Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures: The Diaries of Alice Barrett Parke, 1891-1900

In 1891, Alice Barrett moved from Port Dover, Ontarlo, to the Okanagan Valley to keep house for her brother and uncle. She soon married Harold Parke, a former NWMP officer, and spent the next decade recording her experiences in a series of notebooks sent to her Ontario family. Barrett Parke was an astute observer and an exceptional writer, and her diaries recall a period of profound transformation in a region newly opened to white settlement. The diaries provide valuable insights into work, health, religion, race and gender relations, and women’s lives, Careful editing and additional research put the diaries into their social and historical context, while biographical detail and numerous illustrations enhance the reader’s understanding of this remarkable woman’s life and times.