''Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan'' is a novel by

Benedict Benedict may refer to: People Names *Benedict (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Benedict (surname), including a list of people with the surname Religious figures * Pope Benedict I (died 579), head of the Catholic Chu ...

and

Nancy Freedman Nancy Mars Freedman (born July 4, 1920, in Evanston, Illinois, died August 10, 2010, in Greenbrae, California) was an American feminist novelist, the co-author of ''Mrs. Mike''.. Life Upbringing Freedman (née Nancy Mars) was a professional chil ...

set in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

wilderness during the early 1900s. Considered by some a young-adult classic, ''Mrs. Mike'' was initially serialized in the

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

and was the March 1947 selection of the

Literary Guild The Literary Guild of America is a mail order book club selling low-cost editions of selected current books to its members. Established in 1927 to compete with the Book of the Month Club, it is currently owned by Bookspan. It was a way to encourag ...

. It was a critical and popular success, with 27 non-US editions, and it was published as an

Armed Services Edition Armed Services Editions (ASEs) were small paperback books of fiction and nonfiction that were distributed in the American military during World War II. From 1943 to 1947, some 122 million copies of more than 1,300 ASE titles were distributed to s ...

for U.S. servicemen abroad. The work combines the landscape and hardships of the Canadian North with the love story of

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

Sergeant Mike Flannigan and the young Katherine Mary O'Fallon, newly arrived from Boston, Massachusetts.

Plot

The novel is based on the stories of Katherine Mary O'Fallon Flannigan (1899-1954). According to her fictionalized account, in 1907 at age 16 O'Fallon travels to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

to visit her uncle and recover from

pleurisy Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity (pleurae). This can result in a sharp chest pain while breathing. Occasionally the pain may be a constant dull ache. Other sy ...

. There she meets and marries Mike Flannigan, a sergeant with the

Royal North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territor ...

, moving with him to isolated posts in the mountain and lake regions of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and northern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

(

Lesser Slave Lake Lesser Slave Lake (french: Petit lac des Esclaves)—known traditionally as "Beaver Lake" (ᐊᒥᐢᐠ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ amisk sâkâhikan in the Plains Cree language, and T’saat’ine migeh in Dene Zhatıé) or "Beaver people were over the ...

).. In the novel the Flannigans' two children die of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

, and they adopt three orphaned children.

Reception

Feeling that her story should be made into a film, Flannigan went to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1945. Although it attracted little attention, an agent felt the story might be suitable for a book and introduced her to the Freedmans. Based on a five-page outline, extended interviews and their research, they wrote a novel based on Flannigan's story. Late in life they reaffirmed that aspects of Flannigan's life were fictionalized, including her adoption of three children, and after Sgt. Flannigan's death in 1944 from a ruptured appendix Katherine Mary Flannigan left the North. According to Benedict Freedman, "The most important scenes—for example, when she leaves Mike and goes back to Boston—we didn't invent that. But we also didn't check her account of things." A 1947 review of ''Mrs. Mike'' by RCMP member C.D. LaNauze, stationed in Grouard at the time of the story, noted a number of discrepancies. A journey allegedly requiring "weeks on the trail" was actually an "easy five-day journey", according to LaNauze; there was no diphtheria epidemic (and

Grouard Grouard, also known as Grouard Mission, is a hamlet in northern Alberta within Big Lakes County. It was previously an incorporated municipality between 1909 and 1944. Grouard is located north of Highway 2, approximately northeast of Grande ...

was served by a doctor at the time), and confirmed bachelor George Adams—not a Michael Flannigan—was the RCMP sergeant. LaNauze said, "Nothing in

he book He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

even approaches the truth". A film version, with

Evelyn Keyes Evelyn Louise Keyes (November 20, 1916 – July 4, 2008) was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film ''Gone with the Wind''. Early life Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar D ...

as Katherine Mary and

Dick Powell Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...

as Mike, was released in 1949. Flannigan sued its producers and the Freedmans for $25,000, but the suit was dismissed because she had a legal claim against the authors only (not the producers). The Freedmans published two sequels to ''Mrs. Mike'': ''The Search for Joyful'' in 2002 and ''Kathy Little Bird'' in 2003. Katherine Mary Flannigan married John P. Knox, and lived in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. In 1951 she published ''The Faith of Mrs. Kelleen'', set in 1880s Ireland and based on the life of her great-aunt. Flannigan died on August 8, 1954, while visiting family and friends in Calgary.

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, Aug. 10, 1954 obituary) "'Mrs. Mike' Figure dies – Katherine Mary Flannigan Was Inspiration For Bestseller" John Henry Crosman adapted the novel into a newspaper comic adaptation, in the 1940s.

Publication history

* ''Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan'', Coward-McCann & Geoghegan (January 1, 1947), ASIN: B0007F29J8 * ''Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan''. Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1947. * ''Mrs. Mike'', Paperback, Berkley (MM); Reissue edition (Jan 17 2002), {{ISBN, 0-425-10328-5

References

1947 American novels Biographical novels Canadian young adult novels Fiction set in the 1900s Novels set in Alberta American novels adapted into films Novels adapted into comics Novels set in British Columbia Coward-McCann books