 years old and the effects of climate change and sea-level rise on cultural heritage. Her teams’ results have been published internationally and recognized in the media, including the BBC, CBC’s Quirks & Quarks and Hakai Magazine. She loves working with grade-school students to help them learn more about archaeology. Nicole lives with her family on the Traditional Territories of the Coast Salish Peoples on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

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