In 1960s Canada, ambition isnât ladylikeâunless youâre Peggy Brennan.
Peggy has one dream: to become a hardâhitting journalist in a world that still thinks women belong in the society pages. Fiercely independent and proudly uninterested in romance, she pushes against every boundary her era tries to draw around her.
When she lands a junior position at a bustling city newsroom, Peggy is determined to prove herself through grit, integrity, and sheer talent. But her convictions are tested when she crosses paths with John Grantâthe charismatic young editor who sees her potential long before anyone else does.
John offers mentorship, opportunity⊠and a distraction Peggy never asked for.
As Peggy fights to carve out her place in the maleâdominated world of journalism, she must confront her deepest question:
Can she rise to the career sheâs always wanted without compromising who she isâ or will her dreams be derailed by the one thing sheâs sworn to avoid?
A spirited story of ambition, identity, and the shifting tides of feminism, Carrying On captures a young womanâs struggle to define success on her own terms.
In 1960s Canada, ambition isnât ladylikeâunless youâre Peggy Brennan.
Peggy has one dream: to become a hardâhitting journalist in a world that still thinks women belong in the society pages. Fiercely independent and proudly uninterested in romance, she pushes against every boundary her era tries to draw around her.
When she lands a junior position at a bustling city newsroom, Peggy is determined to prove herself through grit, integrity, and sheer talent. But her convictions are tested when she crosses paths with John Grantâthe charismatic young editor who sees her potential long before anyone else does.
John offers mentorship, opportunity⊠and a distraction Peggy never asked for.
As Peggy fights to carve out her place in the maleâdominated world of journalism, she must confront her deepest question:
Can she rise to the career sheâs always wanted without compromising who she isâ or will her dreams be derailed by the one thing sheâs sworn to avoid?
A spirited story of ambition, identity, and the shifting tides of feminism, Carrying On captures a young womanâs struggle to define success on her own terms.
Out of her window, Peggy watched as the snow began to fall on the avenue below. The streetlamps were lit, and the snowflakes danced in the yellow glow. She pulled her soft brown and red afghan tighter over her shoulders and tucked her feet in under the blanket. The window seat in her tiny room was her favourite place to be alone. She could hear the other girls in the boarding house giggling and scurrying around. There was a crash and then a loud gasp, followed by peals of laughter that Peggy knew could only be from Mary. âPeg!! Come on!!â Mary had poked her curly, blonde head around the door. âItâs snowing! Audrey and Kate and I are going out to catch the flakes!â Mary was a golden child, in the truest sense of the word. Her laugh was infectious, she was witty and impetuous, but only insofar as she was endearing, not a bit reckless. She had close-cropped blonde curls that would not stay in place no matter how much Aqua Net was lacquered to it, nor how many bobby pins were strategically placed, and thus, Mary gave up and âlet it liveâ. She had lively blue eyes, ruddy cheeks, with no need for blush, full lips quick to smile, and an aquiline nose. She wore becoming clothes in her colours, which flattered her charming little figure. She was in the city attending the Womenâs College. Her parents were hoping that she would obtain her degree and find a nice lawyer to wed. Mary was keen on the plan but insisted that she âmight as well have a blastâ in the meantime. Now, her bright eyes danced, as she stood in the doorway of Peggyâs room. Her warm black boots gave way to bright red tights, beneath her thick woolen skirt and tweed jacket. She wore blue mittens, the same shade as her eyes, and the same shade as the toque pulled low over her forehead. The whole effect was just as entrancing as Mary herself. âYou girls go on. I am nursing a cold and Mr. Reynolds would flip out if I caught a chill and couldnât make it to work tomorrow.â Peggy picked up the teacup from the little wooden table next to her as if to emphasize her point. She took a sip of the now lukewarm tea and looked beseechingly over the rim at her friend. Mary shrugged and banged the door closed behind her. âNo dice, girls! Pegâs dullsville tonight. Letâs go!!â Peggy slumped back against her stack of cushions and looked back out the window. This was going to be her first winter away from home, and the thought filled her with an odd sensation. It was both a longing for Mama and Dad, a longing to go home and feel safe, and a bubbling excitement at what was ahead of her. In the spring, she had earned her bachelorâs and had spent the summer applying for any job she could get her elegant hands on, to earn enough to get herself to the city. She scrimped and saved and went two seasons without a good haircut. Her mother tsked when they drove into town and Peggy refused to buy a new summer hat at JC Penney. âMama, last yearâs hat will do just fine, thank you. I need the money for room and board come Fall.â
âOh, darling! Mrs. Brennan exclaimed in genuine horror that her youngest daughter would be seen around town and in Church in last yearâs hat. But you must have a new hat! It is really a much better investment in your future than room and board to go gallivanting off to the city, like some sort of⊠well, letâs just say that no Brennan has ever lived on her own!!â Mrs. Brennan was a traditional woman and had married her husband at the ripe old age of 19 and believed herself to be happy for it. Peggy did not see this as so. How could a woman be happy, living in a big house, away from friends and family, tending to five children, at one point five under the age of five, and all that that entailed? Mrs. Brennan scrubbed and waxed her floors, did the washing, cooking, laundry, dusting, canning, sewing, knitting, gardening, and chased after her children. Peggy saw this as a woman gone mad, rather than a woman who âhad it allâ. Mr. Brennan left at seven oâclock each morning, with a quick peck on the cheek from his wife, to take the train into town, where he spent the day in his office, making important decisions, and lunching with entertaining people, and being a part of the world. Peggy thought her fatherâs life was splendid. He had a secretary, and an expense account and folks took him seriously. At home, Peggy would catch her harried mother glancing contemplatively out the window, over the backyard, toward the blue mountains in the distance. Peggy would watch her mother quietly and wonder what she was thinking. Was she wistful for the days before she married Dad and started having children? Once, she had caught Peggy watching and shook her head. âYou have such silly notions, Margaret. I did not have a life before your father. He and you kids are my life. I just think those hills are awfully beautiful in the sunshine.â She then hurried to straighten out the pleats in the starched linen curtains and scuttled out of the room to tend to the laundry. Peggy supposed that Mama could have been telling the truth, but she always had this inkling that there was something her mother didnât say. Something that hid beneath the surface, something that Pine Sol and floor wax did not quite satisfy.
