Grasslands Cover Reveal

My new ranching novel Grasslands, coming in April 2027, has all the elements that my readers love: a strong female protagonist who encounters adventure and romance on the Canadian prairie. But this one is a little different because I included a murder mystery!

Welcome to Letters From Windermere, where I write about:

• HISTORY: mostly Western Canada history.
• WRITING: info about my writing journey.
• MY HOME: overlooking beautiful Lake Windermere.
• BOOKS: one book recommendation each month.

Letters From Windermere is free and will always remain free!

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Grasslands

My new novel is now available to preorder from your favourite bookseller. It doesn’t appear until April 13, 2027—but that’s only six months away!

The Official Synopsis

English sisters Verity and Charity Tait are orphaned when their parents die of smallpox. Verity finds work as a photo retoucher and struggles to raise her impulsive younger sister, but in 1890 Charity elopes with a Methodist missionary bound for the North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan and Alberta). When Verity learns that the husband is dead and her sister has disappeared, she leaves London and sets out to find her.

Travelling across Canada on the train, she meets a wealthy British gentleman who invites her to reside at his cattle ranch near Maple Creek while she conducts her search. She places an advertisement in the local newspaper and follows every lead in vain. Yet in the midst of her mounting anxiety, Verity is struck with the splendor of the prairies and her newfound freedom from social convention. She finds herself drawn to the excitement and romance of ranch life—and to one rugged cowboy in particular.

When two young women are found strangled, a prostitute in Medicine Hat and an unidentified female on the banks of the Whitemud River, Verity’s search takes on a greater urgency. Both murders bear the hallmarks of an earlier crime in Montreal, pointing to a serial killer. Was Charity one of his victims—and could Verity be next?

For more background, please head over to my new dedicated page here: Grasslands.

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Bird’s Eye View

Meanwhile, the new edition of my wartime novel is coming up fast. It’s the perfect book to pick up on launch day, November 10, and read during the month of Remembrance because it is a very Canadian perspective on the Second World War, as seen through a woman’s eyes.

Please preorder by calling, visiting, or emailing your favourite bookstore. Read a synopsis here: Bird’s Eye View.

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How to Buy My Books

I am sometimes asked (and I’m grateful for the question) which method of purchase provides the most income for the author. Although I receive the same royalty payment from every option, I recommend the following:

1. My first choice: Buy from your local independent bookstore and keep your money in the community.
2. Buy from the Canadian-owned bookstore chain, Indigo/Chapters/Coles, and keep your money in the country. You can shop online, and the company offers free shipping on all orders more than $50.
3. Buy e-books through Indigo/Chapters/Coles and read them using the free Kobo app on your device. If you need help installing the app, ask the bookstore staff or your local library for help. All of my novels are available as e-books.
4. Buy audiobooks from your local independent bookstore. Many of them now sell audiobooks through a company called Libro, and you can listen to them with the free Libro app on your device. Once again, bookstore staff or your local library can help you install the app. Both Finding Flora and Wildwood are available as audiobooks, and Bird’s Eye View is coming soon.
5. As a last resort, there is always Amazon!

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Foreign Rights

I recently signed THREE very official looking contracts, thanks to my agent Samantha Haywood, owner of Transatlantic Agency Ltd. Here we are having lunch in Toronto last fall, when we met for the first time.

Samantha has sold foreign language rights to the following:

1. Wildwood will be translated into German and published by a German company called Aufbau, based in Berlin.
2. Both Finding Flora and Wildwood will be translated to French and published by a French company called J’ai Lui, based in Paris.
3. Both Finding Flora and Wildwood will be translated into Russian and published by a company called Phantom Press, based in Moscow.

(Samantha asked me if I wanted to do business in Russia, and after I thought about it, I said yes—because I hope that Russian people will read my books and learn something about Canadian history and culture).

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Film Options

Wildwood was previously optioned by a movie company named Minds Eye Entertainment to pitch as a two-hour feature film, and I wrote about it here: Wildwood, The Movie.

An option means that the company has exclusive right to the novel for a limited time, usually two years, in which they will try to drum up enough interest from investors to pay for filming and distributing the movie. MANY novels have film options, but never make it to the big screen, so a movie is far from guaranteed.

Now the same company has optioned Finding Flora! They would like to see the novel turned into an eight-part miniseries since there are several interesting characters, each of whom could have their own storyline.

