A woman’s poignant account of her upbringing in poverty-stricken rural communities and her mother’s struggle to give her children more than she had.

In the crushing poverty of post-war rural Manitoba, Naomi, a mother of three, pushes through incredible obstacles to ensure her children’s security and future prosperity. Closely observed by one of those children, Naomi endures decades of financial struggle, male dominance, and the loss of her husband, moving her family from house to house, as their circumstances change again and again. Named in honour of the homes her mother, Naomi, provided for her family in those difficult years, author Rosalie Tennison’s powerful memoir exposes the beauty and resilience in her humble upbringing. Sad, funny, heartbreaking, and life-affirming, Naomi’s Houses is a fascinating portrait of Prairie life, family turmoil, societal shifts, and the enticing pull of a bigger, faster-paced world. Reflecting on her life from the comfort of a home Naomi could scarcely have imagined, Rosalie leaves readers with an unforgettable story of familial love and perseverance.

Award-winning agricultural journalist Rosalie I. Tennison has never forgotten her rural roots. Her long career has taken her from rural weekly newspapers to a small-town radio station to agricultural trade magazines to the communications department of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba. She is the recipient of a gold citation from the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation and is a gold-medal winner of a 2022 Canadian Online Publishing Award. While she loves meeting producers in the fields where they work, she enjoys returning to the warmth of her Winnipeg condo to curl up with her cat and a good book.

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