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Letters from Gerald

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Book Cover Design by Friesens Press

Bookmark Design by Geneviève Raîche-Savoie

Synopsis: Many young women seized the new opportunities for a new life as social change swept through post-war England. Recruited by the war effort into jobs traditionally held by men, women emerged to a new future of possibilities. Into this social upheaval steps Eleanor Hutchinson, a young woman living alone and employed as a librarian where she reads about collections of exotic birds donated to the British Museum. She dreams of a life travelling the world on behalf of the museum when confronted by self-doubts arising from the reality of her minimal education and social standing. That is, until she corresponds by letter with a mysterious Gerald Benson at the museum. Always aloof in some exotic land, Gerald still finds time to urge Eleanor to pursue her dream. Little does she know where her pursuit will take her with the museum or Mr. Benson.

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Letters from Gerald is an exploration of morals, ethics, and social position of a young woman navigating a man’s world. Told through stories of intrigue, international crime, tragedy, human foibles and comedy, the reader is led into the inner world of natural history museums, the world of bird study in the 1940s, scientific paper writing, and bird conservation efforts that resonate today.

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The English culture has intrigued me ever since I spent a month with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the 1980s. As a Canadian, I became a cultural bystander able to watch the interactions between social classes unseen in my home country. On return visits and correspondence with many British colleagues, I learned how birds became a cultural obsession of many of the English and the emergence of bird conservation. The juxtaposition of birds and social standing set the stage for the protagonist Eleanor Hutchinson to navigate her way toward her dream job. But who is the mysterious Gerald? 

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Pages: 407 pages

Genre: Fiction, Historical, 20th Century, Post-World War II

ISBN number:

978-1-03-830546-6 (Hardcover)

978-1-03-830545-9 (Paperback)

978-1-03-830547-3 (eBook)

Where to buy a book: Friesens Press / Amazon

Letters from Gerald

Letters from Gerald

“BRAVO! Letters from Gerald engages readers from the very first page. It is the story of a young woman in post-war London, Eleanor Hutchinson, whose working-class upbringing and gender demands bravery and determination if she is to realize her dream of becoming an ornithologist. Scientific circles in the early 20th century were male dominated and the challenges were intimidating and often insurmountable for women hoping to break into the closed circle of academia and scientific research. Eleanor, having lost her parents in the London bombings and having no financial resources to attend university, takes a job as a librarian at the British Library and creates her own educational curriculum in science and ornithology. Her choice of a research subject, a backyard Robin she names Thales, the Greek father of science, is a remarkable part of the story. The cast of characters in the novel, from all walks of life and social classes, provide a unique window into Eleanor’s character and the cultural hurdles she faces. I won’t give away the mystery that unfolds with her back-and-forth correspondences with Gerald except to say that it stiffens the very backbone of a young woman whose self-discipline and determination would be inspirational to any young person considering a career in science.”

– Audrey D. Benedict, Author & Naturalist

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