Minnie Smith's (ca. 1874-1933) feminist domestic novel, Is It Just?, is a harsh critique of the injustices perpetuated by male-dominated society and law. Published in 1911, it tells the tragic story of Mary Pierce, who, through the actions of her selfish and lazy husband, loses her land, her social standing, and ultimately her life. In Is It Just?, the conventions of the domestic novel - episodic presentation, stock characters, contrived plots, and romantic conclusions - illustrate the superiority of female values and argue for expanded social, political, and legal rights for women. A critical introduction by Jenny Roth and Lori Chambers frames Smith's specific references to the laws and social geography of British Columbia, situating the novel in relation to its historic and literary importance. This unique work of domestic literature adds to our limited library of Canadian feminist writings of the first wave.
My book, My Two Iraqi Patches, is a story about my sons informing me that they had been notified that they were being deployed to Iraq. I received the news from both of my sons on the same day, and the news was very disturbing to me. The shock of learning that both of them were being deployed devastated me so that my hair changed colors on the left side of my head and the right side of my head. When I passed by the mirror and saw the impact of the news of learning that they were being deployed, I said to myself, “I did not wake up with both sides of my hair having the gray tracks running down both side of my head.” I began to write down often how I felt with what had happened to me, and I felt I had no one to talk to about what I was experiencing. I later learned in moving to West Palm Beach, Florida, that a doctor explained to me that my hair must have been the weakest part of my body, explaining that when people receive devastating news, the part of the body that is the weakest is usually the part of the body that handles the news the worst. For instance, if I had a weak heart, I probably would have suffered a heart attack. I don’t think if I had not written about my experience, no one would have believed me. When I thought of a title for my work, the best name I could come up with was the name I chose for the book, My Two Iraqi Patches.
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