Tales from the frontier "dumping ground"

There's an old saying that any publicity is good publicity as long as they spell your name right, so Prince Rupert can take comfort in the fact that in Amy Bloom's new book "Away", our name comes out correct with all the vowels and consonants in the proper places.

Bloom has crafted a new novel for the book stores, which is set in the early 1920's of New York and follows a Russian immigrant woman, who sets off across the United States to Seattle, then north to Alaska trying to reach Siberia, in search of her young daughter who is rumored to be alive.

Rupert pops into the book as a resting place for the main character of the book, as she winters here for the winter before her journey further north, Rupert's time in the sun was outlined in this blurb from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

Lillian's next stop is Prince Rupert, B.C., a frontier "dumping ground" where a sympathetic widowed lawman arranges for her to spend the winter in a women's prison, since the onset of the stormy months hampers northward travel. Spring finds Lillian resuming her journey aboard a mule train along the Yukon's Telegraph Trail. Then she sets off on foot into the wilderness alone, attacked by mosquitoes, fighting off ailments, encountering only a few humans, including a family of young children alone in a cabin, their mother's body lying outside.

The full review of the book can be found here and will have to suffice until Rupertites pick up a copy and examine the full attention that may or may not have been given to our then frontier streets.

Already described as a strong best-seller in the United States, it could introduce a whole new audience to the tales of the frontier dumping ground...