Carolyn J. Nicholson
Carolyn was born in Nova Scotia and is descended from many of the New England Planter families who first came to Cornwallis Township, Kings County, Nova Scotia, in 1760. She was unaware of this part of her family history until after she retired and began to follow in her mother’s footsteps and continue her family research. The degree of her connection to these New England Planters was exemplified when she read a story about a church meeting of elders in the 1760s and knew she was related to five of the six men mentioned. In 1799, her great-great-great- grandfather, the Reverend William Forsyth of Scotland, became the minister of the Congregational Church at Chipmans Corner in the Township. During her research, she found her first cousins once removed and Forsyth descendants like herself, William McKay and Susanne Daley, who, among other things, sent her the booklet The Female Sex by the Reverend William Thomas Wishart inscribed with Isabel Morton Wishart’s initials. It seemed the stars had aligned for Carolyn to write her most recent book, Isabel-The Quest for Freedom.
Carolyn has previously written two works of historical fiction, William Forsyth: Land of Hopes and Dreams and Traitors, Cannibals, Highlanders, and Vikings, as well as a middle-grade children’s book, The Last Witch on Skye. She is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada (retired) and has also worked in health information management and post-secondary education. She loves travelling to Scotland, especially to the Isle of Skye, her paternal family home for thousands of years. She is a member of the MacNeacail Clan and enjoys all things Highland Scottish, especially tartans and bagpipes. She enjoys travelling with her three sisters while doing research, as they are all birds of a feather.
Learn more about Carolyn on her website and on The Author Journey.
Carolyn's Books
Isabel-The Quest for Freedom
Isabel Morton’s prominent Nova Scotia family wants the best for their twenty-four-year-old daughter—a suitable marriage—but Isabel will have none of it. She wants to be free, even if it means she must live as an “old maid” in a garret. Then she meets William Wishart, who offers her the freedom to follow her own stars if she marries him.
But how does a woman follow her own stars in a culture where women are the property of their fathers, or if married, their husbands, and are to be meek, pious, and subservient? With no access to representative government, no right to vote, how can women be free? Isabel tries to find a way through many twists and turns of fate until, at last, she realizes that freedom for herself is not enough; she chooses to work for women's suffrage in order to gain freedom for all women and their daughters and granddaughters.
Spanning the years 1837 to 1873 and based on the author’s own family, this work of historical fiction follows Isabel from bucolic Upper Dyke Village to gritty Halifax, from placid Shelburne to turbulent Saint John, NB, and back to her native Kings County, Nova Scotia, in her quest for freedom.
ISBN: 978-1-989833-65-0 - paperback
ISBN: 978-1-989833-66-7 - eBook GCA certified
Releasing September 11, 2026
The Last Witch on Skye
The Ban the Witches and Fairies (BW&F) Party has chased all the supernatural creatures out of the Isle of Skye. Only Magaidh, a young witch, remains, hiding in a castle disguised as a cat. But she and the Queen of the Fairies have a plan to rescue the Fairy Flag, allowing the fairies and Magaidh to return to Skye. As Magaidh resumes her business, Spells, Inc., she thinks about getting revenge on the BW&F Party, but the Fairy Queen suggests that peace would be a better plan. While Magaidh considers which it will be, peace or revenge, her business allows her to help the people of Skye with love potions and spells to reverse the troublesome effects of fairy arrows. She and her two fairy friends, Sean and Iain, go on many adventures together, including rescuing a baby Welsh dragon; dealing with Big Blue Donald, a ghost; and befriending a baby water horse they name Calum. In the process, Magaidh finds out why she is different from her siblings, who force her to choose revenge!
The Last Witch on Skye, is available now at The Plaid Place, Woozles, Dartmouth Book Exchange, Indigo/Chapters, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Barnes & Noble, or ask your local bookstore to order one in for you. The accessible eBook is also available on the OC Publishing Bookshop.
ISBN: 978-1-989833-47-6 - paperback
ISBN: 978-1-989833-48-3 - eBook GCA certified