Island Maid: Voices of Outport Women

by Rhonda Pelley, Sheilagh O’Leary (Photographer)

Overview

Sheilagh O'Leary and Rhonda Pelley spent two summers travelling from Bonavista Bay to the Great Northern Peninsula and to the communities of the south coast. The women they interviewed shared unique life stories filled with hard work, love, heartbreak, and family. Island Maid documents, with photos and words, the thoughts and lives of these women. It is also the chronicle of a journey, a feminist road-trip taken during one of the most tumultuous times in Newfoundland's modern history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781550813258
Publisher:	Breakwater Books Ltd.
Publication date:	05/12/2010
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	9.07(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.32(d)

About the Author

Sheilagh O'Leary is an award-winning art photographer from St. John's. She produces striking collections of black-and-white nudes and portraits with an intimate exploration of the subject and their relationship to the Newfoundland landscape. Her previous book, Human Natured: Newfoundland Nudes, explores almost two decades of her B&W nude photography.

Rhonda Pelley is a Newfoundland writer and artist whose work has been seen in galleries and publications locally and internationally. She lives in St. John's with her partner Frank Barry and her two cats Henry and Lucy.

Editorial Reviews

"Island Maid will leave even the hearest hearts searching for words. This treasure, for it is truly, is equally fascinating, inspiring, heartbreaking and artfully-composed."

Telegraph-Journal

"The whole book shows careful attention to detail, from the layout to the reproduction of the photos to the rendering of the texts. And, thankfully, if there was a typo in the whole book, I missed it. This is a book that the author, the illustrator and the publisher can be proud of."

Robin McGrath

"Island Maid is a lovely tribute to women who kept themselves and their families going often through terrible times."

Sharon Hunt

"Anyone with an interest in Newfoundland and Labrador's history or socio-history will find this book very engaging; it is likely to have strong appeal for educators and academics as well"

Darrell Squires

"This is a book to treasure." - Roberta Buchanan

From the Publisher

"One of the strongest points of Island Maid is that it has value and succeeds in so many genres; oral and cultural history, women's studies, folklore, travel in Newfoundland - there is something for everybody. It is a book to savour and enjoy, and dip into over and over again. The women speak naturally, simply yet eloquently of their life experiences. We recognize these women in our own grandmothers, and forebears. By reading these accounts we pay tribute to their contributions."

Jury for the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards Ramona Dearing