Large parties given to very young children... foster the passions of vanity and envy, and produce a love of dress and display which is very repulsive in the character of a child.

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.