‘Mrs. Mike’ is a love story, a true story; the story of Katherine Mary O’Fallon, a sixteen year-old Irish girl from Boston, and Sergeant Mike Flannigan of the Canadian Mounted Police who meet at her uncle’s ranch in Alberta, Canada where she is sent to recover from pleurisy. They meet, they court, they marry and, following Mike’s orders, move to Hudson’s Hope far into the interior of Alberta.
But … Alberta.
But it is more than a love story between two people: it is also a love story of the land and animals, of the beavers and the ice, the northern lights and the fires, of whooping cough and whiskey running. It is a love story of the First Peoples and their struggles, the immigrants and their hopes and all the people who came and went through Mike and Kathy’s lives.
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Snowstorms and Mrs. Mike are meant to be enjoyed together. The first snow storm every year I would bake bread and hot cocoa from scratch. Wanting the scents to hit the children when they came in from playing in the snow. Somewhere in my mind I would be thinking of the struggles of the early 1900s Canadian wilderness and the adventurous love story of Mrs. Mike. I first read this book close to 40 years ago. It stays with you.
a lovely true story!! The maturity level of such a young girl was unbelievable
Based on a true story. One of my all time favorite books.
My very first romantic read as a teen.
Pulled me in from page one!
Wow! What a book!
Mrs. Mike takes you into the world of the great white North a century ago with a 16-year-old bride and her dashing Canadian Mounty husband. I learned a ton about that harsh lifestyle why coming to know and love the characters.
From the distant past of my childhood are many happy memories. Since I’ve loved books and reading all of my life, it goes without saying that a lot of those memories include good reads. While I may classify them as “good” books, others may not feel the same way. However, the novel Mrs. Mike brings back a rush of warm memories for me. I was about twelve years old when I first read the book, and it instantly became one of my favorites.
It also evoked in me a habit I have carried through my adult years. When I truly like and enjoy a book, I tend to read it again (and again) over the years. This is true for several of my favorite books. Mrs. Mike ranks at the top. The story has certainly stood the test of time.
The writing style in Mrs. Mike is very simple and direct, which seem to make the book even more touching and memorable. After all, it’s a true story as told by Katherine Mary O’Fallon Flannigan to the authors, Benedict and Nancy Freeman. The book is also very wholesome in many ways, yet the authors still managed to portray the brutality of the Canadian Northwest as it appeared in the eyes of sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary. When “Kathy” marries Canadian Mountie Mike Flannigan, she is taken to the Northwest and forced to mature in big hurry.
Mrs. Mike is completely enchanting, and brings to life the love story between Katherine Mary and Mike. The hard life they endure after their marriage is dangerous and unpredictable, and is portrayed as such by the authors. The lack of sex and violence in Mrs. Mike is also another wonder in this day and age, and yet the story is told in detail without these elements.
The writing is clear and engrossing, and difficult to relinquish. The story will make you laugh and cry, and it will definitely make you want more. While the book is fairly small in size (284 pages in paperback), it packs a strong wallop. The story will make a lifetime impression on anyone who reads it.
Four or five years will pass when I don’t think about the book, but when I do pick it up again, as I invariably do, I become transported once more. And I can only describe the “transport” as pure reading bliss.
I love this book and recommend it to everyone who asks “what is your favorite book”. I read it at least once a year, and have since I was about 12 years old. This was the first book I read that made me cry, the first book that “transported” me to the period and place it was set in, and I experienced my first literary crush. I’m on my 3rd copy of this book.
Another of my favorites, I love Mrs. Mike for the story. The authors do a marvelous job describing the joys and pitfalls of living in Northern Canada in the early 1900s as a white woman living among the First Nation tribes with her RCMP husband. It is a fast read, but informative and thought-provoking
I have read this book several times. It is always a great story no matter how many times I read it.
It could easily be a true story. The characters are very real and each plays a powerful part in the story. It is a difficult book to put down.
Worth the read!
First read it in seventh grade. Nearly every year after that for many years.
Loved the characters!