I would be happy to see my favourite actress Emily Blunt star in either of these productions!

Minds Eye owners Kevin DeWalt and his son Benjamin are passionate about prairie history, and I know they are eager to get both projects off the ground.

I haven’t gotten my hopes up yet because they have to raise MILLIONS from investors and granting institutions, but they are working on it!

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Lest We Forget

As my long-time subscribers are aware, I interviewed dozens of veterans while researching my wartime novel. You can find all of their stories here on my website, index under the heading Lest We Forget.

All of my favourite veterans have now left this world, but I remember them with great fondness and admiration. In honour of Remembrance Day, here is a link to ten of the best and the brightest, including nurse Jessie Lee Middleton: Ten Wonderful Wartime Women. 

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Mrs. Chatelaine

Speaking of wonderful women, I had the great pleasure of meeting a long-time book fan, Florence Holt, while attending the Saskatchewan Festival of Words in Moose Jaw in July.

Florence, who will turn 98 years old on November 18, 2026, has had a very full life so far. Among her many achievements is being named Mrs. Chatelaine 1963!

Chatelaine is a popular Canadian women’s magazine—the same age as Florence herself, and still in circulation. For several years, the magazine picked one woman in Canada to serve as a shining role model.

Back in 1963, Florence was reading the magazine when she saw that the previous year’s winner was a doctor’s wife from Toronto. “I immediately thought about her prestige and privilege,” Florence said. “It just didn’t sit right with me.”

She fired off her own application and to her amazement, she was selected over 1200 other contestants! At the time Florence was living in Regina, thirty-five years old, and had been married to truck driver Frank Holt since she was eighteen. They were parents to two daughters and four foster children. Her activities were legion: she was president of the local Women’s Auxiliary, belonged to a curling league and a bowling league, read voraciously, and was a pillar of the local Anglican church. And she kept boarders to boot!

The award was very welcome, not only because it provided a watch, a set of matched luggage, and a movie camera, but it came with one thousand dollars in cash—later used to help pay for the children’s university education.

How did she learn about her honour? The phone call came when she was out at a doctor’s appointment. When she walked into the house, Frank and the kids had created a banner out of toilet paper and stuck it on the wall reading: “Congratulations, Mrs. Chatelaine!”

You can read more about this admirable Canadian if you can find a copy of the May 1963 Chatelaine magazine.

Florence recalls that the good folks from Chatelaine flew to Regina and took her out for dinner, where she celebrated with a shot of Drambuie liqueur!

Florence, now widowed, lives in a senior residence in Lumsden. She remains close with her adult children including those she fostered, and enjoys a busy and active life.

It was such an inspiration to meet her!

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Baking History

In my novel Wildwood, my heroine Molly teaches herself to use a wood stove using the Five Roses Cook Book. Sherry Polliard of Hansville, Washington followed the muffin recipe from her original copy of the same cookbook and even baked them in her wood stove!

Apparently they were a big hit at a recent meeting of the Flotsam Jetsam Garden Club in Washington.

Our mutual friend Chuck Holland sent me this great photo. Thank you so much, Sherry!

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Book Events

I recently had a very successful event in Qualicum Beach, B.C. sponsored by my “home away from home” bookstore, Mulberry Bush Books. If you live in the area, I left signed copies of both novels at the store.

Coming up next are the following three events, which will conclude my appearances in 2026.

Remember to check my Events page on my website to see where I will appear in 2027.

7 p.m. Saturday, October 24, 2026. SHEEP RIVER LIBRARY, 129 Main Street, Diamond Valley, AB. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. I will present a slide show of historic photos and talk about my inspiration for Finding Flora. Both Wildwood and Finding Flora will be available for purchase. For info: 403-933-3278.

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Books of the Month

I am binging on books by Mary Stewart, whose novels were popular in the 1960s. I can sometimes find at used bookstores. Happily, I had forgotten enough of their content to enjoy them anew. The author was a master at crafting suspenseful romantic thrillers (and aside from the fact that most of her characters light cigarettes every five minutes, they have stood the test of time!)

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Friends, I sent my first newsletter thirteen years ago this month, a year before my first novel was published. I find it extraordinary that I now have three published novels and one more on the way. My second career after retiring from journalism has been wildly successful. I owe much of my success to you, my fans and followers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I hope you are enjoying the spectacular crisp, clear fall weather we are having here in the beautiful Lake Windermere valley.

Affectionately, Elinor