Peggy was so happy to be right there, alone in her little room, with her stack of books, her window overlooking the avenue, her little job in the big city, and a tingle in her spine that she was finally on her way to being the person she wanted to be. With the contented sigh of a cat stretching its back after a nap, Peggy stood and placed her empty China cup back in its saucer. She contemplated bringing the cup back down to the kitchen, as she knew that is what Mrs. Penske would prefer, but that seemed an awful long way to go when her narrow bed was right here. And besides, the landlady would come and take it in the morning after she left for work. Tossing her afghan into its usual heap on the window seat, Peggy turned out her lamp, pulled the curtains closed and shuffled to her bed. Snuggling under her three thin duvets, she considered that maybe she should have worn her afghan to bed, as well, for warmth. She set her eyes on the thin, yellow shaft of light that sliced across the floor from between the curtains and felt herself drift into a contented sleep.
Carrying ï»żOn is a sharp and brilliant character driven Historical Fiction novel about Peggy Brennan, a woman embarking on a journalism career in the mid-1960âs. Peggy is different from her more traditional mother and sisters. They have all been married and expect Peggy to do the same, but she has other ideas. The journalism career that they believe is only a hold over until marriage is Peggyâs ticket for living a professional self-actualized life. If a woman has to choose marriage or a career, she is going for the latter while the other women in her family went for the former.
The book explores the changes that women encountered during the volatile 60âs. The traditional roles of a house, husband, and children no longer applied and were not looked upon as the sole aspirations for women. Books like Simone de Beauvoirâs The Second Sex and Betty Friedanâs The Feminine Mystique and noted events like the release of the Pill are referenced. They are also shown in how this time affected people personally.
One of Peggyâs sisters leaves her closeted husband and moves to San Francisco. Another holds to her values, but also has serious questions about her life. Peggy also asks her mother if she is satisfied with her life and how things turned out. This is a conversation that would never have occurred to her if she wasnât surrounded by these questions and the decisions that many women of her generation took to answer them.
Peggy herself is surrounded by these changes in her own way. Her roommates struggle with their jobs, relationships, and expectations. At work, she is dismissed for writing important news articles and is worried that she is only going to write the so-called âwomenâs articlesâ about fashion, cooking, and childcare. Her contributions are disregarded because the men donât take her seriously and the women think that sheâs acting above her station. Her progressive views are demeaned and dismissed.
Her new editor, John Grant however is one of the few men that are actually receptive to the idea of change. When he wants to create a woman's section, he doesn't want it to be the fluffy soft news that readers and advertisers expect. He puts Peggy in charge of it because he wants to focus on real news that affects women. News like politics, war, laws, education, work, the various movements, and changes.
This egalitarian view interests Peggy as much as Johnâs genuine interest in her work and opinions. Even though Peggy questions the division between marriage and career, she weighs whether it's possible for a woman to have both. Can she truly have it all with a man who is accepting of that possibility?
This is a relationship of mutual respect and friendship. It's interesting that I am reading this book at the same time as The Girl From Melodia which also deals with a romance between two people in a similar field. However, The Girl From Melodia explores the concept of the Artistâs Muse and how the Artist is so self-involved in their own art and voice that they deprive the Muse of theirs. Carrying On is the opposite. Someone who is not threatened by their intendedâs voice and actively encourages it making their relationship an equal partnership.
As Peggy conducts interviews and leads focus groups, she sees women of different ages, statuses, political views, goals, and outlooks. They do have one thing in common. They are glad that someone is taking their voices and opinions seriously and they are being shared on a wider scale.
That is what the various feminist movements do. Take seriously the current concerns of women and work to improve them. Whether it's the right to vote, having educational opportunities, to have control over their own bodies, to earn the same amount as men, to stop being assaulted and harassed, or to do away with the patriarchal assumptions of men and women.
Sure the names change, the specific causes might vary, and the means of sharing information and rebelling fit the era but they all boil down to one obvious function. Anyone who identifies as female fighting for the freedom of agency and choice over their own lives and futures.