Bloomsbury to Barkerville

Author: Marion Crook
Publisher: Heritage House Publishing, Victoria, 2026

In 1862 Florence Wilson embarked on the SS Tynemouth, a bride ship destined for the Colony of British Columbia. She was one of sixty women travelling halfway around the world to become the wives of miners in the Cariboo gold rush. But unbeknownst to her fellow passengers, Florence had no intention of marrying; she was there to seek her own fortune. By the time she set sail, Florence had already experienced more life than most women and men twice her age. She had grown up as part of the gentry in central London’s Bloomsbury district, where she moved in the same literary circles as Charles Dickens and became a published poet. After being cheated of her inheritance, she fell into debilitating poverty—until news of the gold rush in Western Canada gave her the opportunity to change her life.

From poet to prospector to entrepreneur, Florence is best remembered in the frontier town of Barkerville, BC. She was the heart of the community, bringing entertainment and culture to a town dominated by transient male miners. In Barkerville, her fortunes rose, fell, and literally went up in flames in the great fire of 1868. But she always rebuilt and regrouped. Bloomsbury to Barkerville is a sweeping yet intimate portrait of an intrepid,  ambitious woman.

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