Learn how the wives of Canada’s prime ministers handled their positions in new collective biography Lavona Fercho profiles the lives of 13 former first ladies in ‘Prime Ministers’ Wives’ February 18, 2021 00:00 ET | Source: Archway Publishing Archway Publishing Bloomington, Indiana, UNITED STATES CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 18, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lavona Fercho offers a collection of 13 biographies profiling the lives of the wives of Canada’s prime ministers and how they handled the pressures of the position in “Prime Ministers’ Wives: Those Who Endure” (published by Archway Publishing).
Beginning with the two wives of first prime minister of Canada, John A Macdonald, and ending with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wife of the 23rd prime minister, Justin Trudeau, the biographical sketches reveal how the role of the wives of Canadian prime ministers advanced throughout the years. Fercho shares how some wives adopted a minimal public lifestyle to remain private. The more gregarious struggled to maintain their own identity and distinctiveness, while undertaking whirlwind tasks of honorary chair positions, press conferences, giving speeches and campaigning to promote their husbands. She reveals the personal and public challenges they endured, including infidelity, alcoholism, parenting and mental illness, as well as verbal and physical threats by the public and intrusive press.