Woman, Watching, Merilyn Simonds
Woman, Watching, Merilyn Simonds
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Woman, Watching
Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay

Author: Merilyn Simonds

Narrator: Elizabeth Wiley

Unabridged: 15 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/24/2022


Synopsis

From award-winning author Merilyn Simonds, a remarkable biography of an extraordinary woman—a Swedish aristocrat who survived the Russian Revolution to become an internationally renowned naturalist, one of the first to track the mid-century decline of songbirds.

Referred to as a Canadian Rachel Carson, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence lived and worked in an isolated log cabin near North Bay. After her husband was murdered by Bolsheviks, she refused her Swedish privilege and joined the Canadian Red Cross, visiting her northern Ontario patients by dogsled. When Elzire Dionne gave birth to five babies, Louise became nurse to the Dionne Quintuplets. Repulsed by the media circus, she retreated to her wilderness cabin, where she devoted herself to studying the birds that nested in her forest. Author of six books and scores of magazine stories, de Kiriline Lawrence and her "loghouse nest" became a Mecca for international ornithologists.

Lawrence was an old woman when Merilyn Simonds moved into the woods not far away. Their paths crossed, sparking Simonds's lifelong interest. A dedicated birder, Simonds brings her own songbird experiences from Canadian nesting grounds and Mexican wintering grounds to this deeply researched, engaging portrait of a uniquely fascinating woman.

About Merilyn Simonds

Merilyn Simonds is the author of eighteen books, including the non-fiction classic The Convict Lover, Gutenberg's Fingerprint, and most recently, the novel Refuge. The founder and first artistic director of the Kingston WritersFest, Simonds is an influential champion of writers and writing. She lives with writer and translator Wayne Grady and divides her time between Kingston, Ontario, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nancy on March 26, 2022

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence gave up a life of privilege in Sweden in exchange for a life of adventure. She became a Red Cross Nurse during WWI. She married a prisoner of war and followed him to Russia, fending for herself when he entered the White Russian army and was captured. She immigrated to Can......more

Goodreads review by Adrienne on July 22, 2022

Is there anything better than a biography of a woman who lived her life to the fullest? At first I thought this was simply a profile of an influential birdwatcher. Louise de Kiriline Lawrence is described as Canada’s Rachel Carson and one of Canada’s most distinguished nature writers. Some of her me......more

Goodreads review by Mandy on July 05, 2022

I’d never heard of Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and I’m so glad that has now been rectified by this excellent biography. A remarkable woman who led a remarkable life. An amateur ornithologist who contributed an enormous amount to the study of birds in Canada, I hope this book will bring her to a wide......more

Goodreads review by Margi on August 13, 2022

Woman, Watching was a fascinating read. Louise de Kiriline Lawrence is a character almost unbelievable in her experiences. Truly worthy of being much better known by the average Canadian. There is a lot of detail about her birdwatching and her struggles to be accepted and acknowledged as an ornithol......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on October 23, 2022

Fascinating. The stat that keeps rolling around in my head is this: in 1970, there were 45 birds per one human in North America. Now, there are 20. We are losing birds at an alarming rate. Birds need forests and those are disappearing.......more