Born near the village of Elbow, Saskatchewan, Elma sank deep roots into the prairie way of life and the traditions of her extended Mennonite family. Venturing farther afield, she became a teacher of English and religion. After several years she fulfilled a lifelong dream by moving into a publishing career in Toronto. She's the author of 75 books including Yesterstories, Native Canadians Today and Long Ago, Jacob Siemens Family Since 1685, Russia, Ottawa, and Hello Winnipeg. In 2006 Elma and her husband relocated to Kamloops, British Columbia. There she writes, blogs, and takes long walks on grassy hillsides that remind her of her prairie roots.

YesterCanada presents thirty historical tales spanning this great land and the centuries from the 1200s to the 1900s. Here are a few of the mysteries you'll find in its pages: Where in the icy Arctic is the lost Vancouver-based ship Baychimo? Who rang the chapel bell in Tadoussac, Quebec one foggy April night in 1782? Why did a Minnesota farmer abandon his farm, walk to Saskatchewan, and build an ocean-going ship far from any ocean? In YesterCanada you'll also meet adventurers like Ontario´s daring Lady Agnes, Nova Scotia's migrating Normanites, gold-seekers of Alberta, and the Manitoba Cree chief who gave his life for the woman he loved.

It's 1940 and Tina Janz doesn't want to marry the man her pious Mennonite parents have chosen for her. He's as boring as turnips compared with Frank Warkentin. Obsessed with the dashing half-Gypsy Frank, Tina leaves her job in Vancouver to marry him. Sadly, her joy gives way to loneliness on Frank's farm in the prairie community of Coyote, Saskatchewan. When he shuns local Mennonites because some of them scorn his mixed parentage, Tina feels torn between her Mennonite heritage and her husband. Their son's death drives the couple farther apart. Then fresh challenges send them stumbling toward a new understanding of love, loyalty, faith, and freedom. Tina and Frank's story is told with energy and humour. Colourfully woven into its time and place, it's a well-researched portrayal of family life on the home front during the Second World War and beyond.