Wordfest Presents Perdita Felicien (My Mother’s Daughter)

On your mark, get set, and don’t miss your chance to read Olympic hurdler Perdita Felicien’s affecting, debut memoir about a mother and daughter who beat the odds together. This event features an on-stage interview, followed by a Q&A and book signing.

About My Mother’s Daughter

Decades before Perdita Felicien became a World Champion hurdler running the biggest race of her life at the 2004 Olympics, she carried more than a nation's hopes—she carried her mother Catherine's dreams.
 
In 1974, Catherine is determined and tenacious, but she's also pregnant with her second child and just scraping by in St. Lucia. When she meets a wealthy white Canadian family vacationing on the island, she knows it's her chance. They ask her to come to Canada to be their nanny—and she accepts.

“Perdita Felicien is so much more than a champion athlete. This phenomenal, human story shows a Canada many people will never know, the power of a mother's love for her daughter, and the indefatigable resilience in the face of so much struggle. I could not put this book down.”—Clara Hughes, six-time Olympic medalist and author of Open Heart, Open Mind

This was the beginning of Catherine's new life: a life of opportunity, but also one of suffering. Within a few years, she would find herself pregnant a third time—this time in her new country with no family to support her, and this time, with Perdita. Together, in the years to come, mother and daughter would experience racism, domestic abuse, and even homelessness, but Catherine's will would always pull them through.
 
As Perdita grew and began to discover her preternatural athletic gifts, she was edged onward by her mother's love, grit, and faith. Facing literal and figurative hurdles, she learned to leap and pick herself back up when she stumbled. This book is a daughter's memoir—a book about the power of a parent's love to transform their child's life.

About Perdita Felicien

Perdita Felicien is an author, television host, sports broadcaster, two-time Olympian, ten-time National Champion, and the first Canadian woman to win a World Championship gold medal in track and field. During her career as a 100-metre hurdler, she earned numerous honours, including Canada's Athlete of the Year and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Felicien retired from professional sports in 2013 and is now a broadcast journalist. She was part of CBC's broadcast team at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and was inducted into Athletics Canada's Hall of Fame. My Mother's Daughter is her first book.

Curiouser?

Articles:

• “'I never talked about it and I am now:' Perdita Felicien on growing up in poverty” — CBC News
• “Read an excerpt and see the cover of Perdita Felicien's memoir My Mother's Daughter” — CBC Books

Books:

Books will be available for purchase at the event by local bookseller, Owl's Nest Books.

If you want to purchase the book in advance: 

Owl's Nest Books | Indigo.ca