Annie Garland Foster was born in Fredericton, NB, in 1875. She was an
educator, nurse, politician, social reformer, journalist and biographer
of Pauline Johnson. But she was also a bit of a mystery.
In 1939, Annie wrote an autobiography titled "Passing Through" in which
she described the challenges and adventures of her earlier life: as a
co-ed at UNB in the 1890s, teaching in rural Saskatchewan and British
Columbia, nursing the Great War's wounded in Britain's military
hospitals, being elected to the City Council in Nelson, BC, in 1920 and
consorting with suffragettes. But despite her efforts to share her
story, she was an intriguingly private person. Her memoir, peppered with
pseudonyms and cryptic information, reveals more about the
mysteriousness of her character than about the events of her life. Most
curious of all is her deliberate removal of one of the most intriguing
and critical chapters of her story.
In this thoughtful and thorough biography, Frances Welwood begins her
work where Foster ends her tale. Welwood follows her elusive subject
from Fredericton to Nelson, giving historical context to Annie's
insightful and cinematic prose. But most exciting of all, Welwood
finally sheds light on the events described in the six pages excised
from "Passing Through" the circumstances connecting Annie to a 1926
murder trial.
