Laura Secord: A Story of Courage

Laura Secord never thought of herself as brave. She was gentle, shy, and soft spoken. But Laura was brave, and Janet Lunn tells her compelling story. A war between Great Britain and the United States was raging. The American political leaders were sure they would win the war. “It will be a mere matter of marching,” they said. For two years, from the summer of 1812 to the winter of 1814, fierce and bloody battles were fought.

One day in the spring of 1813, American officers took over the Secord home, demanding food. Laura heard them boasting about a plan that would give them an easy victory over the British Lieutenant FitzGibbon. It fell to the gentle Laura to make the grueling trip that would alert FitzGibbon of the impending danger.

Laura Secord’s dreadful journey has been long celebrated in story. Janet Lunn, one of the country’s finest writers of historical fiction, recounts the tale with fresh detail and masterly prose. Her writing is perfectly complemented by Maxwell Newhouse’s delightful naive paintings.