The Flood
and other misadventures of the female prisoners of the St. Lawrence Market
Leah Simone Bowen
- 80 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
The Flood
and other misadventures of the female prisoners of the St. Lawrence Market
Leah Simone Bowen
About This Book
"I bore him fourteen children and he had me down here faster than lightning."
In 1887, women were property and could be imprisoned for any reason. Jail was considered a place for the criminal, the disabled, the mentally ill, and the marginalized.
In the basement prison below Toronto's largest market, two women named Maryâone a shunned, pregnant Irish immigrant, the other a vilified Mississauga womanâbecome an unlikely pair as they form a friendship within their cold, shared cell. Their bond threatens fellow inmate Sophiaâwho calls herself the first Black woman in Canada and the leader of the prisonersâand she plots to use the women to gain better treatment for herself. But as melting ice water pours into the prison from Lake Ontario, the forgotten women of Toronto must come together to survive.
Inspired by true accounts and the history of Toronto's St. Lawrence Market, The Flood gives voice to the little-known stories of early female prisoners in Canada.