An inspiring and eye-opening collection of true stories about sixteen women who blazed their own trails in life and contributed in a fundamental way to the history of Vancouver Island and the surrounding islands.

In this fascinating follow-up to On Their Own Terms, author Haley Healey chronicles the lives of a whole new crop of resilient, hard-working, rule-breaking, diverse women who lived on and around Vancouver Island. Flourishing and Free introduces readers to Sylvia Stark, who was born into slavery in Missouri and went on to become a homesteader on Salt Spring Island; Mary Ann Croft, the first female lighthouse keeper in all of Canada; Victoria Chung, the first Asian-Canadian person to earn a medical degree, who provided urgent care during the Second World War; Barbara Touchie (Sičquuʔuƛ), who dedicated forty years of her life to revitalizing and sharing the Nuu-chah-nulth language; Minnie Paterson, who completed an epic night hike through a west coast storm to rescue sailors shipwrecked on a tempestuous shoreline known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific"; and many more. Uplifting, empowering, and entertaining, this concise collection of stories will appeal to anyone interested in learning more about the unsung heroines of the West Coast.

Haley Healey is a high school counsellor, registered clinical counsellor, and the bestselling author of On Their Own Terms: True Stories of Trailblazing Women of Vancouver Island, Flourishing and Free: More Stories of Trailblazing Women of Vancouver Island, and Her Courage Rises: 50 Trailblazing Women of British Columbia and the Yukon. A self-proclaimed trailblazing woman herself, she has taught in isolated fly-in communities, guided whitewater canoe expeditions, and plays the violin. She has an avid interest in wild places and unconventional people.

Haley Healey's profile page

"Flourishing and Free provides 16 true stories of fearless, determined women who forged their unique paths on Vancouver Island. Many were the first females, and often the first Indigenous people, to break free of traditional roles. Most were born in the early 19th century when women couldn’t vote, own land, or attend university. [...] Each story is a window into the past providing empowering tales of unsung women."
—BC Books for BC Schools

"The stories of women in this book are as diverse as they are extraordinary. Each of the 16 chapters in Flourishing and Free stands alone as biographical sketches, so readers looking for a "Choose Your Own Adventure" experience can read the book in any order."
—BC History