Courageous Women was L.M. Montgomery’s twentieth book, written with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley and published in 1934.
Previous: Pat of Silver Bush (1933) | Next: Mistress Pat: A Novel of Silver Bush (1935)
About Courageous Women
Published by McClelland and Stewart, Courageous Women is a volume of twenty-one essays on women who had made major contributions to nursing, the arts, politics, missionary work, and the war effort. For this project, Montgomery collaborated with two of her contemporaries, both of them established authors: Marian Keith, pseudonym of Mary Esther MacGregor, whose works of fiction included Duncan Polite (1905) and In Orchard Glen (1916), and Mabel Burns McKinley, author of Canadian Heroines of Pioneer Days (1929).
Montgomery’s name appears first on the title page, which does not reflect alphabetical order or the proportion of work done by the three authors: indeed, although the authors of individual essays are not stated in the book, Montgomery’s comments in her journals indicate that she wrote only three of the twenty-one essays, and these were arranged as the first three chapters.
Montgomery’s three chapters are included in The L.M. Montgomery Reader, Volume 1: A Life in Print.
Citation: Montgomery, L.M., Marian Keith, and Mabel Burns McKinley. Courageous Women. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1934.
Contents
1. The Maid of France: Joan of Arc (1–11)
2. The Angel of the Crimea: Florence Nightingale (12–21)
3. The Great White Ma: Mary Slessor of Calabar (22–31)
4. A Brave Deed: Laura Secord (32–40)
5. Happiness in a Log-Cabin: Catharine Parr Traill (41–48)
6. A Noble Girl Queen: Queen Victoria (49–57)
7. Courage in Danger: Madeleine de Verchères (58–66)
8. From Darkness to Light: Helen Keller (67–75)
9. A Friend of the School: Ada May Courtice (76–83)
10. The Golden Chrysanthemum: Caroline MacDonald (84–97)
11. A Loyal Pioneer of the West: Elizabeth Louise Mair (98–106)
12. Caring for Indians: Anna J. Gaudin (107–15)
13. A War Heroine: Edith Cavell (116–24)
14. Braving the White North: Sadie Stringer (125–34)
15. Canada’s Queen of Song: Madame Albani (135–47)
16. The Princess of the Paddle: (Tekahionwake) Pauline Johnson (148–60)
17. A Leader in Education: Aletta Elise Marty (161–69)
18. A Pupil at School: Dr. Margaret Mackellar (170–77)
19. A Daughter of the Empire: Margaret Polson Murray (178–85)
20. Service for Others: Lady Tilley (186–93)
21. Champion of Dumb Animals: Marshall Saunders (194–203)
Reviews of Courageous Women (4)
The Canadian Churchman (Toronto), 29 November 1934 (G.E.G.). Scrapbook of Reviews, 456. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 328 (as “[Vitality and Inspiration]”).
The Canadian Bookman (Toronto), December 1934, 168–69. The L.M. Montgomery Reader, 3: 328 (as “[Portraits of Immortal Women]”).
Gazette (Montreal), 8 December 1934, 16 (“For Girl Readers”).
Globe (Toronto), 23 December 1934, 8 (M.H.P., “Vivid Collaboration”).