I have no wish for a second husband. I had enough of the first. I like to have my own way to lie down mistress, and get up master.

The family settled on a farm in Douro township near Lakefield north of Peterborough Upper Canada where her brother Samuel worked as a surveyor and where artifacts are housed in a museum. Additionally the central character of Shield's novel Small Ceremonies is working on a biography of Moodie. The inspiration for the memoir came from a suggestion by her editor that Susanna Moodie write an "emigrant's guide" for British people looking to move to Canada.

Susanna Moodie born Strickland (6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885) was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada which was a British colony at the time.