What a relief to discover, as I begin the writing of Laura Secord, Heroine of the War of 1812, that Laura is starting to come to life for me. I need that to happen in order to make her real for my readers. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to breathe life into her old bones.
As I write I imagine her as a child, growing up in war-torn Massachusetts during the American War of Independence. She waits at the front window for her father, a member of the state militia. I see her as a teen beginning the long journey to Upper Canada with her family, helping with the younger ones, comforting her stepmother who is expecting another baby.
Now she is a slim, vivacious, 21-year-old, working in her father's tavern in Queenston when she meets and falls in love with James Secord. Today I saw her at her wedding and imagined a lavish affair. Later she will go with James to begin married life in the little town of St. David's.
Behold, Laura lives!
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