The Rebel’s Wife is a historical fiction book written by former UBC professor of civil engineering, Gerald Richardson Brown, and published by Granville Island Publishing (2026). I was drawn to this book as a reader and writer of historical fiction, and in particular, because it promised a narrative that focused on the often-lesser told female experience of a Canadian historical event or time period.
The Rebel’s Wife is based on the real life story of Maria Waits, a remarkable, if not lesser known Canadian heroine. When her husband is sentenced to death by hanging after involvement in a failed rebel uprising in Upper Canada in 1838, Maria resolves to seek justice and save his life so that their young daughter can know her father.
Brown based his writing on the few remaining letters written by Maria herself, as well as witness reports of the events that took place during the rebellions of 1837-1838 in Upper Canada.
With research that is excellently woven into the plot, and extensive coverage of the birth pains of an early Canadian political landscape, The Rebel’s Wife is both enjoyable and enlightening.
Kudos to Brown for bringing readers a strong, female protagonist; a woman both ahead of her time and firmly grounded within it. With her husband in hiding, then jail and eventually exiled, Maria navigates the 19th century challenges of woman and motherhood on her own. When reading historical fiction, I relish these types of quietly revolutionary characters: women breaking the rules, not merely rebellious but activated because something had to be done, an ideal had to change, a desire existed, or simply because she pursued happiness:
“Her heart was torn between love for her husband and that of her daughter. She ached to go into battle with Benjamin to fight for the freedom that was promised by democratic reform of the government.” (page 62)
However, for all its excellence in research and creation of a resistant female character, The Rebel’s Wife fell short for me in its delivery of her imagined inner life and experience. Early on, Maria is established as a loyal wife and a good mother, and yet, sometimes chapters go by without mention of her daughter, Augusta or her husband, Benjamin.
In the second half of the book, as Maria travels alone to England, there are few passages where we feel how angry she must be, the unfairness of having her life stolen to feed political power. Where are the scenes where she longs to hold her child, where she beats herself up for doing both what is right and what is wrong, her sadness at missing first steps, first words and sweet bedtime cuddles? Instead, the obvious:
“Maria tortured herself by thinking that what she was doing was unnatural, but she had to leave her child to save her husband.” (page 166)
Maria doggedly pursues Benjamin’s freedom which suggests that she is deeply in love and yet there is no exploration of her inner life and feelings; no craving deep in the night to feel him reach for her, nor daydreams about the softness of his lips or the way he smells when freshly shaven. I wanted their story: to know how they fell in love, what attracted her to him, their wedding, their first home, the arrival of Augusta. What was the brief history that created Maria’s obsession? The first flashback (and one of very few) from early days in their relationship, their wedding day, doesn’t happen until page 231.
With a title like The Rebel’s Wife, I expected more from Maria as a character, to be privy to her private thoughts about rebellion in Upper Canada, but also her inner monologue about who she was and what from her personal life justified such a worldwide adventure for a woman of this time period (that book might be called ‘The Rebel Wife’, I suppose). Still, the reader is given a well-related, excellently researched, mostly factual account (with some imagination to bridge the moments between) of the rebel response to the Family Compact in Upper Canada, its impact historically, and the challenging process of holding a political system responsible. If that interests you, then you will enjoy reading this book. If you are like me, equally interested in the inner life of an unusually determined wife and mother, then you may want to look elsewhere. This is Benjamin Waits’ story told from Maria’s perspective – there is very little of Maria herself. Still, I appreciate the telling since the impacts made by men like Benjamin were only possible because women like Maria were caring for children, elders, businesses and farms back home.
Still, the reader is given a well-related, excellently researched, mostly factual account (with some imagination to bridge the moments between) of the rebel response to the Family Compact in Upper Canada, its impact historically, and the challenging process of holding a political system responsible.
Born in 1930, Gerald Richardson Brown grew up in a small village, an experience that has never left him. He was fortunate to be able to go to university and eventually to teach civil engineering at the University of British Columbia for twenty-five years.
On retirement, Professor Brown began writing historical fiction. He published a trilogy of novels linked by the contents of a sea chest brought to North America by early European settlers. The Road to Ganneious (2012), The Villager (2018) and North to Crying Rock (2020) were published by Conundrum Press.
The Rebel’s Wife is Professor Brown’s fourth book. He lives in Vancouver with his wife, Janet.
Publisher: Granville Island Publishing (October 30, 2025)
Paperback 9″ x 6″ | 320 pages
ISBN: 9781989467794
Author. Educator. Theatre Maker. Producer. Typewriter Enthusiast. Gatherer of creative folk.
Aren A. Morris is a Halifax-based arts educator and novelist.
She has been writing, directing, facilitating, and producing student theatre in education for two decades and now works with Halifax Regional Arts. She loves finding ways to incorporate the Performing Arts into Curriculum Delivery.
Aren’s debut, We Happy Few, is a historical fiction novel taking place in Halifax, NS at the end of the Second World War and was released in May 2022. She is now editing and revising her sophomore novel (another historical fiction set in NS) and recently co-hosted the third installment of The Fantastic Grown Up Book Fair in Mahone Bay.
Her other endeavours include women’s creativity retreats, writing and producing youth theatre and dance shows, and multidisciplinary collaborations with local artists, dancers and writers.
She is one half of the short lived and now defunct Black Box Publishing House, which is now evolving to become Black Box Creative Development Agency, a container large enough to hold and promote all of Aren’s creative interests and pursuits.
