The Mending

As the world settled the treaty to the recently concluded war-to-end-all-wars, and as the Canadian government repatriated the brave members of her expeditionary force, Canadians sought two things above all else: an end to the beleaguered state suffered during the war, and a return to the innocence that preceded it. In the final book of the Beneath the Alders trilogy, Jessie Stephens discovers that neither is entirely possible. Set between 1918 and 1931, Jessie comes of age on the heels of the Spanish flu epidemic, in a time where skirt hems rose, marriageable men were in short supply, and compliance with temperance laws fell. As modern medical, dental, and training programs strove to restore the lives of the war's injured, Jessie is a student at the University of Toronto, a mourner in the fields of France, a tourist in European capitals, a love struck guide in the hills of Caledon, and a devoted family member in her home town of Brampton. As she uncovers the secrets that have beset her since her earliest days, and others of more recent discovery, Jessie, her family, and her community begin to mend.