No event in our history is more legendary than the Yukon Gold Rush of 1896. On August 16, when rich gold deposits were discovered in Bonanza Creek, 100,000 prospectors set off for the newly created Dawson City in search of instant wealth. Hungry miners hoped for the one big strike; others, for prosperity in this instant boom town; some, for the adventure of a lifetime. Charlotte Gray, one of our best writers of non-fiction, tells the story of the Gold Rush through the intimate lives of six extraordinary people: the saintly priest Father Judge; the feisty entrepreneur Belinda Mulrooney; the struggling writer Jack London; the imperious British journalist Flora Shaw; the legendary Sam Steele of the Mounties; and the prospector William Haskell. Brilliantly interweaving their stories, Gray creates a fascinating panorama of a frontier town where desperados, saloon keepers, gamblers, dance hall girls, churchmen and law-makers were thrown together in a volatile time.??Beautifully illustrated with period photographs and documents of the Gold Rush, Gold Diggers is a colourful and entertaining journey into a world gone mad for gold.

A Globe & Mail 100 Selection and longlisted for the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize! A scandalous crime, a sensational trial, a surprise verdict--the true story of Carrie Davies, the maid who shot a Massey In February 1915, a member of one of Canada's wealthiest families was shot and killed on the front porch of his home in Toronto as he was returning from work. Carrie Davies, an 18-year-old domestic servant, quickly confessed. But who was the victim here? Charles "Bert" Massey, a scion of a famous family, or the frightened, perhaps mentally unstable Carrie, a penniless British immigrant? When the brilliant lawyer Hartley Dewart, QC, took on her case, his grudge against the powerful Masseys would fuel a dramatic trial that pitted the old order against the new, wealth and privilege against virtue and honest hard work. Set against a backdrop of the Great War in Europe and the changing faceof a nation, this sensational crime is brought to vivid life for the first time. As in her previous bestselling book, Gold Diggers--now in production as a Discovery Television miniseries--multi-award-winning historian and biographer Charlotte Gray has created a captivating narrative rich in detail and brimming with larger-than-life personalities, as she shines alight on a central moment in our past.

Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Non-Fiction Winner of the Toronto Book Award Winner of the CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History Winner of the Heritage Toronto Book Award A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year Finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize, the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, the Ottawa Book Award, the Libris Award, the OLA Evergreen Award A scandalous crime, a sensational trial, a surprise verdict—the true story of Carrie Davies, the maid who shot a Massey In February 1915, a member of one of Canada’s wealthiest families was shot and killed on the front porch of his home in Toronto as he was returning from work. Carrie Davies, an 18-year-old domestic servant, quickly confessed. But who was the victim here? Charles “Bert” Massey, a scion of a famous family, or the frightened, perhaps mentally unstable Carrie, a penniless British immigrant? When the brilliant lawyer Hartley Dewart, QC, took on her case, his grudge against the powerful Masseys would fuel a dramatic trial that pitted the old order against the new, wealth and privilege against virtue and honest hard work. Set against a backdrop of the Great War in Europe and the changing faceof a nation, this sensational crime is brought to vivid life for the first time. As in her previous bestselling book, Gold Diggers—adapted into the Discovery Television miniseries Klondike—multi-award-winning historian and biographer Charlotte Gray has created a captivating narrative rich in detail and brimming with larger-than-life personalities, as she shines alight on a central moment in our past.

Hold our history in your hands, with a spectacular virtual museum that is at once a sweeping exploration of Canadian history and culture, an indispensable reference guide and a remarkable treasury of information. Welcome to a museum so vast and full of wonder that it could only be called Canada. Each ofThe Museum Called Canada’s 25 rooms houses carefully chosen exhibits that illuminate a significant historical theme. This majestic collection brings together high art and popular culture, science and nature, rare objects and whimsical ephemera. Here you will see the empty eye sockets of Tyrannosaurus Rex and be able to examine intricate and ethereal wood-carved angels built for Quebec’s Rideau Chapel. Exhibits span the breadth of our nation, from the Yuquot Whaler’s Shrine of Vancouver Island’s Nootka to an anti-Confederation poster from the controversially soon-to-be-province Newfoundland. Your guide to the collection is historian and author Charlotte Gray. For each room in the museum, Gray has written a short essay that delves into the world of a particularly evocative artifact and its importance in the context of the room’s theme and time period. The Museum Called Canada— with its expansive vision, its surprising juxtapositions, its visual feasts and intellectual explorations — is a beautiful and inspiring place that you will want to visit again and again.