This monumental study of two generations of women who married either before or after the Patriote rebellions of 1837-38 explores the meaning of the transition from wife to widowhood in early nineteenth-century Montreal. Bettina Bradbury weaves together the individual biographies of twenty women, against the backdrop of collective genealogies of over 500, to offer new insights into the law, politics, demography, religion, and domestic life of the time. She shows how women from all walks of life interacted with and shaped Montreal’s culture, customs, and institutions, even as they laboured under the shifting conditions of patriarchy. Wife to Widow provides a rare window into the significance of marriage and widowhood.

Bettina Bradbury is an associate professor of History and Women's Studies at York University.

Bettina Bradbury's profile page

• Short-listed, The François-Xavier Garneau Medal, Canadian HIstorical Association
• Short-listed, Canada Prize in Social Sciences, Canadian Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences
• Winner, Prix Lionel Groulx, L'Institut d'histoire de l'Amérique francaise
• Short-listed, Canadian Political History Book Prize, Canadian Historical Association
• Winner, Clio Award for Quebec, Canadian Historical Association
• Short-listed, Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association