Lily Lewis

Canadian writer and journalist Lily Lewis is not a household name. In fact, she never was. The work Lewis is best known for ""Montreal Letter"", a popular column which appeared in the Toronto newspaper The Week in the late 1880s, was written under the pseudonym Louis Lloyd. In 1888, Lewis and fellow writer Sara Jeannette Duncan embarked on a journey around the world, sending articles about their travels back to their respective newspapers, The Week and the Montreal Daily Star. Lewis became immortalized as a character in Duncan's fictionalized account of their journey, but as a writer she has been almost entirely forgotten to history. Though Lewis continued to publish a variety of work up until 1912, her writing prior to and following her world tour has received no critical attention, and almost nothing has been known about her personal life.

Peggy Martin's painstaking research has brought new details to light. She examines Lewis's work in the context of Canadian travel writing and journalism at the turn of the century and discusses her use of the sketch as her preferred literary form. Part critical study, part biography, part edited collection, this volume provides new insight into feminist expression in the nineteenth century and reclaims Lily Lewis's place in Canadian literary history.

“An important addition to the study of late-nineteenth-century Canadian writing. --Michael Peterman, University of Toronto Quarterly”

An important addition to the study of late-nineteenth-century Canadian writing.

--Michael Peterman, University of Toronto Quarterly

Martin deserves credit for her detective work on Lewis, whose career started off in such a promising way, and whose life ended so sadly. p>

--Barbara M. Freeman, The Canadian Historical Review

Peggy Martin

Under the pseudonym Louis Lloyd, writer and journalist Lily Lewis was regularly featured in the newspaper The Week, and her hugely popular column "Montreal Letter" was for some time a staple in the Toronto newspaper. She also accompanied writer Sara Jeannette Duncan on a journey around the world which later became the subject of Duncan's fictional work, in which Lewis was immortalized as a character. Consequently, Lewis's work has largely been overlooked, though she continued to publish a variety of work from her home in Paris until 1912. Part critical study, part biography, Martin's book examines the published work and private letters of Lily Lewis in an attempt to reconstruct this important figure in turn-of-the-century Canadian journalism. Lilly Lewis: Sketches of a Canadian Journalist puts into context the uniquely feminine aspects of this writer's life, outlining the prevalence of social concerns and domestic themes, but also the more typically masculine domain of European art and culture, prompting a serious re-evaluation of Canadian feminist expression in the nineteenth century.

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