There’s always something comforting and somewhat validating about reading a book with places and times you can relate to. That satisfying coincidence happened on the first page of the first chapter of Liberty Street, a novel of contemporary historical fiction by Canadian author Heather Marshall. The story begins in 1961 on the fourth floor in the Maclean-Hunter Building at 481 University Avenue in Toronto, the same building where my own career began in July 1965. That is where I started my first full-time job on the fifth floor, at seventeen, working for The Bell Telephone Company of Canada, as it was called back then. The building has since been designated a historical landmark, and while most of it was demolished, the facade was restored and incorporated into a new commercial and residential tower.

The main character, Emily, is a Junior Assistant Editor working for Doris Anderson, the former real-life editor of Chatelaine, Canada’s foremost women’s magazine. Anderson was a history-making, ardent feminist whose name is still revered today. As a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Victoria College, Emily is anxious to put her new degree to work in serious journalism. When an anonymous source advises the magazine of deplorable and potentially illegal activities at the Mercer Women’s Correctional Facility on King Street West in Liberty Village, Emily arranges to be incarcerated to do a secret, in-depth exposé.

When the story begins, you may feel like you’re in a Doris Day movie as the author sets the stage with Emily’s happy home life and promising job at Chatelaine. Be patient. Marshall is laying the groundwork for a sixties lifestyle story that soon leads to a very different, grittier plotline. Emily convinces her father to go before a judge to deem her “incorrigible,” which is all it takes to have her committed to a six-month sentence. The Mercer prison is full of women and girls whose only crime might be as minor as getting pregnant outside of marriage. Under the now-defunct 1927 law “The Female Refuges Act”, abusive husbands could have their wives committed for rebelling against their brutal authority. Sex workers who were deemed morally corrupt, lesbians, or daughters who refused to obey strict parents could also be incarcerated without recourse or defence.

Two main storylines run on different timelines. Emily is an investigative journalist going undercover at the Mercer Institute in 1961. A second storyline is set in the 1980s and 1990s. Rachel is a police detective in Bayfield, Ontario, who is charged with investigating the discovery of a Jane Doe body in an unmarked grave at a nearby rural cemetery. As we delve deeper into the book, we find ourselves wondering how and when the Emily and Rachel plotlines will intersect, which provides an exciting element of suspense. While Emily grew up in a loving, supportive family, Rachel’s story is one of parental neglect, secrets, and conflict.

Immediately upon admission, Emily is exposed to treatment worse than anything she anticipated. She is shocked to learn that many of her fellow inmates were committed after being deemed guilty of “crimes” that would not be illegal by today’s standards. This was as late as the 1960s. Physical and mental abuse were standard practices. Unlawful withholding of information, poor nutrition, lack of health support and sanitation, and unjustified punishments and violations of basic human rights were commonly and blatantly administered by staff.

There is no opportunity for Emily to record her experiences during the time she is imprisoned at the Mercer, which makes it difficult for her to collect definitive and irrefutable proof of the abuses and illegal activities in the facility. Fear of exposure could jeopardize not only her research, but could endanger her life and the lives of anyone she takes into her confidence. She must keep a low profile while conducting her clandestine investigation. Many of the inmates are innocent unwed mothers, disadvantaged sex workers, victims of domestic or parental abuse, as well as petty criminals. Even the occupants of the psychiatric floor are not necessarily mentally ill or dangerous.

Heather Marshall is also the author of another book of historical fiction, The Secret History of Audrey James, which I loved and reviewed in January 2025.  Liberty Street takes us to different communities in southern Ontario, including Clinton, Goderich, Cambridge, and Stratford, so I’m not the only one who will find familiar places they can relate to. When I lived at Dufferin and King Street in the 1960s, I would pass the remains of the old prison on the streetcar on my way to work. It is a novel with mystery and suspense, and a bit of a thriller. I love supporting Canadian authors, which is easy when they write wonderful books like Liberty Street. Once I got into it, I could not put it down.

If you are unable to obtain Liberty Street or The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall at your local bookstore or library,

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