Sheilagh O’Leary and Rhonda Pelley spent two summers travelling from Bonavista Bay to the Great Northern Peninsula and to the communities of the south coast. The women they interviewed shared unique life stories filled with hard work, love, heartbreak, and family.

Island Maid documents, with photos and words, the thoughts and lives of these women. It is also the chronicle of a journey, a feminist road-trip taken during one of the most tumultuous times in Newfoundland’s modern history.

Rhonda Pelley is a Newfoundland writer and artist whose work has been seen in galleries and publications locally and internationally. She lives in St. John’s with her partner Frank Barry and her two cats Henry and Lucy.

Rhonda Pelley's profile page

Sheilagh O’Leary is an award-winning art photographer from St. John’s. She produces striking collections of black-and-white nudes and portraits with an intimate exploration of the subject and their relationship to the Newfoundland landscape. Her previous book, Human Natured: Newfoundland Nudes, explores almost two decades of her B&W nude photography.

Sheilagh O’Leary's profile page

"This is a book to treasure." - Roberta Buchanan