Young, vivacious Edith had welcomed the new century with her fiancé dreaming of a glorious future. But then he had gone off to fight in the Boer war…. now there is only his ghostly presence that comes to meet her everyday.
However, now there is another war. And Edith, like many ghost widows of her small town in Canada is tired of her secluded, privileged life and wants to explore other facets of it. So she joins a munitions factory becoming an overseer and coming in contact with women whom she would not have even talked to earlier. And perhaps, romance too might be there for her once again….
Hall’s story presents another side of the war. As men fight on the battlefields, the women come out of their homes, become competent in things they had not done earlier, earning for themselves economic and personal independence, and class-barriers too start dissolving as women start bonding together.
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First Line: Over the lawns of “Stonehurst,” past the beautiful old house, through the latticed garden gate and among thick grasses that reface the orchard crept the ghost.
Source: Faded Page
Pages: 19
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Submitted for Short Story Wednesday @ Pattinase
a hot cup of pleasure 
What an interesting perspective on those times, Neeru. The Boer War doesn’t always get a lot of attention, and the time between that war and the First World War really was interesting.
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Yes, this was a different take on the war. Not merely tragedy but a time to grow and become independent. I was surprised to read that Canada had sent boys to fight for the British though when I thought about it, it shouldn’t have been so surprising.
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This sounds like a very good story, Neeru, I know little about the Boer War or how World War I affected Canada.
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It was a nice story, Tracy. I too have little idea of Canadian history and so it came as a surprise that Canadians had died in the Boer war. Though as it was a Dominion colony of Great Britain, it shouldn’t have surprised me. One just never thought about it.
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I like the sound of this Neeru; I’ve come across newer stories exploring women’s challenges and contributions but I think a contemporary one would be so much more valuable and authentic.
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I agree. It always makes me wonder how did the women cope after the men came back and society assumed that they would go back to their domestic spaces.
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