Unconventional Daughters
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Description
Author(s)
Bruce W. Bishop
Related Titles
| Publisher | Bruce Bishop Publishing |
| Publication | Nov 11, 2020 |
| Format | Paperback/Softback |
| ISBN | 978-1777414122 |
| Pages | 322 |
| Age | 18 - 99 |
| Price | $17.49 |
Unconventional Daughters
When a widowed mother and her adult daughter vie for the attention of the same man, tension escalates and threatens to destroy their family.
This situation is one of many dilemmas facing the women of a family separated by the Atlantic Ocean and a world of secrets and deception. Can Eva Carroll, a young feminist and budding journalist, placate the conventions of the day?
The Great War is over. Everyone is optimistic. Eva is the daughter of one of three sisters who have already been leading unconventional lives. Although born in Boston, she now lives with her mother, Elisabet, and Swedish grandparents in the small Canadian coastal town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
Eva's two aunts who had spent time in Sweden decide to return to Canada to rejoin their sister. One aunt, obsessed with social status, has bought her title of ‘countess', while the other has a quiet loving relationship with her female housemate. When the siblings get together, their family background in Sweden is laid bare as they learn the truth about their parents and a brother they had never known.
Eva finds herself caught in the midst of rivalries among the three sisters, and a growing mental health issue concerning one of them. Her marriage to her mother's second husband is threatened, even though her mother had condoned the union.
Now her future faces unexpected personal turmoil and danger. Her life has definitely changed during the Roaring ‘20s and into the Great Depression.
Unconventional Daughters is the first book in an interlinked family drama trilogy . If you like compelling characters, fascinating locales, and surprising plot twists, then you'll love Bruce W. Bishop's debut page-turner. The second book is Uncommon Sons, and the third is Undeniable Relations.
Unconventional Daughters is rated 4.6 on Amazon and 4.3 on Goodreads
“[Unconventional Daughters] ...riveting and downright fun!...I love the intrigue this story presents....[it's] simply an all-round satisfying read. BRAVO!”
– Sandra Phinney, author of Waking Up In My Own Backyard: Explorations in Southwest Nova Scotia
“WOW! What an opus. I'm simply blown away by ... the sheer scope of this book as it criss-crosses oceans and continents, reflecting the history of Canadian immigration along with the vagaries of human nature. ...the cast of characters is rich and varied and each one is deftly drawn.”
– Isobel Warren, author of In Them Days
Reviews, Awards & Endorsements
A shortened review of Unconventional Daughters, videotaped at a quiet Nova Scotian beach.
Half of my debut novel takes place in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the other half is set in Gothenburg, Sweden from 1900 to 1935.
This is an interview from CJLS FM Radio in Nova Scotia, following the release of Unconventional Daughters.
Atlantic Books Today endorsement
An excerpt from a review (April 2023)on the Halifax, Canada's Atlantic Books Today social media page: "Over the last few years, Bruce W. Bishop has built a following for his series of historical fiction set in Atlantic Canada. But with names like Unconventional Daughters, Uncommon Sons, and now Undeniable Relations, he overcomes the sheen of the past to explore people left out of history."
Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia profile
Author
Bruce W. Bishop
I was born and raised in a small town in eastern Canada. From a young age, I dreamt of seeing the world, but as I'm more of an introvert than extrovert, I'm not sure how I somehow managed to carve out a freelance career as a travel journalist and guidebook author for over a decade.
Novel writing was initially a novelty that began in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown. I enjoyed the exercise so much that I wrote two follow-up books.
The fictitious characters in my novels are ordinary and somewhat forgotten souls in history who are faced with extraordinary options and decisions to make. What happens when adults are not what and who they are expected to be?
Unconventional Daughters (2020) was followed by Uncommon Sons (2021) and Undeniable Relations (2022), and the three are interlinked. They are set in the early to mid-20th century primarily in Nova Scotia, Canada. They can be read on their own, and not necessarily in any order.
Grow up, Rory Rafferty (2024), a coming-of-age dramedy that takes place in Toronto, Canada, in 1979-80 may be the first in another trilogy. Its follow-up, Stephanie Makes a Scene, is also a standalone novella, and was published in mid-April 2026.