A Small Compass

 In 1806, Isobel Gunn disguises herself as a man to leave Orkney, Scotland, and work as a labourer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, where company policy forbids women from entering the fur trade. At the same time in Québec, Marie-Anne Gaboury falls in love with a coureur de bois and insists on accompanying him west into the Canadian wilderness.

Their journeys converge more than eighteen hundred miles inland at a remote fur-trade post on the Canadian prairies. There, these two women—isolated, pregnant, and far from home—face survival in one of the most demanding environments in early Canadian history.

Though historical records show no evidence of them having met, A Small Compass re-imagines their intersecting lives, placing women at the centre of Canada’s fur trade history and exploring how courage, adaptability, and friendship contribute to survival.

This Canadian historical fiction novel explores enduring questions that resonate with modern readers, book clubs, and classrooms:

• Women’s agency in early Canadian history
• Motherhood and adventure in historical fiction
• Moral ingenuity when institutional rules exclude women
• Survival, friendship, and identity in the Canadian west

Set during the height of the Canadian fur trade, A Small Compass draws on extensive historical research into the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North West Company, and the social realities of life in the fur trade.

As a result of company policy prohibiting women from accompanying employees of the Hudson’s Bay Company to North America--and the North West Company’s encouragement of their traders to enter into country marriages with Native women--a Métis nation unique to Canada was born. Into this complex and often hostile world, Isobel Gunn and Marie-Anne Gaboury travelled with little understanding of what awaited them.

Drawing on her background as a Ph.D. in Canadian literature, Cinda Gault brings historical accuracy and narrative depth to this re-imagining of women’s lives in early Canada.

• A rare Canadian historical novel about real women
• Richly researched historical fiction set in early Canada
• Strong female protagonists in the Canadian wilderness
• Ideal for book clubs, Canadian literature courses, and women’s studies

 “What a pleasure to read Canadian historical fiction for a change… strong female characters and a vivid sense of place.”
— Barbara

“A compelling story about real Canadian pioneers, with women front and centre.”
— Kathy

“Riveting… a side of Canadian history so often untold.”
— Leanna

“A deeply human perspective on identity, resistance, and survival in early Canada.”
— Literary Tales

· Everything I Hope For — a Canadian historical novel set in 1970s Toronto

· This Godforsaken Place — a women-centred historical fiction novel set in the Canadian wilderness in the late 19th century