I found this book to be a bit too strange of a mixture of memoir and fiction so that i felt a bit lost and wanting to know more what was true and what wasn't. Which yes that is a personal "problem" and preference but i also don't think i am alone in wanting to either be told, its fiction or its not, or at least get a more detailed knowledge on what is real and what wasn't.

All in all its a good book and a great story but go into it knowing that some aspects are said to be true and you never really learn which ones are. So decide for yourself if that is something for you or not.

Based on the lives of the author's grandmother and grandfather, the broad themes of this novel are true and the house at Kanaka Creek was part of the author's past in Vancover Canada.
Narrator Anne is introduced to us aged 12 in her farm home in Wales. From the beginning it is clear Anne is an intelligent and independently minded especially for that time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. When her parents invite a visiting labourer Frank to stay with them and work on the farm Anne's destiny is sealed. But as Anne falls deeper in love Frank announces he wants to travel to America in search of land of his own to start a dairy farm.
Meanwhile Anne discovers a talent for teaching and manages to persuade her parents to let her attend teacher training college. Once qualified all Anne's plans for a career change when Frank returns to Wales with a suggestion for even more adventures that will affect their future lives together..
I grew to like Anne's family and the travels undertaken by Frank until the couple finally make their way to Canada. But somehow the dialogue is quite stilted with plot changes forced into the story. Other characters are introduced and Jerry is particularly interesting, but events back in Wales do seem literally left behind and I did wonder whether more could have been made of Anne's teaching within her large family or other children that the couple met.
The descriptions of the rail and ship journeys within the novel were the highlights of the book for me as Frank and then Anne discovered the world beyond the 'sheltered' fields and mountains of Wales.Within the author's family this novel must be very evocative and it is good to remember the main characters are based on real people.
Enjoyable but not epic.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written in such a way as to pull the reader into the journey made by Anne and Frank. I could hardly put this book down and feel that it is well suited for a holiday . Recommended wholeheartedly.

"Passages" seems to be a memoir turned in to a novel. Anne is a strong character who knows what she wants in life and goes out to get it. Frank is also ambitious but at times mis-directed. The book brings home to you the difficulties of travel 100 years or so ago, and of knowing what to expect on arrival I was surprised at how much freedom some of the female characters had at this time. I was also amazed when I looked at contemporary maps to see the locations portrayed, and their distances apart. Interesting.