Aunt Winnie by Elspeth Cameron
8vo. pp. 270. b/w illustrations. hardcover. dw. (near fine - light wear to head of spine). [Toronto: Cormorant Books Inc., 2013].
First Edition.
ISBN-10: 1770862900 / ISBN-13: 9781770862906
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Governor General’s Literary Award-nominated biographer Elspeth Cameron turns her eye on a member of her own family in this fascinating study of an Edwardian woman. Winnie Cameron, Elspeth’s aunt, was born in Seattle, raised briefly in Dawson City, and then moved to Toronto to live in Rosedale with her family in the 1910s. Enjoying status as a member of Toronto’s ruling Anglophile elite, she became a perpetual debutante – a lifestyle that left her bankrupt, unable to cope with the demands of her changing times.
Aunt Winnie is not just a study of one socialite’s rise and fall. Over the course of her life, Winnie saw the city change from one dominated by the English and Scottish immigrants, horse-drawn buggies, to a multicultural city where the car reigned supreme. Her life is embedded in a greater story about Toronto of the early 20th century.