Clara at the Door with a Revolver

A book like this is a great reminder that the good old days were only good for a very select few. If you were non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual, or even non-Protestant, Toronto in the late 1800s was not a place where you could expect fairness, much less justice. While at least Clara Ford was Protestant, she was also Black and — whatever pronouns she might have used today — she preferred the company of women.

This enjoyable, carefully documented book sets the context for Ford’s sensational trial in the 1894 shooting of white, middle-class, eighteen-year-old Frank Westwood, who died of his wounds within days. Author Carolyn Whitzman describes facts-optional newspaper reporting, teeming slums and lakeside mansions, a thriving community we’d now describe as LGBTQ+, and much more.

The details of the flimsy case against Ford and the duress under which she confessed are offset somewhat by the staunch support she garnered in the community and in the press. It makes for an engaging and thought-provoking book that prompts readers to reflect on the cruelty of previous times from the perspective of our more open-minded yet nonetheless imperfect present.