After tragedy strikes her family in England, Catherine Hensen decides to explore a new life in Canada. While working as a governess for an Anglican reverend and his family, Catherine discovers the many challenges and joys of the Canadian prairies in the late 1800s. She grows to call Canada home, but her heart will forever be in two places – England and Canada.
Catherine of Cannington Manor explores the real lives of young people educated in Europe, how they faced the many challenges of surviving in the new land, and how they created an exciting environment for themselves and their children. Catherine is the personification of three women who came to the Canadian prairies in the late 1800s and the early 1900s – one directly from England, one from Norway via the United States, and one of Welsh descent via Ontario – into one intelligent and elegant woman.
Cannington Manor is still a vibrant community in southeast Saskatchewan. The farms are prosperous; school buses take children to larger centres for education, sports, and cultural activities. The All Saints Church has been restored and services are held there in the summer months. Cannington Manor Provincial Historic Park, located north of Manor, Saskatchewan, recreates the exciting period of history when the British citizens had a dream of establishing a commercial centre based around agriculture.
