A Trail of Broken Dreams

A Trail of Broken Dreams
Book no.	10
Series	Dear Canada
Author	Barbara Haworth-Attard
Publisher	Scholastic Canada
Published	September 1, 2004
Pages	176
ISBN	9780439974059
Timeline	May — October 1862
Preceded by
Chronology	Where the River Takes Me
Publication	An Ocean Apart
Followed by
Chronology	A Desperate Road to Freedom
Publication	Banished from Our Home

A Trail of Broken Dreams: The Gold Rush Diary of Harriet Palmer is the tenth book in the Dear Canada series. It was first published in September 2004. The book was written by Barbara Haworth-Attard; her first in the series. It was followed by Sharon Stewart's Banished from Our Home.

Dedication

"For my niece, Jennifer Haworth, who has successfully scaled a few mountains herself."

Book description

• Original
• French

"June 7, 1862
My legs and feet hurt too much tonight to write. That doesn't make sense, but that is how it is.
June 8, 1862
A day of rest as it is Sunday. As much as I want to hurry to find Father, dear diary, I am glad to sit still, and let my feet rest. The blisters on them are a frightful sight. I boiled some water in my pot and cleaned them as best I could. I'm sitting now with my boots off.
Waves of sadness keep coming over me today. Missing Mama, missing William and Luella. Every time a scout rides up in a cloud of dust I think it is someone from the fort come to fetch me. No doubt Mrs. Owen has told William and Luella that I am not coming back, even though I swore to William that I would. I bet she told them I've been stolen by Indians, or drowned in the river. I do not mean to cause them worry, but I see now I probably have. Another of my faults that Mama often sighed over–leaping before I look."

"Le 7 juin 1862
J'ai tellement mal aux jambes et aux pieds que je ne suis pas capable d'écrire. C'est absurde, mais c'est comme ça.
Le 8 juin 1862
Un jour de repos, car c'est dimanche. Même si je souhaite retrouver papa au plus vite, cher journal, je suis bien contente de rester assise et de laisser mes pieds se reposer. Ils sont couverts d'ampoules, et ce n'est pas joli à voir. J'ai fait bouillir de l'eau dans ma casserole et nettoyé mes blessures du mieux que j'ai pu. En ce moment, je suis assise, mes bottes posées à côté de moi.
Des vagues de tristesse m'envahissent continuellement, aujourd'hui. Maman me manque. William et Lola aussi. Chaque fois qu'un éclaireur arrive au galop, enveloppé d'un nuage de poussière, je me dis que ce doit être quelqu'un du fort qu'on a envoyé me chercher. Mme Owen a sans doute raconté à William et à Lola que je ne reviendrais plus, même si j'ai promis le contraire à William. Je parie qu'elle leur a dit que j'avais été enlevée par les Indiens ou que je m'étais noyée dans la rivière. Je ne veux pas leur causer d'inquiétude, mais je me rends compte maintenant que je l'ai probablement fait. Un autre de mes défauts, qui faisait soupirer maman bien souvent : j'agis sans réfléchir."

Characters

Main article: List of A Trail of Broken Dreams characters

• Harriet Palmer

Author

Main article: Barbara Haworth-Attard

Editions

• Physical
• eBook

Rêves déçus
French edition
9780545998161
(August 2007)

A Trail of Broken Dreams
Dear Canada eBook
B078H12KJD
(July 2015)

Awards

• Tiny Torgi Audio Award (2004) - short-listed
• Canadian Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, Starred Selection (2005) - commended
• Canadian Library Association Book of the Year For Children (2005) - short-listed
• Red Cedar Award, BC Young Readers' Choice (2006) - short-listed

Acknowledgements

"Thanks to Barbara Hehner for her careful checking of the manuscript; to Richard Thomas Wright, author of Overlanders 1858 Gold, to Dr. Jean Barman, Professor of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia and author of Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia, and to Roderick J. Barman, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of British Columbia and author of "Packing in British Columbia," in The Journal of Transport History (September 2000), for sharing their historical expertise."

Notes

• The portrait on the cover is a detail of the 1884 painting The Zandvoort Fishergirl by Elizabeth Adela Forbes. The background is a detail of a 1867-1868 photograph Mining village, Richfield, B.C. from National Archives of Canada.

External links

• A Trail of Broken Dreams at Scholastic Canada
• A Trail of Broken Dreams at Scholastic Canada (French)
• A Trail of Broken Dreams Discussion Guide at Scholastic Canada
• A Trail of Broken Dreams at Teaching Books