Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures

An engaging character with a fine eye for social and cultural observation. The editor's sensitive additions to the diaries allow the reader the opportunity of understanding the broader personal, regional, and historical significance of [the diaries] ... The [editor's] sensitivity to historical issues of culture and ethnicity is one of the characteristics that make this such a good local history. -- Ruth Sandwell, editor of Beyond the City Limits: Rural History in British Columbia

In 1891, Alice Barrett moved from Port Dover, Ontario, to the Okanagan Valley. Few women’s diaries have survived from that time, and Barrett Parke recalls a period of profound transformation in a region newly opened to white settlement.

In 1891, Alice Barrett moved from Port Dover, Ontario, 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.

Few women’s diaries have survived from that time, and Barrett Parke recalls a period of profound transformation in a region newly opened to white settlement by the railway. She was an astute observer and an exceptional writer, and her diaries provide invaluable insights into work, health, religion, race and gender relations, and women’s lives. On a personal level, her writings show the conflict between her independent spirit and women’s traditional roles. Although wary of the emerging feminism of the time, Alice was co-opted into the “vice-regal circle” of the Countess of Aberdeen, who stayed at nearby Coldstream Ranch, and became the first corresponding secretary of the Vernon chapter of the National Council of Women.

Careful editing and additional research to contextualize the social and historical background, as well as biographical details, photos, and maps enhance the reader’s understanding and appreciation of this remarkable woman’s life, and the lives of those around her.

Selected as a BC Book for Everybody.